Have you ever felt that God is against you, that He’s not on your side anymore, that He just keeps on putting obstacle after obstacle in front of you,  adversity heaped on adversity? Well … you’re not alone.

The perplexing questions that we all face in life are these: when something bad happens to me – me of all people, seriously! – is it God’s doing? And if so, how can it possibly gel with the fact that allegedly, He loves me more than words could say?

The truth is that nothing happens on this earth without God allowing it to happen. That doesn’t always mean He caused it. The war in Ukraine wasn’t God’s fault, you understand. Nevertheless, everything is foreknown by God and everything fits into His plans.

But sometimes God does indeed bring trials and disaster upon His people:

Joel 2:25 I, the Lord, sent my army against you. The swarming locusts and the hopping locusts and the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts ate everything you had. But I will pay you back for those years of trouble.

God’s people had rebelled against Him. So as a consequence, He sent adversity their way. Who sent the army against them? The Lord did. He takes full responsibility here. Yet, notice with me if you will, the final sentence in that verse:

But I will pay you back for those years of trouble.

Sometimes adversity does indeed come from the hand of God, especially when we’ve rebelled against Him. But His purpose – listen carefully to this – His purpose is always, always redemptive. His purpose in disciplining us is always to bring us back to Him.

I will pay you back for those years of trouble.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.