Enmity towards God under stress

[timemeddler]

So last few months things have been going from one bad thing to another. Mortgage payment shot up as a result of local taxes(and got called a liar in the prayer request forum when asking for prayer). Last month I had hundreds of dollars worth of shop equipment stolen. End of the day the outrageous cost of gas and everything else has pushed me to find a second part time job. Now here's where it really pushed me over the edge, I had a job interview over the phone scheduled and I waited right by it. It didn't ring, I waited till twenty after before checking my phone to see if it was something on my end. Ring volume was fine but checking the call log I found out someone had indeed called at the appointed time. I then finally found out there was a do not disturb setting active(something I'd never heard of before). Then I blew my stack sending the phone across the room. And I ended up blaming God. Im pretty sure I told him in my rant I was done trying to follow(I took it back later). I'm shook. Any recommended reading? I know Peter kinda did it and Jonah, anything more worth reading on the subject?

 

[passion84god]

So last few months things have been going from one bad thing to another. Mortgage payment shot up as a result of local taxes(and got called a liar in the prayer request forum when asking for prayer). Last month I had hundreds of dollars worth of shop equipment stolen. End of the day the outrageous cost of gas and everything else has pushed me to find a second part time job. Now here's where it really pushed me over the edge, I had a job interview over the phone scheduled and I waited right by it. It didn't ring, I waited till twenty after before checking my phone to see if it was something on my end. Ring volume was fine but checking the call log I found out someone had indeed called at the appointed time. I then finally found out there was a do not disturb setting active(something I'd never heard of before). Then I blew my stack sending the phone across the room. And I ended up blaming God. Im pretty sure I told him in my rant I was done trying to follow(I took it back later). I'm shook. Any recommended reading? I know Peter kinda did it and Jonah, anything more worth reading on the subject?

I feel for you. I know what it's like to be in dire straits financially and the stress that can easily overcome someone during those trying times. When I find myself in situations like that, I usually magnify the greatness of God instead of magnifying my situation. I do that by meditating on things like how God provided a gold coin in the mouth of a fish for Peter, how he fed Elijah by ravens, how he provided manna, and quail, and water out of a rock in the wilderness, etc., etc., etc. In other words, I don't limit God, nor do I fret that his hand is too short to save me from my situation. Somehow, God always manages to see me through, and almost always, if not always, he does it in a manner that I could have never predicted or foreseen. I will say a prayer for you. Keep the faith.​

 

[timemeddler]

I feel for you. I know what it's like to be in dire straits financially and the stress that can easily overcome someone during those trying times. When I find myself in situations like that, I usually magnify the greatness of God instead of magnifying my situation. I do that by meditating on things like how God provided a gold coin in the mouth of a fish for Peter, how he fed Elijah by ravens, how he provided manna, and quail, and water out of a rock in the wilderness, etc., etc., etc. In other words, I don't limit God, nor do I fret that his hand is too short to save me from my situation. Somehow, God always manages to see me through, and almost always, if not always, he does it in a manner that I could have never predicted or foreseen. I will say a prayer for you. Keep the faith.​

There was one small nice thing that happened at church. I started helping an old lady friend in the door, wheelchair bound. She someone my introverted autistic personality can handle hanging out with, so there's that.

 

[passion84god]

There was one small nice thing that happened at church. I started helping an old lady friend in the door, wheelchair bound. She someone my introverted autistic personality can handle hanging out with, so there's that.

How can I best pray for you?

 

[Deuteronomy]

Hello @timemeddler, like @passion84god just said, I feel your pain too (quite frankly, I think we all do, or at least all have, anyway ). It's not just that life can be frustrating some of the time, rather, it's that life IS frustrating far more often that we'd like to admit.

The good news in all of this is that our heavenly Abba loves us, and we know that He not only wants what is best for us, but that He will see that we get it, too The thing is, He knows that our getting what is best for us is all wrapped up (as Christians) in our personal relationship with Him, where our walk before Him is at in the moment by moment of each and every day of our lives here. This also involves our choice to continually surrender our lives to Him and the degree of trust that we have in Him too .. e.g. Proverbs 3:5-6 (which is always put to the test whenever life becomes difficult).

Knowing this, whenever He sees that our relationship with Him is suffering, that is, He takes steps to get it back on track to where He knows that it needs to be, and this can oft times be an aggravating and even painful time to suffer through (like the one that you're going through right now )!

He also acts to stop things (that would otherwise lead us away from Him) from happening before they do (which is what I believe He did in the case of the Apostle Paul when the Lord gave him his famous, "thorn in the flesh" .. to help combat future prideful thoughts and behaviors on his part from surfacing .. 2 Corinthians 12:7).

So, God disciplines us for our good, because of sinfulness, of course, but also to make us more and more Christlike day by day, so that we'll know how to better weather the future storms that beset our lives as Christians.

As a result, when bad times hit, I try to remember (as quickly as possible anyway) that God is in control and allows the "bad" to happen in my life to make me into a better Christian (for my sake, for the sake of others, and for His glory). So, next time life becomes so maddening that you want to wing your cell phone across the room in frustration, try to remember that this is God at work in your life and, knowing that, chose to thank Him for your troubles instead. As He said to us through the pen of the Apostle Paul,

1 Thessalonians 5​

16 Rejoice always; ​

17 pray without ceasing; ​

18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,​

knowing how much He loves you and wants the best for you, remembering that He causes all things (the best AND the worst of things in our lives, that is) to work together for our good (for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purpose .. e.g. Romans 8:28.

Consider this too,

Hebrews 12​

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ​

8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ​

9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? ​

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. ​

11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.​

Praying for you!

God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy
p.s. - sorry about making this such a long post, but just in case you end up wishing that it was even longer, here are several, helpul Christian quotes to consider too

"I've learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages" ~Pastor Charles Spurgeon​

​

"Instead of a river, God often gives us a brook, which may be running today and dried up tomorrow. Why? To teach us not to rest in our blessings, but in the Blesser Himself" ~Pastor Arthur W. Pink​

​

"Two words will help you cope when you run low on hope, accept and trust" ~Pastor Chuck Swindoll​

​

"Our vision is so limited that we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything that it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process" ~Missionary Elisabeth Elliot​

.

 

[timemeddler]

Hello @timemeddler, like @passion84god just said, I feel your pain too (quite frankly, I think we all do, or at least all have, anyway ). It's not just that life can be frustrating some of the time, rather, it's that life IS frustrating far more often that we'd like to admit.

The good news in all of this is that our heavenly Abba loves us, and we know that He not only wants what is best for us, but that He will see that we get it, too The thing is, He knows that our getting what is best for us is all wrapped up (as Christians) in our personal relationship with Him, where our walk before Him is at in the moment by moment of each and every day of our lives here. This also involves our choice to continually surrender our lives to Him and the degree of trust that we have in Him too .. e.g. Proverbs 3:5-6 (which is always put to the test whenever life becomes difficult).

Knowing this, whenever He sees that our relationship with Him is suffering, that is, He takes steps to get it back on track to where He knows that it needs to be, and this can oft times be an aggravating and even painful time to suffer through (like the one that you're going through right now )!

He also acts to stop things (that would otherwise lead us away from Him) from happening before they do (which is what I believe He did in the case of the Apostle Paul when the Lord gave him his famous, "thorn in the flesh" .. to help combat future prideful thoughts and behaviors on his part from surfacing .. 2 Corinthians 12:7).

So, God disciplines us for our good, because of sinfulness, of course, but also to make us more and more Christlike day by day, so that we'll know how to better weather the future storms that beset our lives as Christians.

As a result, when bad times hit, I try to remember (as quickly as possible anyway) that God is in control and allows the "bad" to happen in my life to make me into a better Christian (for my sake, for the sake of others, and for His glory). So, next time life becomes so maddening that you want to wing your cell phone across the room in frustration, try to remember that this is God at work in your life and, knowing that, chose to thank Him for your troubles instead. As He said to us through the pen of the Apostle Paul,

1 Thessalonians 5​

16 Rejoice always; ​

17 pray without ceasing; ​

18 in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,​

knowing how much He loves you and wants the best for you, remembering that He causes all things (the best AND the worst of things in our lives, that is) to work together for our good (for those of us who love Him and are called according to His purpose .. e.g. Romans 8:28.

Consider this too,

Hebrews 12​

7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ​

8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ​

9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? ​

10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. ​

11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.​

Praying for you!

God bless you!!

~Deuteronomy
p.s. - sorry about making this such a long post, but just in case you end up wishing that it was even longer, here are several, helpul Christian quotes to consider too

"I've learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages" ~Pastor Charles Spurgeon​

​

"Instead of a river, God often gives us a brook, which may be running today and dried up tomorrow. Why? To teach us not to rest in our blessings, but in the Blesser Himself" ~Pastor Arthur W. Pink​

​

"Two words will help you cope when you run low on hope, accept and trust" ~Pastor Chuck Swindoll​

​

"Our vision is so limited that we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything that it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process" ~Missionary Elisabeth Elliot​

.

Agreed, just seems odd that the stuff that was physically taken seemed to be the least sinful of my habits.

 

[Deuteronomy]

Agreed, just seems odd that the stuff that was physically taken seemed to be the least sinful of my habits.

Hello again Timemeddler, I know what you're saying, but we have to continue to trust that our loving, heavenly Abba really does know what's best for us.

I don't know you or what you're like personally, but I tend to be a blockhead about a lot of things at times (so it's occurred to me that whenever I hit those kind of times, when EVERYTHING seems to be going wrong in my life (all at the same time), that is, it's probably because I haven't been paying close enough attention to what He's already been doing in my life and He ups the ante (so to speak) to make sure that I finally do (I have a very bad tendency to trust in myself when I need to be trusting in Him instead ).

BTW, knowing what He's up to in your life helps, but it doesn't make going through difficult times any more fun. When I first heard that Spurgeon quote (the one that I just posted above here), I went looking for it (to make sure that I got it right) and found it at a Christian quotes site. It was one of those sites where people comment on the quotes, and the most common comment or reply from people to that quote ("I've learned to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages") was this, "Will I EVER learn to kiss the waves that throw me up against the Rock of Ages?"

So, try to remember that He sees & does things differently that we do (fortunately ) .. e.g. Isaiah 55:8-9, that He knows our hearts and what we REALLY need far better than we could ever hope to, and that He loves us and always wants the very best for us, even if it doesn't feel like He does in the midst of Him disciplining us (these things are especially important to remember when times are tough and you feel like they could never get any worse).

God bless you!! (Isaiah 41:10)

~Deuteronomy (David)