There’s a lot that can be said about gratitude. As a family, we typically focus our prayers on being grateful because, well, Jesus did it all, didn’t He? But I’ve been struggling lately with this. Not with feelings of gratitude, but of complacent acceptance with the hard stuff life throws our way. I might question those hard times – and I’ll certainly voice my frustrations – but I might not see how to change it, so I’ll simply accept it.
This state of mind came into sharp focus shortly after I started noticing a phrase I was saying a bit too often: It is what it is… I was saying it a lot. Probably a lot more than a person who really is full of gratitude should. There I was, saying this multiple times a day, thinking nothing of it. But then I listened to my own words – deciphering them as they came out of my mouth – and realized how defeated they sounded.
It’s like I suddenly realized that I sounded defeated, like I was just going to have to put up with it for however long. Why would I say something like that? I’m a child of God! It would be like watching someone break into your home, steal something of value, and you just shrug it off. You don’t say anything, you don’t pursue the thief, and you don’t even file a police report. You simply give up and say It is what it is…
I grew up believing that whatever God willed would be. It makes sense, right? God is God, so if He wills it, it happens! But does it? Scripture tells us that it’s God’s will that everyone be saved – that no one goes to hell (I Timothy 2:4, and II Peter 3:9). Scripture also tells us that if anyone rejects Jesus, they are condemned (John 3:18).
The church (not a specific one, but the church as a whole) seems to explain away the hard stuff as God’s will. This hard thing – this disease, disability, death, or loss – must be God’s will. It is what it is. It must be because it’s happened. It must be because you wouldn’t be the person you are today if not for this hard thing. It must be God’s will because your testimony has helped others find a relationship with Jesus.
The danger comes when we confuse God’s will with God being the One to deliver the blow(s). And so many will quote scripture to back up their belief:
And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job 1:21 NKJV
The book of Job has troubled me since I read it for the first time as a kid. The man (Job) had everything – a wife, children, livestock (more than anyone else in that area)… and then lost everything. Or He would tell you that God gave him everything and then took it back. God stole and killed Job’s livestock, killed Job’s servants and children, and then struck him with boils (Job 1:13-19, and Job 2:7-10).
While it’s true that Job said those things (from Job 1:21), that does not mean that what he said was true – there is a big difference. But we’ve built entire doctrines and written Christian songs around Job 1:21, haven’t we? God gives us all we have… and when it’s taken from us, that’s God, too. Maybe that’s why It is what it is has become so easy to say for so many in the church.
The truth is that Satan afflicted Job; Satan wreaked havoc on Job’s life – not God. We (collectively as a church) have believed the lie that God will bless us in one breath and snatch those blessings away in the next if He feels like it.
It’s no wonder that we’re stuck believing small. It is what it is…
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:7-8 NIV
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:16-21 NIV
Those scriptures telling us to ask for it and it will be given to us must not be for us today. That was only for the first believers. Why would we believe these scriptures? They tell us that His power at work in us can produce immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine! But that’s only if He’s in the giving mood and not the taking, right? It seems that’s what mainstream Christianity wants us to believe.
It’s no wonder that we shrug at the hard stuff and say It is what it is… Many of us see these plights, these hardships, as something that must be from God. It must be His will. It must be His purpose for us. God must be teaching me something.
“Pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need, and forgive us our sins, as we have forgiven those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.” Matthew 6:9-13 NLT
Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father, and the Father is a Giver. The Kingdom that Jesus spoke of isn’t full of sick, broken, or dead people – He came that we would have life! I’m tired of settling with the hard. I’m tired of facing the hard stuff and responding with It is what it is. What is needs to change, and the power to change it resides inside me through the power of the Holy Spirit.
While I’m tired because of going through the hard stuff, I’m tired of feeling defeated even more. I’m tired of thinking that these hard things are the best I could hope for because they must be God’s will for me. I’m tired of shrugging an acceptance and saying It is what it is.
Jesus came to give us life in abundance (John 10:10). The Holy Spirit living inside of us gives us power to lay hands on the sick – and we’re supposed to see them recover (Mark 16:16-18)! That doesn’t sound like a life of defeat!
If you’re walking through the hard stuff right now, I know that it can be easy to simply exist with it – to feel powerless. But if you know Jesus, I hope (and I hope this for myself, too) that you’ll begin to learn just how precious you are to Him. He is a good, good Father… He is for you – not against you. He gives good gifts and has good plans for you.