~Why me? Why us?~

Do you ever find yourself asking this question? I know that I do. And this morning during my quiet time with the Lord, He totally answered it for me. No He didn't tell me the date to my "when?" or the reason to my "why?" But He solidified for me that it is all for His glory - He has a wonderful, huge, perfect plan for my life. The explanation given by Jon Courson in his commentary made perfect sense. And it was so good that I wanted to share it incase you're asking yourself the same thing right now. I love how the Lord comforts us, encourages us, and guides us according to His perfect plan and purpose for our lives.

"And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen." ~ Exodus 14:17-18

The third reason God boxed His people in between Pi-hahiroth and Migdol was as a demonstration of His Preeminence {first was that they might know His power; second was that they might experience His presence}. Even more fundamental than our experiencing His power and His presence is the world's understanding of His sovereignty. "I'm going to put you in this horrible predicament, this tough spot, this brutal place," He says, "because I want to make Myself known to the Egyptians."

"I'm stuck in this marriage. I'm stuck with that parent. I'm stuck in a financial crunch," we cry - failing to understand that sometimes He can touch people who don't know Him by putting us in uncomfortable, difficult, heartbreaking, challenging situations. God doesn't exist for us. We exist for Him.

So scandalized was the church, that for decades she refused to acknowledge Copernicus' discovery. After all, how could the sun be the center of the planetary system? Surely the planets revolved around the earth, around man.

And it remains equally shocking today to discover that it is the Son rather than our own worlds, our own concerns, our own comfort at the center of God's creation. But it is not until we finally understand that we exist for God rather than He for us that the rotation of our worlds, our situations, and our lives makes sense. If the pain doesn't go away, if the business doesn't work out, if the marriage isn't great, God would say, "I love you. But it's not about you. I have bigger plans. The Egyptians {a picture of the world} are watching, and when the people you work with see you continue to praise Me, when your neighbors see you worshipping Me, when your family sees you thanking Me, I will be glorified."

You can fight it until the day you die, or you can finally come to the place in your life where you say, "The Son is the center of everything. Come what may, the Son is the center of my universe."

And although life might not seem fair right now, it will eventually. The waters will part and you will be ushered into eternity where you will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant. I had you boxed in. But you stood still. You didn't fall away. You didn't turn back. You didn't walk out. Enter in to the joy of the Lord" (Matthew 25:21).

Perhaps special teams football players have the best grasp of this idea. "Special teams" is suicide. Special teams charge down the field full steam ahead, throwing their bodies directly at men who are also running full steam ahead in their direction. They crack heads. They take hits. They endure pain. Why? So that the one carrying the ball can gain yards.

It's such a simple concept, but it sometimes takes decades to understand that we are not the sun, that we are not the ball carrier, but that we exist for the One who is. And the degree to which we allow Him to do what He wants to do through our lives is the degree to which we will be rewarded immensely, immeasurably, eternally.