As I was reading the book of Micah, in preparation for revival on last night, it reminded me so much of the way things are going now. I mean, Jerusalem and the people of Israel had become a rebellious, unrepentant people and because of this, the false prophets and preachers; God said I am sending you to exile. Exile, being sent from your own home by an authoritative decree. God sent the people to exile to suffer but He said, after you’ve suffered, I’ll come and bring you home. This means, we HAVE to suffer. Please understand, God doesn’t use suffering as a form of punishment but He uses it as a form of remembrance. What do I mean? Well, sometimes God has to snatch our ignorant behinds out of our comfort zone in order for us to stop taking what He does for us, for granted. See, we get comfortable in knowing that God will do it. We expect God to wake us up, provide for us, shield and protect us and etc. that we sometimes forget that He doesn’t have to do it. So in order to get us to remember that He doesn’t, He allows us to suffer. Suffering isn’t unto death but it’s so we can rejoice in the deliverance, afterwards. Suffering isn’t to break you but it’s so you can be restored. This is why God says, after your period of suffering, I’ll show up to bring you home restoring everything you’ve lost.
But chile, we’ll get in our suffering and start screaming like God has forgotten us. We get in our suffering and start acting as if God was the one that abandoned us. Leaving God scratching His head, asking the question like He asks in Micah 4:9, “But why are you now screaming in terror? Have you no king to lead you?” In other words, God is trying to understand, why it is now that you’re screaming. God says, you weren’t screaming when you were sinning and not repenting. Were you screaming when you were standing over my people lying and prophesying from your flesh? Were you screaming when you had all the things you’ve asked me for but didn’t thank me? Were you screaming in pain when pleasure took precedence over praise? Were you screaming in agony when you turned your back against me? Of course you weren’t, then why are you screaming now that I’ve placed your butt in exile? Beloved, God is allowing you to suffer because He needs you to remember Him. Think about it, it’s only after you’ve lost something that you reflect back on the way things were when you had it. After you lose your house to foreclosure, your car to repossession, your hair to chemo, etc. you start remembering what it was like to have those things yet it doesn’t happen until you’re suffering from the lost. Well, when God sends us through suffering, He’s trying to get us to remember the blessings He’s allowed us to enjoy that we take for granted. And it is God’s desire that after He brings us out, we’ll appreciate Him and them more. This is why you should come out of your suffering declaring, “My suffering saved me!” If you don’t, you have a lot more suffering to do.
Lakisha, the Author 