The Favor of God (Lessons In Fighting for Ideals and Never Giving Up Greatness)

Life is such an incredible paradox for someone trying to hold onto faith. Have you noticed that?

On one hand, this relentless conviction about what could be, what needs to be can burn white hot inside you. But on the other hand, both the world and your own efforts can be so broken, dysfunctional, and resistant to possibility.

I’ve spent the last 13 years at different spots along this learning curve, trying to hold dreams and vision in one fist and barriers and an imperfect reality in the other.

Trying to maintain enthusiasm to go for the prize, maturity to realize it will come at a cost, perseverance to keep stepping in front of metaphorical bullets and stability to be a whole, loving, relationship-cherishing person in the pursuit of greatness.

I don’t know about you, but at least for me, this has not always and is not always an easy or applaud-worthy feat. Sometimes I feel painfully unequipped for the realities of adulthood–all the endless needs that are hard to make a dent in, all the broken systems that govern our society and world, all the legacies of poverty and crime and abuse that stain our present day experience, all the pain–personal, relational and global, that needs resolved.

After the hard stretches, I often feel like I’ve been swallowing a lake by the gallon and finally my thirst for growth, and understanding and awareness is quenched. I pick up some skills and traits that help me lean toward stability and wisdom. It starts to seem like I’m on top of life, ready and able to manage what is in store for me, happy to wake up and face the opportunity of each day.

And this feeling of “yes”, of “good”, of “right” can go on for months, even years.

But I’m always amazed at how easily hardship and frustration, and sin and pride, on my part and in my world can bring me right back to that place of vulnerability and desperation. Wanting so deeply to live well, to impact the world for good, but struggling almost aimlessly against the problems I can’t solve and the barriers I can’t knock down.

There, in every hardship, I find the same moment and the same lesson again and again.

I apologize if this sounds at all trite because the words are very fresh and real in my experiences: Even in the darkest and hardest moments, even when you feel under-serviced or disappointed, do the following–

• Persevere in looking for progress and solution for as long as you can…and then longer. Surprise people with how far you’re willing to go for your cause or for them, even in pain or frustration. Resolve to be the last person who gives up, not the first.

• If any conflict or tension you encounter begins to consume your spirit, give yourself permission to assess whether your plan of attack (be it your strategy, your job, your worldview, or the way you spend your time, energy and money) and make changes that let you live more of your life in health and goodness.

• There is wisdom in looking for compromise. But if you don’t find it, don’t apologize for standing for what you believe God is stirring you to hold to be right in the world. And especially don’t let anyone rob you of how you believe God prompts you to pour out your own life.

• Don’t speak with finality about causes, relationships or involvements. Refuse to rule out the possibility that more health, more hope, better days and unforeseen breakthroughs may and likely will arise for those patient enough to hold onto hope and wait out good.

• Get painfully honest with God. Unravel the lies you’ve told yourself, release any justifications you may have made that have contributed to your own frustrations, numbness, bitterness or resentment. Set it all before God and pray your motives and heart clean before Him. Cry a lot if you need to. Sleep in a few days. Limit the time you allow your mind to struggle over anything (beyond 5 minutes per day is probably too much). Rest your soul. Choose to live in this peace: when a person acts out of a clean heart before God, God will nurture good in time.

• When you feel God’s presence in your spirit begin to pick up, when you sense new momentum for your life, whether it is backward or forward, expected or unexpected, rearrange your life to move toward it. A little bit at a time.

• Claim the principle that time is a truth teller. And that anything someone doesn’t understand or value about you, your convictions, your values or the changes you’ve made will be improved if you move on to live clean-hearted before God, showing goodwill toward others in the longterm.

• Speak words of peace in tense moments, especially in fights, even more so in change, even more more so in goodbyes. Go out of your way to bless everyone you can and to preserve every relationship you can. Go more than your fair share on those fronts.

• Don’t just “know”, but adopt a bedrock belief–an unmoving conviction that favor doesn’t belong to man. If flawed people on a messy journey live openly and pure-hearted before God, they make themselves readily available to a Creator who wants to bless them more than they ever imagined. If you lose this truth, you have lost faith: God is seeking people whose eyes know how to turn to Him, and His favor on your life will speak everything that needs to be said about you.
• Keep your eyes–particularly the eyes of your heart–open as you heal, are renewed, and find peace. There are often lessons in the darkness you would never have seen in the light. Seek to understand what lessons God might have for you and trust that His spirit stirs similarly needed lessons in the lives of others and in the world in general.

These principles long growing inside of me, although often fatally flawed in the way I live them out, have nonetheless always–always, WITHOUT FAIL–blazed a path to goodness in the moments when an imperfect reality seems to outweigh hope.

The favor of God speaks louder than every failure, disappointment or hardship of my life combined. And cleaning my heart out to make room for it has resulted in some of the most favorable and unexpected stretches of my life.

**Are you constantly fighting against the way the world is? Are you trying to welcome in a better world as you believe it could be? If you can relate, I’d love to hear your comments. Feel free to click the comment link and share away.**

Also, for those who are interested, here are a couple verses that speak some of these truths–often pulled from the lives of ancient Biblical figures:

• Psalm 37:3-11
• Proverbs 16: 2-7
• John 12:32  (Jesus said this when referring to the climax of unjustness in his life, the crucifixion. But I believe the principle still holds true today, that when we can lift Jesus up, he draws all men to himself.)

And finally, I’ll close with 2 Chronicles 16:9, with the words of a seer who was correcting a king for leaning on his own power rather than the power of God: “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”

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Special note: The first time I wrote about this subject, in reference to becoming disillusioned with church, ministry and cause, I was only 23 when I began writing and 26 when it went to publication. But the book (despite some immaturities and angst I’ve since grown through) still holds a lot of wisdom pulled from real life struggle for good that might be of benefit to some of you. You can read more about it here or pick it up for just $5.20.