Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

1 Peter 4:12 (NIV)

In the 1997 move The Edge about a millionaire and his entourage who themselves lost in the Alaskan wilderness, the main character played by Anthony Hopkins turns to his associate and explains most people who get lost in the wilderness die of shame. At the surprise reaction from his associate he explains they ask “What did I do wrong? How could I have gotten myself into this?” And so they fail to do the one thing that would save them.

Trials and hardship can be that way for us. There is a basic instinct buried in the human soul that if things are going poorly, it must be our fault. We have done something to deserve this.

But it is not that way for us. There may be many reasons we find ourselves in the wilderness of suffering, but us deserving to be punished is not one of them. We have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, and the new kingdom we now live in is devoid of condemnation and judgment. Rather it is full of redemption. Jesus is actively causing all things to work for our good, including whatever wilderness of suffering we may find ourselves in. What matters is not what we have done to get ourselves into it, but rather what God is doing to get us out of it. He has a plan. He always has a plan.

If you find yourself lost in the wilderness of trials and hardship, do not be surprised and ask what you have done to deserve it. Feel free to fix your eyes on what Jesus has done to get you out of it. The one who is with you is the very same one who did not spare his own Son for you. Will he not now give you all things?

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Photo by Jeff Golenski on Unsplash