“[God] is helping me to rejoice in our adverse circumstances, in our poverty, in the retirement of our Mission. All our difficulties are only platforms for the manifestation of His grace, power, and love.”
It can be hard to see how God is working sometimes. We have our plans and our preferences and assume that God’s desires align with our own. When things go awry – when circumstances and expectations don’t line up, we question the purpose of God’s design. We wonder whether somehow we got off the wrong exit, mistakenly heading to a destination that was never intended.
However, often times as we look back we can see how God was at work even, sometimes, especially during the most difficult times. We can see how His gracious hand not only brought us through the trials, but how He used them for the purposes of His Kingdom (Rom. 8:28). We can see how He was at work in us – not in just in the happy circumstances – but in all things (Phil 2:13). The challenges that we faced are often the times through which He is most glorified because we realize our complete dependence on Him and give Him the proper praise and adoration in return.
We may never face the type of difficulties that Hudson Taylor did. As an early missionary to China, the daily difficulties that he contended with, as well as the trials that were brought his way, likely exceed the adverse situations that we will encounter. Yet, like him, may we see the hurdles along our path not as obstacles but as platforms to display the greatness of our King. May we too rejoice in these circumstances because through them, our God is being praised (Phil. 4:4) .