Learning to Keep in Step

"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Galatians 5:25

Are you exactly where God wants you to be at exactly the right time at exactly the right place in your life right now? If not, what would it take to get you there?

When I asked this question tonight during a home Bible study I’m conducting, I asked the young mom who answered “No” if she had ever suffered. And she answered “No.” she hadn’t – that she felt like she was the one in control of her life, even though she knew it was wrong; she was the one at fault, not God, but that she would be where He would take her, one day. When I asked if she knew why I had asked the question “Have you ever suffered?” she answered “No” again. I told her it was not until a person suffers do they really realize what they can and cannot do and who really is in control. It took God ten years to teach me this lesson. Suffering and learning to live by the Spirit, to me, are inseparable.

Why is it that suffering aligns us with God’s will -- God’s plan for our life? Why is it that suffering is the means whereby God leads us and guides us, to just where we need to be at just the right time?

It occurred to me tonight that one of the reasons God told the apostles he was leaving the “comforter” was because He knew they would need comforting when He left; they were getting ready to suffer. He did not want to leave them as orphans, which means without comfort; He left the Holy Spirit to comfort them....and me.

The parallel between suffering and keeping in step with the Spirit is so obvious to me tonight in a way it’s never been before. If I want to live by the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit He will have to do what He does best, i.e. comfort me. Therefore, I will have to suffer to receive it.

If you doubt that you are where God wants you to be right now, are you willing to suffer? Are you willing to ask God to bring suffering into your life, so the Spirit can comfort you, so you can learn to live and keep in step with Him? Maybe that's why you're suffering. Maybe God is building that relationship.