But the Lord told Samuel, “Don’t look at his appearance or how tall he is, because I have rejected him. God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7
S ome of the hardest times in your life can be the best. Your trials and suffering prove who you are: a girl who will run either to God or away from him when the going gets tough. When you run to him you end up on your knees. And from the ground it’s easier to look up to God and miraculously find the comfort you need. Through this process you discover not only who he is but who you are: a child of the living God.
David, whose story starts in 1 Samuel, is a good example of the stress and strain of suffering making one kid into a strong and powerful man of faith. His time on the run from Saul didn’t destroy him; it made him into a man who understood the hand of God in his life. The same can be true for the God Girl: she grows in faith when she doesn’t look for the easy way out and doesn’t spend all her time daydreaming about the good life or whining about her miserable life. The God Girl looks at all the things that come to her as an opportunity to get stronger. It takes a lot of exercise reps for your muscles to get bigger, and it takes a lot of reps of faith for your trust to get bigger.
When you’re young, life comes at you guns blazing, but it’s only temporary. Who you are today is not who you are going to be tomorrow. The tests and trials you are going through right now are going to shape you into either a victim or a victor. So what’s it gonna be?
If you want to avoid being the victim, then don’t run in fear the next time suffering knocks on the door. Just look it dead in the eyes and know that its arrival means a chance for you to get your spiritual exercise. The greatest people in history had to be tested and proved faithful before they could do the things they did in the name of God. So don’t let your pain go unused.