COVER LETTER
Dearly Beloved:
MANY ASK, "WHY ME, LORD?"
At this very moment, a great number of God's choicest servants are being sorely tested and tried. Maybe you are being overwhelmed right now by sudden afflictions, fiery trials, incredible times of stress. Your trial could be spiritual, financial or emotional.
Perhaps as you read this message, you have convinced yourself that you are under judgment—under the wrath and rod of God. The thought comes to you over and over, that you're going through this because you've failed God. You're in the fire of affliction because he has turned you over to the devil to chasten you. Many ask, "Why me, Lord?"
Beloved, when you are going through the fire or the flood, you dare not trust your own understanding. You cannot reason your way through hard times. Your own thoughts about your testing will deceive you.
The writer of Psalm 66 said, "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried" (verse 10). He is saying, "This is all God's doing. He has led you into this trial for a special purpose. God is proving you. It is not the work of the devil." No matter what you're going through, you can rest assured that the Lord is behind it. He is testing you, trying you, in order to bring something glorious out of you—and that is a total confidence in his faithfulness.
But then the Psalm writer goes further: "Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins" (verse 11). He says it was God who led you into the net! God laid this heavy burden on you. He weighed you down. Our human understanding cannot comprehend such a thing. Our reasoning tells us, "The devil is trying to kill me. He has put afflictions and great burdens on me. He is trying to shipwreck me." Yet, from cover to cover, the Bible makes it clear that all our purgings and testings come from the Father—not from Satan. "I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin" (Isaiah 1:25).
I have stopped asking God why I have to go through such fires and floods—because through them all I am learning something of his ways. God tells us, "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice" (1 Peter 4:12-13).
Dear saint, stop trying to figure out your trials. Stop asking, "God, why am I having to endure this battle?" Put aside your human reasoning and rest in this thought: "God is doing something in me. God's hand is in this!" You may not like the testing you're in; it may seem overwhelming. But God has never left you alone in your trial. Even when you feel you've failed him, God is there all the time.
The Psalmist said, "(He) holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved" (Psalm 66:9). He is saying, "God is holding my soul in his life. He will not let my feet slip under me. He is holding me steady until all of this passes." Here is the testimony of those who do not panic but trust God in it all: "Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy [fruitful] place" (verse 12).
Beloved, do not listen to what your fears may whisper to you. Forget trying to understand it all. Just stand still—trust—and see God's hand at work. He will bring you out of it and into a fruitful place. And you'll be burning with a testimony to the utter faithfulness of your God. Hallelujah!
Thank you so much for remembering our ministry worldwide to the poor, the needy, the widowed and the fatherless. For information on these efforts and others, go to: www.worldchallenge.org/missions.
In Christ,
DAVID WILKERSON
DW:bbm 12.31.69
