The Bitter Pool (2)

YOU cannot know the true test of a man until he is faced with difficulty. Let us look at the following statements:
• Sometimes God uses trouble to fashion us for better things. The terrible experience you are going through right now may just be to promote you to a greater class.

• If pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life, if everything comes easy to you, you would not be useful.

• Mountain of difficulties are what makes champions and heroes. No one would have heard of David, if it had not been for Goliath.

• Assistance and facilities will not make you a man but obstacles and difficulties make men.

• Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. A man remains where he is unless he decides to depart from the class he is in to a higher one.

• Adversity brings with it useful talents, which in prosperous circumstances, would have remained dormant.

• Without adversity, you cannot know your strengths.

• Adversity is like a knife, which can serve us or cut us, depending on whether we hold the handle or the blade. A person can either allow his problem to destroy him, or use it as a stepping-stone to promotion. It all depends on how he handles the problem.

• The best boxing partner you can ever have is adversity because by the time you pass through it, you would have improved on your boxing techniques.

• The one that keeps going on when the going is tough is the one who will eventually win. God allowed the children of Israel to come across the pool of Marah, for the same reason that He allows us to go through adversity, so that we can discover ourselves. Many people react negatively when they arrive at their bitter pool and at that point, they lose their miracle. When we encounter adversity, God is putting us to the test; we need to show that we have faith in Him. Many people will say that when we encounter problems, it is only natural to worry. But the Bible tells us in John 14:1, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” It also tells us that that battle is the Lord’s. He is capable of doing all things and we should, therefore, not limit Him.

The sin of limiting God is the commonest thing that we Christians commit. God wants to know your reaction at the bitter pool before He manifests His power.

What should you do when you arrive at your bitter pool?

• Recognise that God is able to turn your bitter pool into sweet waters. There is no situation that is above the God that we serve. With man it may look impossible, but with God all things are possible. If you begin to react negatively, then what is the proof that you are a child of God?

• Allow God to detect any defect in your character. You do so by moving close to people who will see you and tell you the truth about yourselves.

Pastor Ogunorunyinka is the General Overseer of The Promisedland Restoration Ministries, Surulere, Lagos. pastorseyiogunorunyinka@gmail.com