Doors of Justice

"'Open for me the gates of the righteous; I will enter and give thanks to the Lord . This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter. ' Psalms 118:19-20

When we go through periods of struggle and trials, one thing we think about is getting out. We yearn to finish it all and get to the end of the ordeal. Not everyone likes trials. Some don't even ask or allow themselves to be tested, because it denotes suffering. And I'm no different. Many times, after realizing through the Word of God that it is a process that we all have to go through, after all, every servant of God recorded in the Bible, without exception, went through it. Even the Son of God. That's why I always asked God to give me the strength and wisdom to make the most of everything that came my way. And I'm saying here that it wasn't one or two. There were several trials, and of course we don't always come out of the first one ready to understand everything. Sometimes the experience itself strengthens us for the next one, where we will learn what we need to.

In the Bible there is a text that says that God, our father, corrects us like children, because he doesn't want us to lose our way,

''And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” ' Hebrews 12:5-6

When I go through it (the trial, or correction) at first I don't like it very much, or in fact, I don't like it at all... but then I see that I'm learning from it, my character is perfected, a process begins inside me that makes me see with different eyes what I was doing that wasn't right, and God shows me the true meaning of it and at the same time that I feel sad at being exhorted or corrected, I also feel loved by God, because He is my Father, who loves me and doesn't want to lose me. That's why I can do nothing but worship him and thank him for his mercy and patience towards me.

When I'm in the middle of the process, I imagine a door at the end, with a breathtaking view, bringing me calm and peace and a feeling of growth and closeness to God, making me more at the center of his will. So I try to do the right thing so that the moment comes when I see it open and I can breathe a sigh of relief and say: "Thank God, I've made it through this one!"

How good God is! He loves us, corrects us and welcomes us back every day at the end of the day, just as he did with Adam and Eve before they sinned:

“'Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ' Genesis 3:8

Before they sinned, during the day they had activities and work, conversations and learning among the trees and animals that existed there. And at the end of the day, I believe they longed to be with God to tell him what they had learned. But after sin, all that harmony and peace that existed between God, the creator, and man, the creature, was broken. Sin alienated man from God, but through His mercies, glory be to God for that, He sent us His son Jesus to die for us and rescue us from sin and bring us back into intimacy with Him. But for that to happen, every individual on earth must recognize God's sovereignty and declare that Jesus is God's son, and acknowledge him as our Savior.

In recent days I've been through several trials, as I explained in the previous post about my daughter's wedding, where we couldn't be present. Throughout the whole process, I fought against everything that could possibly stand in my way so that I could be with my only daughter to accompany her to this event. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out the way I would have liked, but I praise God who gave me the strength and wisdom to understand his will during this time. It was difficult, yes, but God strengthens us and makes us more than conquerors.

'No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ' Romans 8:37

It so happens that in this process, what happened to me is described in the same experiences as David described in the book of Psalms 118. And I learned the following:

IF YOU ARE AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR TRIAL, FOLLOW THE PROCESS:

1 - GIVE GOD ALL WORSHIP, HONOR AND PRAISE

Even before we see the result, we must worship God in respect for who He is. He is God. We are his servants. He regards us as his children. That's why we are tested and go through struggles. But the certainty that He is in control gives us security that nothing will go beyond the limits of our exhaustion.

2- DECLARE THAT YOUR SAFETY DEPENDS ON HIM

Continually affirm that it is better to trust in God than in men.

There he says that he suffered persecution, but he begins this Psalm by glorifying the Lord because he visualized himself in a wide and safe space and rejoiced in that (Ps 118:5), so he felt safe. He wanted those who had wronged him to be avenged on God, because all vengeance belongs to God (Ps 118:7; Deut 32:35). He confirms that God is his safe haven and his trust (Ps 188:8,9).

3- FIGHT

Declare that your victory does not depend on you, nor on men, but on God.

In times of struggle, we need to continually say out loud to ourselves that we are strong enough to go ahead and do the right thing according to God's word.

David declares several times in this Psalm that his strength is not in men, and then he says that he has torn the nations apart, and three times he mentions that they came back to end his life, but he tore them apart (Ps 118:10-12).

4 - VISUALIZE THE VICTORY AND ALREADY REJOICE IN IT BY PRAISING GOD

One word that exemplifies this phase in the process is FAITH. The Bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).

Then rejoice and declare that you have already won the victory. By faith, visualize the end of your trial.

5- VISUALIZE THE DOOR OF JUSTICE BEING OPENED

David says the following:

'Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord . ' Psalm 118:19

The tense of the conjugated verb is Imperative Affirmative. It is an order. The one who gives the order is the one who has authority, and that authority has been given by God. So there is an order given to the situation to respond. And it has to be responded to without any doubt.

This is the best moment in this process, my desire being fulfilled in my life, and the certainty that the one who authorized me was God himself. Glory be to God for that!

In the next blog, you'll see the not the most important part of this process, but the indispensable one for understanding the complete process of my trial.

Join me there (click here)

Marilza Loubach