Do you ever wonder at how easily (or at least seemingly so) Noah submitted to God's will? Or about Abraham when God told him to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain? Does the Bible record any anguish in these men? "But God, I have a five- and ten-year plan for my career." "But God, everyone's going to think I'm crazy." "But God, that doesn't make sense to me." "But God, WHY?!"
Scripture is full of examples of people whom God instructed without giving palatable, human-sized explanations. God doesn't need our understanding or our approval for His plans. He expects our obedience because He is God.
Isaiah 29:16 says, "Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, 'He did not make me'? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, 'He has no understanding'?"
Isaiah 64:8 says, "But now, O LORD, You [are] our Father; We [are] the clay, and You our potter; And all we [are] the work of Your hand."
Maybe the best example of a man "dying to self" (other than Christ's own submission) is Job, who was "blameless and upright, and one who feared God and shunned evil." God loved and was pleased with Job, but God used Job's suffering to prove something to the Enemy and to present a lesson to us. Job refused to curse God even in the midst of enormous pain and loss, and God blessed Job abundantly for his steadfastness and faithfulness.
Job 1:22 says, "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly."
Job didn't suffer because he did something wrong (even though many of us do suffer because of our own sin); Job was part of something much larger than himself that he couldn't see. But, because he knew God and trusted Him, Job was able to persevere. Now, because he was just like us, he did ask for explanations -- ok, he demanded answers. "WHY is this happening to ME!?" Have you ever read God's reply? (It's LONG.)
Read it for yourself in Job chapter 38. http://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/Job/Job038.html
In a nutshell, God says, "Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding."
In other words, "I am God, and you are not. I keep the stars on course and the waters in the seas; trust me, I know what I'm doing."
Have you been obedient? Are you suffering some soul-ache, some heartache, some physical pain? Do you know that the God who made the heavens and the earth, and who made you, knows even the number of the hairs on your head and the number of your days before there was as yet one of them? Do you know that God also knows when even a tiny sparrow falls to the ground? Do you doubt that he cares for you?
Trust Him:
(Romans 8:28-29) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
(Romans 8:32) He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
To trust Him, you must KNOW Him. To know Him, read His Word and talk to Him. God is not in the business of hiding from people who earnestly seek Him. There is purpose for your pain.
