Are you entitled to salvation or any other blessing from God? I suspect most lovers of the Lord would readily answer “no” to that question, but it’s easy to give a simple answer to a simple question. The challenge comes when you have to live out that answer. Do we act like we are entitled to God’s blessing? That’s the harder question. We can act that way when we respond to hardships and struggles with a sense of entitlement, as though others can suffer but not us.

The fact is, all who live godly in Christ will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12). Likewise, the Devil is a relentless tempter, constantly probing the weaknesses of our hearts to find an avenue to exploit. How we respond to difficult days is critical. We do ourselves no good wasting time complaining about the day. No complaint has ever changed one bad day. Complaining to God has never motivated a Divine response in all the history of humanity. Complaining to God is just another way of saying to God, “I deserve better than this” or “You owe me better than this!”

Does God owe us anything?

Listen to Isaiah…

But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

(Isaiah 64:8)

You can choose between two perspectives:

You can say to God: “We are your creation; we deserve to be rescued from this hardship!”

Or you can say to God: “We are your creation; our salvation is in your hands.”

The basic message is the same in both statements, but the tone is more humble in the second one. It recognizes that God is in control. It shows a willingness to submit, to be still and wait on the Lord, and to trust that God will take care of us. He might bring the bad day to an end, and wouldn’t that be wonderful? What an opportunity to praise Him when the storm has dissipated. On the other hand, He might let the bad day continue, so that we can learn the value in trust and the virtue of patience. What an opportunity to praise Him while the storm rages!

Have Thine own way, Lord. Have Thine own way. Thou art the potter; I am the clay.

~ Matthew