Recently, we sang a song in church written by John Newton.
Here’s how it starts:
I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith and love and ev’ry grace,
Might more of His salvation know,
And seek more earnestly His face.
To his surprise, the Lord did not answer his prayer in quite the way he thought. Instead, He showed him the evils of his heart and allowed trials and tribulations to just about overwhelm him.
And yet the song concludes, explaining the mysterious methods of the Lord:
These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou may’st find thy all in Me.
What is the application for us today?
James 4:1 sheds some insight: “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?”
Here, we see two critical points: (1) Conflicts and quarrels remain part and parcel of life, and (2) the source of conflicts is our warring pleasures.
What is the way forward?
(1) Remember God is good and He loves His people more than they know.
(2) It is also true that God’s desire to bless us is more than our desire to receive blessings. Augustine is said to quip: “God is more anxious to bestow His blessings on us than we are to receive them.”
(3) If these two things are true, then our circumstances, no matter how challenging, are the means through which God not only answers our prayers for blessings, but enables us to grow. And not just grow for our own sakes, but to grow in loving our God more and more and trusting Him more completely.
God help us. Amen.
— August 27, 2026