Our circumstances are the conditions or facts that surround us. The majority of our circumstances are out of our control. For instance, we can’t control the weather. We can do things to help us deal with the weather, such as air conditioning during the sweltering heat of summers in the south, or heat for the winter months, but we can’t control them. We can build and use storm shelters to avoid being killed by a tornado. but we can’t stop the tornado. We can’t control the economic state of our country or the hate that some have for others. So many of our circumstances are beyond our control. So how do we learn to maneuver around, or through our circumstances to keep them from swallowing us up? How do you rise above our circumstances and flourish in our testimony for Christ when the world seems to be pressing down upon us?
If you are a Christian, you don’t have to look far to find examples of those who lived with unbelievable circumstances, and yet their faith did not allow their circumstances to control who they were. A great example in the Old Testament was David. In the early years of David’s life, we find him tending sheep for his father. When the lion and the bear came after his sheep, he killed them. When he was sent to carry provisions to his brothers who were in the army fighting the Philistines, he finds Israel afraid of the giant Goliath. He tells Saul he will fight the giant. No one believed that he was capable of slaying the giant but no one else was willing to fight the giant. The circumstances looked bleak, but David’s confidence was in God’s ability to use him. It was not in his own strength.
I Samuel 17:34-36 And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.”
Later in life, David brought some unwanted circumstances on himself. Because he yielded to the flesh in a weak moment he suffered greatly. While we can choose our sin, we cannot choose the consequences that place us in the middle of negative circumstances from that sin. David committed adultery, lied, and was responsible for the death of one of his trusted soldiers. Those choices cost him much with his family. When his son Absalom was seeking to kill him and become king, David is running for his life. In Psalm 3, he paints a picture of how his enemies are increased. In verse 2, many already feel there is no help for him. They believe that not even God can help him now. Yet, David rises up to express that the one they count out, is the one he is confident will help him. This man who is hurting deeply cries to the Lord and praises His God. In verse 3, he proclaims the Lord is his shield. A shield is a barrier of protection. In the original language his statement of trust in God to protect him is not just for these circumstances, but one of trust at all times in every situation. His confidence is in God alone. His circumstances would be seen by most as unbearable, but David proclaims the Lord is sustaining him. He is rising above his circumstances because he is trusting in God.
Psalm 3:1-6 “A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. Selah. But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head. I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about.”
In the New Testament, we find a great example of one who rises above his circumstances in the life of Paul. He was in prison when he wrote Philippians. It is a book that expresses the joy of being in Christ. Paul never used his circumstances to become depressed. His joy does not depend on what is happening to him. His joy is found in the hope he has in Christ. In Philippians 1:12, he writes to the Philippians that his circumstances, though viewed by most as horrible, were to him a good thing, because they had allowed the gospel to spread. People were saved as a result of his imprisonment.
Philippians 1:12 “But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel”
We too can rise above our circumstances if we will place our complete trust in Christ. This life is just a staging ground for eternity. Our purpose is to glorify and honor Christ in all we do. We are to be an example of the fullness of joy we find in Him. We are to show others by the way we deal with adversity that our hope is not in our circumstances, but in the God who allowed them to be part of our lives. Sometimes Satan tempts us and tries to discourage us, sometimes it is our own flesh, our sinful nature that rises up to say, “what about me,” but at other times God is testing us to allow us to prove our trust and hope is in Him. When our confidence, our hope, is in Him alone, we can rise above the circumstances and live in a peaceful contented realm that the world cannot understand. When we study God’s word we will find many examples, and many truths, that will allow us to soar on eagle’s wings above the circumstances of life.
