2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Here are 3 signs God is positioning you for his provision and increase.
1. If God Is Giving You the Opportunity to Remain Faithful Even When You Don’t Get What You Want, He Is Positioning You for His Increase
How you react to unfavorable situations will be what determines if you are positioning yourself for a blessing or positioning yourself out of a blessing. One of the strongest examples of this can be seen between the interactions of the gentile woman and Jesus.
Mark 7:25 states, “But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet.” In Matthew 15:22, we are told this woman came to Jesus “crying.” There’s nothing I can imagine that would warrant sympathy in the hearts of most than a little girl in need and her mother crying for help. This is why Jesus’ next remarks can be so confusing to us.
In Mark 7:27, Jesus said, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” In my human reasoning, my reaction to Jesus’ statement is, “A simple no would have sufficed.” But when we keep reading, we see why Jesus answered this woman in this way.
In Mark 7:28-29 it states, “But she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ And he said to her, ‘For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.’”
Wow, her first words back to Jesus after he compared her to a dog was, “Yes, Lord.” Is that how we respond when God does not do what we want? Our poor responses simply reveal why we are so often refused the blessing we seek. We are showing we are not ready for it. Notice what Jesus said to this woman’s faithful response to his no, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.”
Her faithful response to Jesus’ no is what led to her receiving Jesus’ yes. Without his first denial of her request, she could not have responded to Jesus the way she did. And as Jesus said, it was actually her response to Jesus’ refusal to bless her that actually positioned her for his blessing.
So often we don’t get the yes because we behave so poorly and immaturely when God says no. God often gives us a no because he is giving us an opportunity to position ourselves for his yes. When God says no, we can respond in faith; and through faith, God often is positioning us for his blessing of increase.
2. If You Are Running Out of Earthly Options, God Could Be Positioning You for His Heavenly Provision
When something is humanly impossible, God loves to show up because then he gets all the glory. This is what happened in John 2 at the wedding of Cana. Jesus didn’t turn the water into wine until their wine had completely run out, “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine’” (John 2:3).
The wine wasn’t about to run out. The wine wasn’t almost gone. The wine had run out. It was completely gone. Mary then went to Jesus. Likewise, God often uses our complete emptiness and inability to draw us to Jesus.
When there is no other option, when we’ve exhausted all viable solutions, and still we don’t have what we desire, it is here where God is often positioning us for his blessing:
- You may have tried every online dating app. You may have talked to every person who is single in your church. You may have even tried to date people you weren’t physically attracted to – but still, you are unmarried even though you want a spouse.
- Or perhaps you have applied to every single company in your region. You have gone on interview after interview. But still, you are unemployed.
- Or maybe you have read self-help book after self-help book. You have confessed your sins to your pastor and asked for help. You have put blockers on your computer and phone. But still, you keep falling to your porn addiction.
When you are at a loss, stay faithful (Colossians 1:23). Keep trusting Jesus (John 11:40). Don’t give up (Galatians 6:9). Even when there seems to be no hope, keep hoping in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). When you have no other options but for God to show up, this is often when he is seeking to position you for a blessing.
3. If God Has Brought You to Your Knees, He Is Positioning You for His Blessing
When Jesus saved Paul, it states, “And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’” (Acts 9:4).
When God told Ananias to go and pray for Paul, he said, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16).
And when Paul pleaded with God to remove the thorn in his flesh, but the thorn remained, Paul then said, “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Likewise, if God has humbled you and brought you to your knees in surrender to him, he has positioned you for his blessing (James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:6).
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” -2 Corinthians 4:16-18
