Setbacks or Setups?!

Well, it seems like the 500th day of wintergeddon here in the great state of Texas.  It's like quarantine 2.0...  only now you can't get in the car and drive around to break up the monotony, because of the snow.  We've built snowmen and had snowball fights and there's been tons of snow football games.  We've spent hours in front of the screens and countless hours putting together puzzles and playing board games.  We have taken family time to the max, and honestly I'm grateful for the time that we have had together these last few days.  

It doesn't escape my notice that we have very little precious time left, before my oldest two spread their wings and fly.  So, this last year there have been a million times that I have spoken a silent prayer of thanks, for the time that we have had to slow down and be together.  My younger boys will always remember the time that their giant teenage brother chased them around in the snow and built snowmen with them.  They will always remember making snow ice-cream with big sister.  They will always remember snuggling up on the couch with the whole family and watching movies.  Lockdowns and snowstorms have provided us with countless opportunities to make memories that I won't take for granted.  

I will always look back with grateful praise for the good that came out of all the bad.  At just the right moment in our family, the world came to a standstill and we were given the most precious gift of all... time.  Time to build stronger relationships, time to laugh, to love and to play, time to make memories that will last a lifetime.   

This morning during one of those Andrew and I were playing an intense game of "Snakes and Ladders" and as we slid down snakes back to square one and climbed up ladders to take the lead again, I started thinking about how this game is so much like what God has been showing me lately.  Every year for as long as I can remember the Spirit has spoken a single word to me that I could reflect on through-out the year.  A word that challenged me or gave me hope when things got hard.  This year that word was "necessary".  While people were looking hopefully into 2021 thinking we had left the worst behind, I had a different feeling about the future.  

Necessary was not really the comforting I wanted to hear, but I figured it was... well, necessary.  During a sermon at church the Lord confirmed truly this is what He was saying to me, when our Pastor was preaching from Luke chapter 24.  On the third day after Jesus had been crucified two of his disciples were making their journey back home.  All hope was lost in their eyes.  Jesus was dead.  The tomb was empty, but where was He, the hoped for Messiah?

As the disciples walked along the road arguing, Jesus appeared to them and confronted them about their unbelief.  He said to them, "How foolish and slow you are to believe all that the prophets have spoken.  Wasn't it NECASSARY for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter HIS glory?"  

Wasn't it necessary for Jesus to suffer, to be beaten, to be spit upon.  Wasn't it necessary for him to be betrayed, mocked, and hung on a cruel cross.  Wasn't it necessary that the Lamb of GOD be slain for the sins of the world.  Wasn't it necessary for the defeat of CROSS to proceed the VICTORY of the RESURRECTION.  For Jesus to enter into GLORY, HE had to endure the cross.  For Jesus to go and prepare a place for you and me... the cross was necessary.

The disciples had experienced the set back of the cross, but the cross was really a set-up for VICTORY.

While were battling out the world's longest game of "Snakes and Ladders" I experience quite a few trips down the slippery snake.  On the final slide down the snakes back I landed in just the right spot to win. It was the only way I could win with a sure and decisive victory.  When the dice landed I had rolled exactly what I needed to climb up the final ladder to VICTORY!!!  It was a long hard fight.  There were up and downs, setbacks and advances, but every stroke was necessary to bring me to final victory!!!  

It may be silly, but I can relate to this visual.  Whether it's a diet or keeping my house clean, homeschool or a bad habit...  I've allowed setbacks to define my thinking.  If I have a setback, I'm prone to give up.  I don't look at setbacks as opportunities.  I look at them as failure, therefore, I see myself as a failure.  I don't see myself as a get back up and start again kind of person, so I don't.  

My attitude toward a setback should be to fight harder to get ahead.  I should keep my eyes on the ladders instead of the snakes.  I should learn from the setbacks, but not dwell on them.  

I'm reading a book right now called "The Magic of Thinking Big" and I have been challenged to address my wrong thinking.  Instead of dwelling on the negative, even and especially about myself, I'm learning to focus on the positive.   I'm learning to look at the BIG picture and not the distressing details.  

In Exodus we read that God had seen the misery of his people in Egypt.  As they cried out to Him because of the oppression of Pharaoh, He was working out His plan.  God called a man named Moses to be His spokesmen and to tell Pharaoh to set God's people free.  As you can imagine, this did not sit well with the King of Egypt, and in turn for thinking that Moses could demand such a thing, Pharaoh turned his wrath on the Hebrews.  He increased their workload and made their lives more miserable than they had been.  As the situation became more unbearable the people turned on their rescuers and blamed them for making life harder for them.  

Moses went to God and basically said why have you done this to the people and WHY haven't you rescued them YET like you said you would.  God responded to Moses saying, "NOW you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong had he WILL DRIVE them out of his land.'  

God was using all the setbacks for a setup for  the final VICTORY.   Not only would Pharaoh let the people of God go, he would eventually DRIVE them out.  If you skip a few pages ahead and a few horrible plagues in between,  you see the final victory is the LORD's!!!  As the enemy pursues the people into the Red Sea, the parted waters come back together and Pharaoh and his army drown in the sea.  

As the New Year rolled around the Spirit whispered to my soul... necessary.  What ever comes this year, it is necessary for the greater work that He is doing.  It was necessary for Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery... to save many people alive.  Joseph told his brothers "what you meant for harm, God meant for good."  His setback was truly a setup.  As the Hebrews experienced affliction and oppression, God was making a way for them to be set free.  Their setbacks were really a setup.  When Jesus was dying on a cruel cross and the enemy was rejoicing over his victory...  it was really a setup for the greatest COUP of all time.  The setback was the greatest setup.  It was necessary for the LAMB of GOD to be slain so that by His death, burial and resurrection, He could set His people free from their sins.  

So with the mind of Christ and our eye on the final GLORIOUS prize, let us endure the setbacks that we have faced and will face with confidence. They will eventually lead to us being setup in Heaven at the right hand of the SON of GOD, who payed for our sins and redeemed us from the grave.  

Because "We know that ALL things work together for the GOOD of those who love GOD and are called according to HIS purpose."  Romans 8:28