there's no blessing without trial
Human beings have a very impressive capacity to change, both for good and for bad, and this surprises me in a way. I analyze how God transforms our lives and makes us better people as we go through situations and grow through them. God gives us his identity and changes our name, eg; I am no longer the grumpy one, or the curmudgeon, now I am his daughter, transformed by him.
In the word it says that He has our new names written on white stones and those names represent our new identity in Christ. Christ does not calls us for what we were in our past, in our life before Him, He gives us a new identity, therefore old things have passed away and all are made new, God does not remind us how bad we were, it is as if at the time we reach Him all of the above would never have existed, we have a new book with empty white pages that we will begin to write in Him.
If we had not gone through trials and situations that shape our character, it would be impossible for the Lord to be able to use us, not because for God there are impossible, but rather because of our own good, we would have taken the glory for ourselves or we would not have measured up for the task at hand. It would not have been the same manifestation of his glory. The Lord has to process us before He gives us the blessing or before He sends us or we would get lost in the process.
In Genesis 32: 22, 24-30 it speaks of Jacob's struggle with the angel of Jehovah, who did not let the angel go without first blessing him, and Jacob fought with the angel of Jehovah until dawn broke, and the Angel had to make him lame in order to get away from Jacob and then he blessed him. They lasted hours fighting, and do you think the angel had no power to just get rid of Jacob and leave? Or do you think it was not easier to just bless him, and not go through the hard time of a fight?
How easy it would have been for the Lord to simply bless Jacob from the moment he met him, however he did not do so, he fought with him and let him defeat him, because it was part of his process, it was part of the transformation towards his new identity, Jacob would no longer be the usurper, but would be the father of nations, then after this Jacob defeated him because he fought with him and then the angel blessed him, but not before leaving him lame, and I understand that this represents the sufferings that we go through at the time of being molded, sufferings that are never to death but are for life and for blessing.
This is how the Lord works, He will never give you something before you beat the test, without growth, without overcoming there is no reward, because we would not be ready, we could not handle it, without test there is no blessing.
