Trust in the Lord and Do Good
When you are involved in a conflict, you must decide whether or not you will trust God. Trusting God does not mean believing that he will do all that you want, but rather believing that he will do everything he knows is good. If you do not trust God, you will inevitably place your trust in yourself or another person, which ultimately leads to grief. On the other hand, if you believe that God is sovereign and that he will never allow anything into your life unless it can be used for good, you will see conflicts not as accidents, but as opportunities. This kind of trust glorifies God and inspires the faithfulness needed for effective peacemaking.
1. Have you been looking at this dispute as something that happened by chance, as something done to you by someone else, or as something that God allowed in your life for a specific purpose? (PM @ 59-65; see Rom. 8:28-29; Ps. 32:10)
2. What questions, doubts, or fears do you have because of this dispute?
3. Read Psalms 37 and 73. What do these psalms warn you not to do?
• What do they instruct you to do?
• List the comforting promises they provide.
4. How would your feelings, attitudes, and behavior change if you started seeing this dispute as an assignment from a perfectly loving and all-powerful God? (See Matt. 26:42; 2 Tim. 1:12; 1 Pet. 2:23)
5. What good might God bring about if you respond to this conflict in a biblical manner?
