Never assume that your struggles in life are because you are failing as a Christian. God never said that He would take us out of trouble, but that He would be with us through it. However, He does help us to clean up so we won’t have as many stuggles to deal with.

Here is an awesome picture of how He does that.

He does not withdraw His eye from the righteous, but they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters, held in the cords of affliction, then He tells them their work and their transgressions, that they have acted defiantly. He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn from their iniquity. If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures. (Job 36:7-11)

I love this. It shows that the righteous still mess up. The ones seated with kings and are exalted can still be bound with affliction. But all we need to do is go before God and let Him tell us what the problem is. It’s usually something we did, an attitude or sin that we need to deal with. Once we do, He promises to bless us.

There is no condemnation in being human, only in disobedience  We will mess up. We will. But if we continue to humble ourself before God, He will open our ears and tell us exactly what it is that we need to do to be free of the cords that bound us. Sin does indeed bind us, but we don’t have to live with it.

Spend some time with God and see if the situations that you are dealing with can’t be cleared up by obeying His voice. If you obey and serve Him, life can be sweet.