You have two main positions to take in this life regarding God. You can live in blissful ignorance of Him, or you can accept His free gift of salvation. It helps to understand that while God can do what He needs to do WITHOUT you, He wants do life with you. He chooses and wants to be with you.
When you’re in a relationship with God, you start to see more clearly that everything happens for a reason. There are no coincidences as some worldviews would have you believe. To take this even further, He gives you divine appointments! Have you ever been in a situation or had an encounter with another person that felt orchestrated by God? God knows your needs and sometimes brings just the right situation (or person) into your life to encourage you and remind you that He’s there! He orders your steps. Psalm 37:23: “The steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord.” Isn’t it comforting to know that Someone is with you every step of your life journey?
Sometimes it can be difficult for you to understand why bad things happen to you. When something good happens, it feels like a blessing and makes it easy to be grateful. But when something difficult happens, it makes it hard to see God as loving and kind. It may help you to keep Romans 8:28 in mind, during the good times and the bad. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” God takes everything and uses it for His glory. Trials you go through are the result of a broken world, but pain has a purpose.
There are so many stories in the Bible that touch on this idea. Think of Ester and the hardships she had to endure, but all on her way to becoming a queen who would play a part in saving her people! Even the woman at the well John 4—if she hadn’t been an outcast because of her immorality, she never would’ve had a one-on-one encounter with the Son of God. When you experience pain, you can then experience God’s healing touch. Without pain, you’d never need to be healed. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 is a reminder that there’s a season for everything under the sun, the good and the bad! Delight in your good experiences, and look at difficult ones as opportunities to receive God’s healing.