Trusting In What?

I've been spending the past couple of months teaching my jr. highers about pain, sickness, and healing. This past Sunday we talked about Job. Job seems to creep into our lessons a lot and this time we talked about what God said to Job. Expecting God to comfort him and help him, Job was pretty much blown away by who God is. God didn't give him words of comfort and give him answers, instead He asked Job more questions like "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?" and "Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?" "Tell me, if you know all this." God was pretty much moving Job's focus from himself onto God. What did Job say in reply to all that God said to him? Well, the first thing he said was "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted." I believe one of the things God was trying to get across to Job is "trust Me." God is the creator of the universe! God can do anything He wants to! So, don't you think that trusting that He knows what's best and that He is working it all together for good is a wise thing to do??? Well, yeah!
One of the things I had my class do was take a sheet of paper and list out things that only God can create. Sure enough it turned out to be a difficult task, because they started naming off "products" of what God has created. They said "wood" and "diamonds." I told them that they weren't completely incorrect. I had to explain to them that wood is a product of trees and God made the trees, but God didn't say in the beginning when he created the earth "let there be wood!" Then I had to remind them that diamonds don't come in the form of a diamond, but a rock. Right away one of them said, "so, God created the rock!!!" Of course God created the rock, we produced a diamond from the rock. The things they wrote down became more and more exciting for them because they had to think about what I call the "product factor." One of the teenagers said, "we can make grapes!" I told him that we cannot and he said "but, we put the seeds in the ground!" I had to remind him again that we we don't create the seed. So, this brought a twist to the "product factor" and I had to explain what types of products were our making.
I then turned the conversation to people. I asked them the question, "so, what things does God create in people?" It took them a few minutes to understand what I was asking, but eventually they started naming off things like "organs." One person said emotions. Hehehehe! I enjoy teaching class because I don't just sit there and talk, but I challenge them to talk and to think. Well, saying "emotions" was exactly the direction I was heading in. I asked them if God created love. They said yes. I asked them if God created joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self-control. They all said yes as though I were trying to trick them or something (quite funny). So, I then asked them that if God created them and and their bodies, souls, spirits and so forth, that wouldn't He have also put within them love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and self-control? They all looked at me as if I had two heads and I just laughed and had them look at Genesis. We discussed Eve. We talked about how Adam and Eve had everything they needed in Eden. Then I asked them why Eve ate of the forbidden fruit. They gave me several different answers. I said "so, did Eve giving into the temptation of Satan and what he was saying about God only tricking her and Adam show that she lacked trust in God?" They immediately had a ton to say on that and they were getting so excited that all I could do was sit there and smile. So, finaly I told them that for centuries the lack of trust in God has destroyed people and nations. We talked again about Job and his lack of trust. Then I brought the topic back to the fruit of the spirit. I asked them where God lived and the Sunday school answer was of course "in us!"
I had to explain to them that since God lived within them that they had the ability to love, to laugh with joy, to show kindess to others, and to feel peace. One of them frowned and said sadly "but, the Devil is a liar and he tries to tell me othewise." I told him "The Devil IS a liar!!! The word of God says that you can lay hands on the sick and they will be healed, raise the dead, and cast out demons!" This just brought another round of excited chatter and I sat listening to them tell each other "yeah! God created faith! I didn't create it! He's given it to me! The Devil wants to take it!" So, I asked them "what are you going to do about it?" One of the girls said "fight back!" Tears whelled up in my eyes and I said "yes, you will."
I give the class a challenge every week and this week's challenge was to not allow the Enemy to discourage them, but to remember that they can do all things through Christ. I told them that when they get frustrated this week to remember that God has given them the gift of patience but it's up to them whether they will use it, and that these gifts can become waste or great fruit in their lives. I told them that even though God has created all things and He can do whatever He wants, He has given us the right to CHOOSE. I told them to refuse to choose defeat and to trust God in whatever He asks or does and make the right choices.