The Assignment You Didn't Choose | Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional | Matthew 27:32

Have you ever been handed a burden you didn't ask for? Sometimes God calls us to assignments that don’t align with our plans—struggling marriages, financial hardship, health battles, or the loss of a loved one.

In today's reflection, we look at the story of Simon of Cyrene from Matthew 27:32. He was just passing through when he was forced to carry the cross of Christ. Like Simon, we often view our unexpected burdens as inconveniences, but what if they are actually the exact assignments God is using to shape our character and draw us closer to Him?

Join us as we explore how to stop asking "Why me?" and start asking "Lord, what are You producing in me?"

In this video:
Reflecting on Matthew 27:32: The story of Simon of Cyrene.
Understanding God’s purpose in our unexpected trials.
A practical challenge for your day.
Reflection Question: What burden have you been resisting that God may be asking you to faithfully carry?

Daily Challenge: Instead of complaining about one difficult responsibility today, thank God for the opportunity to grow through it. Ask Him to reveal what He wants to produce in your character through this season.

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Transcript

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He wasn't volunteering for ministry. He was simply passing through Jerusalem. Hey, welcome back to the Restoring Warriors Daily Devotional where every day we challenge men to pursue the calling that God has placed in their lives. Hey, one of the ways we do that is through a program that we've cultivated here at Restoring Warriors. It's called the Warrior Path. And what that is, is a six-week journey through the book of Ephesians where we break down all of the different elements that it takes to be a man chasing after God's heart in this world today. We look at things like our identity, we look at unity, we look at Christian living, we look at fatherhood, we look at marriage, and then we look at what does it mean to be a man that is prepared, armored up for the spiritual battle that they go face out in the world each and every day. We're launching a new six weeks here on July 27th, and we'd love to have you part of that group. Go to restoring warriors.com, click on the Warrior Path, and you can sign up, register, uh, get more information about it there. Can't wait to see you on there. All right, we're diving back in. We're in the book of Matthew, we're in chapter 27, and this is verse number 32 here. It says, as they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. All right, we love the idea of following God's calling when it aligns with our plans. All right, we've got our plans, and we love when God's like, hey, yeah, I'll bless those plans. Let's move forward with them. But what happens when the assignment that we're given isn't something that we choose? All right, so this guy Simon, he wasn't necessarily out there looking for Jesus. He wasn't volunteering for ministry, he was simply passing through Jerusalem. All right, when at that point, Roman soldiers they grabbed him and they forced him to carry Christ's cross. And all of this, when it happened, his day changed in an instant. All right, many of us know what that feels like. We have a struggling marriage, we have financial hardship, we're raising children alone, uh, we're we're caring for aging adults, aging parents. Um, we we've got people in our lives that are battling addictions. We might be battling addictions ourselves, we may have received a diagnosis, we may have just had the loss of a loved one. We didn't ask for these crosses. We didn't ask for them. Yet here they are. They're in front of us. So what do we do? All right, what if the burden that you've been fighting is actually the assignment that God is using to shape you? So this guy Simon, he probably viewed the cross having to carry this heavy piece of wood however long up this mountainside. He probably felt like it was an unwanted inconvenience. It was probably most likely a burden to him. Yet he was given a front row seat to the greatest act of love that's ever occurred in the history of humanity. His unexpected burden became his closest encounter with Jesus. Right? Sometimes God will do his deepest work inside of us, not through the past that we choose, but through the ones that we would most likely avoid. And as men, we spend too much of our energy asking, why me? Why me? Why would you put this on me, Lord? Instead, we should be asking, Lord, what are you producing within me through this? All right, the assignment you didn't choose may become the testimony that points other men, other women, other people towards Christ. God will not waste a burden that's surrendered to him. All right, now I want to issue you a challenge for the day. Okay, this challenge, instead of complaining about a difficult task, a difficult responsibility that's assigned to you today, thank God for the opportunity to grow through it and ask him to reveal what he wants to produce within you. What does he want to produce in your character through this assignment, through this season that he's placed you in? All right, let's pray. Heavenly Father, help me trust. Lord, help me trust you with assignments that I never asked for. Lord, give me the strength to carry them with faith, knowing that you're using every single burden in my life to shape me into the man that you've called me to be. Lord, may I see your purpose instead of only my pain. It's in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Hey, thank you for tuning in today. If you were encouraged by this devotional, I encourage you to send it off to a friend. Make sure you like, make sure you subscribe, leave it a comment. It all helps us in the algorithm, helps us spread the gospel to more and more people. It's an absolute pleasure doing ministry with you every day. Can't wait to see up on the next one.