Skip to main content

When Life is Hard


              Some weeks in your life live on forever in your memory, either because they were so great or so bad.  Without going into detail, let me just say that I will remember last week for a long time, but not because it was good. 

That, then, brings up an interesting question for people of faith:  “What do you do when life is hard?” 
    
              Some people throw in the towel.  Their thinking seems to be, “I have been faithful and God has not protected me.  Therefore, either God is not there at all, or if he is there he is mean and uncaring”.  That thinking, though, rests on an assumption that God’s only purpose is to cater to our wants and desires as if he is somehow our “Holy Butler”.  What if that is wrong?  Maybe (as we see with our own kids) being “overprotective” is the worst thing God could do for us.  Certainly, some of the most people in the Bible faced “ups” and “downs” in life.  Even Jesus faced times of sadness and struggle, so if God’s own son was not immune from it, what would make us think that we should be?

            That, then, brings us back to the question:  “What do you do when life is hard?”  Part of the answer, at least, can be found in the Old Testament book of “Psalms”.

            Psalms is the “hymn book” of ancient Israel and there is one type of Psalm that outnumbers all the others: “Laments”.  To “lament” means to “to mourn aloud, to wail” or “to express sorrow”.  More than 50% of the Psalms say things like: How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? (Psalm 13:2); I have suffered much (Psalm 119:107);  Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief (Psalm 31:9): In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears (Psalm 18:6).

            The thing to note is that the writers have not stopped talking to God.  In spite of their problems, they continue to believe that God will see, hear and act.

            When the storms of life come (and they will), letting go of God and his promises only compounds your trouble.  The thing to do is to hold on even more tightly until the storm passes.

            Fortunately, God is a master at working in the storm.  

Remember, every miracle ever performed started with someone who had a problem.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Terrible Trade

            I used to have a Wayne Gretzky rookie card.               However, when I was 12 years old I did not like Wayne Gretzky, so I traded the card to my brother.   A few years ago, I remembered that incident, so I went looking for the card. Sure enough, there is was in a box in my mom’s basement.   Now here is the thing:   even in bad shape, Gretzky rookie cards sell for around $250.   Needless to say, that was not a good trade on my part.   I simply did not recognize what I had and so I traded away something valuable for something with almost no value at all.             With that in mind, notice how the letter to the Galatians starts: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Good Funeral

As I write this article, it is Monday morning and I am getting ready to go to a funeral. As I think about the day ahead, I am not anticipating a sad day. There will be sadness in it, some tears will be shed for sure, but this will be a day of celebration. For as long as I have known them, and for many years before that, George and his wife Doris have been faithful followers of Christ. Their faith was not just something that they talked about or something that they had in name only. Rather, it was something that influenced how they lived, what they valued and how they saw their entire lives. George was not a very vocal man, but he was influential. His home was always open to anyone who needed a meal or a place to stay. In fact, that is how I first met them. When I was an intern, preaching in the town of Wawota , I stayed with George and Doris. When our Bible camp needed a place to go for a hayride, George and Doris were the first ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Don’t Be a Tourist

                  From the moment that God told Abraham to leave his home and follow him (Genesis 12:1-3), God’s people have understood that they are on a journey.                 That being true, the essential question becomes, “How are you making that journey?”   T here are two options: You can be a tourist or you can be a pilgrim.                   Tourists leave their real life behind for a little while so that they can visit another place.   Generally, they travel in groups and do not mix much with the local people.   They hit the highlights of various regions, but they do not really experience what it is like to live in that part of t...
Post a Comment
Read more