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

The Art of Noticing.... Seeing what we need to see and what we miss when we don't

 What we focus on in life matters. Here are some scriptural reminders that will help us see correctly.  https://youtu.be/Rn76tV0ZH8s    
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This.... Which Way Are You Leaning?

   When Ben Patterson agreed to join three friends climbing Mount Lyell, the highest point in Yosemite National Park, he did not realize what he was signing up for.  Early in the day, it became clear that he was completely unprepared for the task.  In an effort to keep up with his more experienced friends, Ben took a shortcut.  It did not occur to him that there might be a reason the others had not selected this route, but he soon found out why.  Ben became stuck on the glacier.  He could not move up, down or sideways and one wrong move would send him sliding down a forty-five-degree slope to the valley floor miles below.   That is when one of his friends came to the rescue. His buddy leaned over the edge and carved some footholds in the ice.  He told Ben to step to the first foothold and immediately swing his other foot to the second, then his buddy would pull him to safety.  Lastly, his friend gave him one more piece of advice....
Post a Comment
Read more

Consider This: Press The Button!

  Consider This:  Press the Button! My favourite TV game show is Jeopardy.  I used to like it even more when my kids were younger, because I could easily beat them and look smart.  These days, after they have grown up and gone to university, it is much more difficult.  However, Jeopardy is still the only game show I will watch. In a book I read, a contestant who did very well on the show shared the secret to his success.  He said (and I am paraphrasing here), “You must press the button before you know the answer.  Everyone on Jeopardy is smart. Everyone knows the answer. The key to winning is to act.  You must jump in and press the button, assuming that your brain will catch up and supply the answer.  If you wait until you are sure, you will be too late!” Press the button! Too often, we hesitate, not because we do not know what to do, but because we do not want to do it.  Sometimes, we fail to act because we are not sure how the situatio...
Post a Comment
Read more