While it’s true that God has great plans and purposes for our lives, I worry that we can forget that the Lord cares about our hardships along the way.
Let’s face it: when we hit bad bumps in the road of life, it’s hard to believe what Paul tells us – that all things work together for the good (Romans 8:28). Finding value in tough situations is never as simple as “looking on the bright side” or “turning lemons into lemonade.”
But God never asks us to renounce our genuine feelings of fear and frustration. Read the lamenting Psalms (for example Psalm 22 – the one Jesus quotes on the cross) and see how honestly God’s people confess their woes. Notice further how the act of baring the soul to the Lord actually effects a change of attitude (in Psalm 22, the transition begins in verses 19-21 and the balance of the Psalm is positive). Finding the good in hard circumstances requires grace. God provides it eagerly, but our faith has to reach to grasp it.
When I am going through a time of trial, I have found that I can only receive this grace that vaccinates me from despair in small dosages. I ask for a sign at least once a day that God is attending to my misery. A stray piece of kindness from a friend, a stranger – even a parking place in rainy weather, can warm my heart to divine presence and care. I can remain in tremendous pain over the present heartache, but nonetheless know that the Lord has my back and will redeem this current trouble into something worthwhile.
Looking back on times that I suffered through I realize how fertile they were for the growth of my faith. Though I would never want to repeat those torments, it’s amazing how these excruciating experiences have molded me into a person more capable of connecting with the sorrows of others. It seems uncanny the number of times I have been able to sense anguish in another because he or she is going through something I have recently endured.
God calls us to walk a narrow path: confront life’s adversities and inequities with empathy and honesty, but never with pessimism. God may not exempt us from the consequences of our own or even other people’s sins but nonetheless has real answers – not simple bandaids – to all problems. More than this, the Lord vows to stand beside us and sow seeds of good in the soil of our trouble.
God’s grace won’t make our bumpy roads graceful, but the Lord’s help is nonetheless gracious.
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