Life is difficult. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re never guaranteed an easy life. Jesus told His disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33, ESV), so it shouldn’t surprise us when hard times come.
People get sick or hurt. Disasters strike. Families fall apart. Believers face persecution for their faith. But above all, we must remember that we can’t allow our circumstances to determine our faith.
“If we built our theology upon our circumstances, none of us would be believers,” writes Neil C. Stewart at Tabletalk. “Now we are the children of God, but it often neither looks nor feels like it. Just like everyone else, we get sick, wrestle to break bad habits, struggle in our marriages, and watch our children make immature, foolish decisions. And in the end, just like everyone else, we die.”
Job dealt with heartbreak, pain, and torment. “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?” he asked. “For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves, or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver. Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light? There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.”
Naomi struggled with the difficulty of losing her husband and sons; she probably felt like she was going back to her hometown with her tail between her legs. “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me,” she told the people of her hometown of Bethlehem. “I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
Job remained faithful to God, who restored what he had lost. Ruth kept her faith and became an ancestor of King David. You may be thinking that these are great heroes of the faith, and that’s true. But there are lessons we can learn from those in the Bible who experienced disappointment.
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Enduring to the End
Stewart reminds us of the women who took the spices to Jesus’ tomb to anoint His body on the Sunday following His crucifixion. “As they trudge doggedly on toward Jesus’ grave, a litany of dashed expectations harangue their souls,” he writes. “For a while, it seemed that He could do anything: Jesus healed the sick, cleansed the leper, stilled the storm, banished the devil, and could even raise the dead. He saved others, but the one thing He couldn’t do was save Himself.”
He continues, “As they traipsed through the pre-dawn gloom, whatever these women were expecting, it was not Easter.”
The women had forgotten that Jesus’ death was something that not only he predicted, but the Old Testament prophets foretold it, too. But an angel was at the tomb to announce to them that Jesus had, in fact, kept His promises:
And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”
“One of the great themes of Mark’s Gospel is that when people finally figure out who Jesus is, they do not feel comfortable in His presence, for they find Him unnerving and uncanny and come away feeling more than a little afraid,” Stewart writes.
Later, he adds, “We tremble, of course, not because Jesus is terrible. He is not. His name is wonderful, so wonderful that even the seraphim, the burning angelic spirits created to live in the incandescent glory of God Himself, cannot bear the sight of His face. The Lion of the tribe of Judah roars with an undomesticated, heaven- and hell-shaking glory. So, with his last words, Mark gently corrects those who expect Jesus to be safe. Such an expectation won’t last a moment in His presence.”
We’re not guaranteed a safe, easy life as believers, but we’re guaranteed a good God who fights on our behalf and who promises us a perfect eternity with Him. That truth reminds me of the conversation in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” between Susan and Mr. Beaver about Aslan the Lion.
“Aslan is a lion — the Lion, the great Lion."
"Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion…”
"Safe?" said Mr Beaver..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.”
Jesus isn’t “safe,” at least not as the world defines safety. But He’s good, and that should be enough to remind us to remain faithful when circumstances are tough.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member