Hard Times Hurt

It seems like more and more I hear of friends suffering because of the hard times we find our country facing. Friends are losing their jobs, getting cuts in pay, losing benefits, or worrying about when the layoff will effect them.  Others are watching their home fall into foreclosure.  To top it off, the paycheck seems to be spent way before it comes and it seems to be getting lower and lower.  Where do we turn?

I was thinking about the hard time of a friend earlier and remembered the story of Abram (later Abraham) in the Bible.

At that time there was a severe famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to wait it out. (Genesis 12:10)

When famine struck, Abram picked up his family and went to Egypt to wait it out.  But wait a minute...God had called Abram to leave everything and come to this land.  Why would there be a famine in the land where God had just called Abram?  This was a test of Abram's faith, and Abram passed. He didn't question God's leading when facing this difficulty. Many believers find that when they determine to follow God, they immediately encounter great obstacles. The next time you face such a test, don't try to second-guess what God is doing. Use the intelligence God gave you, as Abram did when he temporarily moved to Egypt, and wait for new opportunities.

I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me here has helped to spread the Good News. (Phil. 1:12)

As we live for Christ, we will experience troubles because we are trying to be God's people in a perverse world. Some people say that troubles are the result of sin or lack of faith, but Paul teaches that they may be a part of God's plan for believers. Our problems can help us look upward and forward, instead of inward (Mark 13:35-36; Phil. 3:13-14); they can build strong character (Romans 5:3-4); and they can provide us with opportunities to comfort others who also are struggling.

Allow hard times to bring you to a point of looking upwards rather than outwards.  Don't try to fix it - allow God to do that.  Just trust Him.  If you are like me, for the most part, I can look back on my hard times and see how God used them for my betterment.  I don't mean they didn't hurt; don't mean they always made sense; and I don't mean that God caused them necessarily.  But I DO mean that God used them!

We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. (Romans 8:28)

So if you are going through a hard time in a time that finds many doing so, hang in there!  Hold your head up and you tilt it up to look and listen for God.  He's still in control.  And He will see us through!

Steve