What makes us struggle against the problems and the darkness of life? It’s the fact that we were not initially created to live in a fallen, fractured, hostile world. However, here we are living in that very place, like it or not.
I hate to pop anyone’s bubble, but everything and everyone around us is flawed, and problems are going to flow in our lives just as surely as eggs are eggs. “Man is born to trouble as sparks fly upward!” (Job 5:7). I’m not saying we shouldn’t struggle against trouble or try to avoid it in any way we can, but it seems that we’re wrong when we think we have some sort of right to live a life filled with joy, happiness and fulfillment. We think that if we’re having problems we’re the unlucky ones while everyone else out there is having a good time. We think that if we can just get around the next corner of life the sun will shine and all will be laughter and song.
Well, I don’t wish to be the prophet of doom here, but the truth may be quite different. As a recent social media meme stated, if they can hate and kill the perfect man – Jesus – you may as well stop straining yourself to be accepted by the world around you: it isn’t going to happen. Human nature is a nasty, deceptive and destructive thing, and wouldn’t you know – we’re all human.
GODLY OPTIMISM
Neither am I saying we should just buckle under and let the world crush us, I’m not asking everyone to be rabid pessimists and always expect the worst in every situation, or that we should go around with our face to the ground crying and wailing. I’m certainly not saying we shouldn’t look to the Lord for help or deliverance in any given situation. I’m saying that we should expect trouble because that’s the kind of world we live in. We should stand and face it just as squarely as the pro wrestler stands and faces his opponent. He could pretend he’s there for a picnic and a love party, but the truth is he’s just about to get thrown to the canvas unless he’s fully ready for it, and perhaps even if he is ready for it. Trouble is a normal part of life, unfortunately. Let’s not cry and wail and pout when it happens.
Perhaps we would serve ourselves well if we were to expect challenges. We should find a way of standing strong and confident in a world determined to slide down the slippery slope to destruction. Initially we need to avoid as much trouble as we can. Consequences often come in our lives because of our own choices or actions. Consequences come to us from the choices and actions of others: they are inevitable. Therefore We should look out for them, avoid them, and then when they get through our defenses, deal with them or mitigate them in the most godly way we can.
The number one reason people give for rejecting faith in God is all the trouble in the world. We don’t want to fall down that hole, do we? Therefore we need to believe the words of our Lord who, facing his own enormous challenge, told his disciples,
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
TEAMWORK
James counselled us to find joy in our trials by seeing our God in them and in their outcomes (James 1:2-4). The wrestler relishes the coming battle and trains for it. He faces it like a man, and he embraces each encounter – literally. Don’t believe those who tell you “It’s all God”. No, it’s all teamwork. We do what is expected of us, what he has taught us to do and how he has taught us to live as recorded in the Bible, then He does the rest.
We win when we place our trust and our ultimate future in the hands of our creator and in his son Jesus Christ. It may not appear in this world that we are winning, but win we will, and we can even walk successfully through the valley of the shadow of death, if He is our companion. Scripture doesn’t promise us an easy ride in this world. It’s not earthly bliss and ease which our God has promised us, but ultimate and lasting victory for those of us who trust in Him. Our natural attitude is to wait for life to become a bed of roses. Instead we need to deal with life in the strength and wisdom he gives us to use – the armour of God – and place our hope fully in the victory He has promised.
If God is for us, who can be against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31, 35 – 39).
Fuel for Faith, Food for Thought 