A week ago my wife and I took a two day trip and stayed near Hershey, PA. We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast on a horse farm, and we were ten minutes away from Hershey Park. We spent a day at the park and had a lot of fun. I usually don’t like riding roller coasters, but with the help of my wife’s encouragement, she got me to ride on more roller coasters than anyone ever has! While being a way for two days was nice, the reality of what was to come hit me the night before we came home.
When we arrived home from our trip, I started feeling anxious and angry. There were stacked boxes all around our apartment with our things packed for our move. While I’m not proud of this, I gave attitude towards my wife. My tone towards her was rude, sarcastic, and straight up mean. Eventually my wife had enough and said “What is wrong with you? What is the real reason you are like this?” I walked out of the living into the kitchen trying to hide my tears and emotion. I eventually went back into the living room and shouted “I feel like a loser! I feel like I have failed you and our family! I can’t provide the family or the life we both desire!” I finally broke and I could no longer hide my true feelings. After we talked, cried, sought forgiveness, and held each other, I went outside on our front porch as the remnants of Hurricane Ida passed through.
As I watched the rain pour down and the trees bend as the gusts of wind blew, I thought of Job and how the Lord challenged him. Job 38:22-30 reads as followed;
“Have you entered the place where the snow is stored? Or have you seen the storehouses of hail, which I hold in reserve for times of trouble, for the day of warfare and battle? What road leads to the place where light is dispersed? Where is the source of the east wind that spreads across the earth? Who cuts a channel for the flooding rain or clears the way for lightning, to bring rain on an uninhabited land, on a desert with no human life, to satisfy the parched wasteland and cause the grass to sprout? Does the rain have a father? Who fathered the drops of dew? Whose womb did the ice come from? Who gave birth to the frost of heaven when water becomes as hard as stone, and the surface of the watery depths is frozen?”
Obviously Job didn’t have the answer and if we are all honest, neither do we. The point the Lord was making to Job, and to us, is that He is the One who is control of all things, since the beginning of time. Yes we make our plans, but the Lord directs our steps. There will be troubles in our life, but the Lord is sovereign through it all. It’s easy to have trust in the Lord when things are easy, but the true test of our faith comes in the midst of our storms. James 1:2-4 reads;
“Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.”
Notice how James says that during our troubles to consider those troubles as an opportunity for great joy. This doesn’t mean we go seeking troubles to happen in our life, but to look for joy in the midst of our troubles. How do we find joy? I personally believe it is by having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, hoping in His promises, and know that the love of the Lord is with us in our trials. The enemy during our times of troubles want us to feel defeated and down for the count, but hold tight to the truth of the Word of the Lord.
“God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
-Michael A. Kubus
MAK 