Born for Trouble
Where did we ever get the notion that our lives should be without trouble and always happy? We certainly did not get that from the Lord. That idea has no basis in reality. If we just look back over our lives, we have experienced trouble in every season of our lives. Trouble is just a part of life. Yes, it got worse because of Adam and Eve's sin spreading to all of the human race, but I believe all finite creatures, like us, have troubles. We can't escape our weaknesses and the difficult times of life, much less our own emotions that are all over the place. We need to agree with Job's friend Eliphaz when he made his first speech to Job, when he was in such great physical and emotional distress. (Job 5:7) It is true that humans are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. Troubles are inevitable, and how we view trouble plays a huge part in if we will handle trouble well.
God sends us trouble, and He allows troubles to come into our lives, so we will grow. Trouble brings us to the point of having to admit our needs. We have to use our minds and our muscles to overcome the problems of life. That is a good thing. It sharpens our thinking process and even builds us physically when we deal with the strains of life well. However, mostly troubles push us toward God. They are designed to cause us to trust Him more, pray more, and listen to Him more. When life is going well, we tend to slack off on being dependent on God. We begin to think we can do things by ourselves and that we are doing well on our own. Those thoughts are very destructive. If we go that direction, God will have to send more troubles to show us how wrong we are. However, if we do trust God more, then it gets easier to trust God more quickly and better each time, so we are more able to handle troubles and to be happy at the same time. Whoever said that troubles will either make us bitter or better was right. We need to see troubles as good things for us and allow them to make us better. That is just a part of how God designed us and how He designed life.
#NHBaptistdotorg
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 6-8.