Faith in God when life is difficult. 1
Many
of us have faced hard and difficult times during this lockdown from Covid-19. For some of us, it is the stress of
loneliness and not meeting people, for others it is balancing work at home with
home school, or the financial implications of the situation, which can lead to
anxieties about the future.
How
can we trust God in these situations of life?
Is there anything that gives us the confidence to choose to believe that
God is in control? As someone has said,
“Faith is not a feeling. It is a choice
to trust God even when the road ahead seems uncertain.”[1] We will look at some verses that give us
peace, confidence and hope in life’s difficult times.
The
first is one of the most quoted verses we hear when life is proving difficult,
but is a verse that we need to use wisely when helping others in their
difficult times. What they need is empathy, a listening ear,
and a walking along beside them through those times. However, this verse can prepare us for those
times when we find ourselves struggling with life. The verse is Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for
the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” This can be a hard verse to believe but it is
one of many promises that we can use to strengthen our faith in God. Often we are impatient and want to see how it
is all going to work out immediately. If
we could see the end there would be no need for faith. This verse encourages us to put our trust in
God when the going is tough believing that the end, whenever that might be,
will be the very best.
To be forewarned
is to be forearmed for those eventualities.
In 1 Kings 20:22 a prophet went to King Ahab and told him, "Strengthen your position and see what must
be done, because next spring the king of Aram
One
of the ways to prepare our hearts is to take in God’s word. God’s word can reassure our hearts that He can
be a trusted place of refuge. His word strengthens
our hearts so that our heart can rest in the knowledge that He knows and cares
for us. One example is Psalms 18:1-2 “I love
you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my
God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold.” Words
like these can be a great comfort to us.
Another
way to prepare our hearts is to rest in the promises of God. Here in Romans 8:31-39 Paul reassure us with a promise that can
give confidence for the future. Paul
puts it like this; no matter what may happen, whether it is “trouble or hardship or persecution or famine
or nakedness or danger or sword” (v.35) “I am
convinced that neither death nor life,…” or anything else “will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(v.38) What a comfort to know that we can believe
this promise because no matter what may happen, we will be safe. What an
encouragement to know that Jesus is also interceding for us. (v.34). There are many other promises that we can
take to heart and rest in as we believe that God will bring good out of the
‘all things’ which we face in life. God
may not work things out how we think or would like, and we may have to wait,
but we can believe and rest our hearts in God to keep his word.
To
be continued.
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