Life Is Hard
I know someone who was fired from her job for making a well-intentioned mistake. It all seemed so very unfair. This individual was hard-working, conscientious, kind, and caring. She always had a smile on her face and was ever willing to help fellow employees. Besides this, she was very knowledgeable, articulate, and experienced. I don’t think I knew of anyone who was better than her at what she did. All this and she truly had a heart for her work. It was a tragedy she was terminated.
Life is often hard (Jn 16:33). We expect it to be nicer, more enjoyable, safe, and comfortable. Why do we do this? This age is evil (Gal 1:4), Satan is the ‘god of this world’ (2 Cor 4:4), we struggle with a sinful nature (Gal 5:16-17), other people are typically self-centered, few are directed by God’s Word and by His Spirit – what do we expect? We are in a messy war where there are casualties.
Jesus said we must take up our cross daily. A cross is an instrument of torture and death. Life is not intended to be pleasant. Character is formed in adversity. We are to be “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29) but He “learned obedience by the things that He suffered” (Heb 5:8).
I was so very grieved at the injustice done to this fine person. It was heart-breaking. Yet, we must remember that life often seems unfair. Like Jabez, we must pray to be spared unnecessary pain and then trust the Lord to bring good out of that suffering which we do experience. Besides, if we really do believe that our Father is good, we will be able to trust Him by expressing thanks in every circumstance. We do this as we let God’s Spirit control us (Eph 5:18-20).
Loving trust is more important than mere head knowledge.