Hardships – February 27, 2024

“When suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”
Job 1:19

Hardships

It has been said that Job experienced the worst single day of anyone in history. Very few can say they experienced anything as tragic as he did on that day. Family. Wealth. Possessions. All gone in a flash. Who could compare their tragedy to his?

Has anyone tried to comfort you that way? Maybe you were going through something terrible, and the well-meaning friend said, ‘Well, at least you aren’t Job.’ Or ‘It could be worse; did you hear about what happened to so-and-so?’ When tragedy comes into our lives or the lives of others, we tend to focus on the size and severity of the event, as if to suggest that the magnitude of the event compared to others should make us feel better.

But that doesn’t work. Does it? Such ways of thinking do little to help the hurt we are feeling. In fact, comparing our hurt to others might leave us feeling unimportant or unloved. It is important for us to realize that it is not about the size of the hurt but the purpose of it. One of the things we learn from Job is that hardship is an opportunity for us to put our trust in God and lean on him.

God is not a stranger to hurt. He watched from heaven as his one and only Son died on a cross for sins that he did not commit. The Father stood by and sacrificed his perfect Son for a world full of sinners. Jesus suffered and died, and that hurt the Father more than we will ever know. But there was a purpose in that hurt. The purpose was for you and I and the whole world to have sins forgiven, to be saved, and given the gift of heaven. God allowed himself to go through that hurt so that we could have eternity in heaven, where we will never be hurt again.

Prayer:
Dear Jesus, when hardship hurts, help me to look to you and to find peace. Help me to focus my eyes on eternal life in heaven. Amen.