My Grandfather used to have an interesting expression, that I’m sure many of you have also heard: “The only two things certain in life is death and taxes!”
Seems like kind of a pessimistic outlook on life, but in all reality, when we look at our lives around us, change DOES seem to be the norm, don’t it? And change brings trouble. No matter where we are, no matter what we’re doing, no matter how good (or bad) things are going, we can be assured that there are more problems on the way!
So how do we stand firm in the midst of these endless problems?
This is the focus of this 4 part series, appearing on Saturdays through the month of August.
Our first lesson comes to us directly from the Bible. The people of Israel have been in Egypt for more than 400 years, and for many of these years, they had lived in slavery. They have cried out to God for help, and God, in His mercy, has sent them Moses to help them out. Unfortunately however, the very first thing that happens when Moses approaches Pharaoh is that suddenly, their bondage becomes much worse! Now they have to make as many bricks as they did before, only the straw needed will no longer be supplied! Now they have to find their own! (See Exodus 5:1-13)
Can you relate? You are deep in trouble, you cry out to God for help, and help seems to be on the horizon, but then this “help” seems to turn against you! God, where are you now?
Making the same number of bricks with fewer resources is naturally an impossible task, and the people are beaten for their inability to do what is being required of them (vs 14). They then turn against the one who has been sent to help them: “May the Lord look upon you and judge you! You have made us a stench to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” (Ex 5:21)
You can kind of see their point of view! I mean, it really doesn’t seem very much like this Moses is helping them!
But we know something they didn’t: We know the end of the story! We know that in the end, God brought them out of Egypt. And in the process, He plundered the very land that had been their captor. Egypt’s crops were ruined. Their cattle were killed. They lost all of their firstborn, including the crown prince of Egypt. And when they left, the Egyptian people sent them away with their gold and silver! (See Ex. 6-11)
We also know that because of Pharaoh’s stubbornness to keep the people in Egypt, God was able to reveal Himself to a people who had not ever been given the chance to learn about the almighty power of our God. In the end, it was a “win win” situation!
But from the perspective of the people in the early stages of the deliverance, it didn’t look much like deliverance at all.
Aren’t we, so often, in a similar situation? Life throws us horrible circumstances. We cry out to God, and our situation worsens. We get discouraged. We blame God for what is happening, and we sometimes even go so far as to turn our backs on Him.
But just as God wasn’t finished delivering Israel from their bondage after the brick and straw incident, He isn’t finished with us either. Just like God went on to perform miracle after miracle, just like God went on to plunder Egypt and to heap blessing upon blessing upon the people, and just like God revealed Himself to the people with a “With a mighty hand” (Deut 6:21), He will do the same in our situations.
So what should we do when we find ourselves in the midst of something terrible and things only seem to be getting much worse? We need to remind ourselves that this is only the beginning. We need to remember the story of the Egyptian bondage, and how there WILL be a “rest of the story”! We need to remember that we cannot see the full picture, but God can! And while He is bringing about our deliverance, He will also be busy working judgment upon those who have hurt us, revealing Himself to us in new and exciting ways, helping us build trust, and cleansing us of things that might stand between Him and us.
Let’s remember that no matter what we find ourselves in, we are always surrounded by God’s love. When God foresaw that we would go through situations, He also foresaw the way out. Our job is to trust Him, to believe that in the end, we will be thankful for what we’ve had to go through!
Prayer: Lord, help us, in whatever problems we are in the middle of at the moment, to remember that the piece of the story we see is only a small piece. There IS a way out. You have already prepared it! Our job is to blindly trust You to bring us through!
But wait. Blind trust isn’t an easy thing, and if this is the only option, then I, for one, am doomed to fail! Help!
But God in His mercy has given us tips for how to maintain our trust when the trials are closing in. Join us next Saturday for VICTORY IN TROUBLES, Part 2: The Tractor Key.
In His love,
Lyn
Lyn Chaffart, Mother of two teens, Speech-Language Pathologist, Author and Moderator for The Nugget, a tri-weekly internet newsletter, and Scriptural Nuggets, a website devoted to Christian devotionals and inspirational poems, with Answers2Prayer Ministries.
(To access the entire “Victory in Trouble” Mini-Series, please click here.)