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Foundational Studies
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"When Trouble Comes My Way..." By Chris Green
Life is always changing, and there are always new occurrences that give rise to responses that are inescapable. There is no getting around a roadblock—you can try to drive through it, but all that will result is a broken down car. What we end up having to do is trust that the road crew knows what they are doing and in time will eventually fix the problem. So it is with God. Each day there is something that "gets in the way" and we must react to it. Sometimes it is nothing bigger than the snowflakes flaking off the windshield, and we barely even take notice of it. Sometimes it is a tree limb and requires a good swerve to avoid but it hardly takes time from where we are trying to get. But then there are the roadblocks that back up traffic for a good hour or so. Ones where you turn the oldies on and watch nature for an hour or so. However, what must be realized is that these are all placed in our lives at certain times for certain reasons. There seems to be three possible (or perhaps more) responses. One is like King Ahaz, where you continue to turn from God in times of trouble and hardship and turn to devices that seem to work for others. One needs to be careful in this because many Christians will turn to what is perceived as "religious" or "spiritual" answers but are as far from God as Satan himself. Remember, many prophets know the ways of the Lord and His Law is on their lips, but far from their hearts. We tend to find security in our religion instead of our identity in our status before God because of Christ’s intervention. The second type of response is like that of King Uzziah…where we follow God for a bit, while things are good, but then pride sneaks its ugly face in and we divert to our own self-will and end up following our own intuition instead of God’s guidance. This is close to the situation described above. Many times we use God as our cover up for self-centered motives that are concerned for ourselves, though we do them in ways that deceive others into thinking they are selfless and giving. Again, we must be careful. Christianity’s evidential actions must be conceptually initiated. Though, "faith without works is dead". Nevertheless, to epitomize following Jesus merely on the basis of ethics is unfair and really a misjudgment. We are to look on the heart, which is where God seems to be focusing most the time. The third possible response to life’s roadblocks is to trust, and this corroborates what I just stated. Since Christianity is quite conceptual than what we give it credit for, we often think that it is the physical responses that indicate how we feel. But really, it is our trust that must give rise to those reactions. And often the reaction should be that of waiting, and not acting without thinking. There is much to applaud in those that "wait on the Lord" for His ways are higher than ours, and we often are so focused on the immediacy of our lives that we forget there is a much larger picture being painted than the speck we represent. It is much easier to work towards something of great reward, but when we are forced to wash dishes, cook dinner, play with our younger siblings…we tend to stray because those are of "little" value. Though, anything that makes someone else want to follow Jesus more is quite substantial in my lowly opinion. What we must be certain to remember is that life is a circuit of happenings. Nothing under the sun is new. In every age and every culture, people have endured hardships, some have been given the "easy" life (if such a thing exists), people cry, people laugh. What is important is our response to those situations. Do we fall away from God even more? Do we follow Him and then take pride in that and fall just like the guy before us? Or do we trust. Do we keep following that which we know what is right and faithful? Eve though that may seem futile and not really working towards anything of value? Do we trust in that which we cannot see and give praise and glory for that which we can see? I hope that the longer we live, the more trusting we will become. To truly realize and believe that God is in control. He is aware of our situations, and even if things do not go according to plan, they are still under His supervision. Difficulty and trials are definitely in our way as we serve those in Price Hill. Yet we have every reason to have faith that God is aware of our hopes to further His offer of salvation to those who have never heard, or who have heard but have not realized the true blessing in submitting everything over to Him. Let’s not shy away, take pride, or neglect our obligation to those around us: may we rest in God’s care and that as we serve Him, all things will work together for good to those that love Him.
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