At the beginning of every new year, we’re encouraged to improve ourselves, make goals, and take control of our lives.  This isn’t wrong, but it’s only part of the story.  Besides turning inward, we need to turn Godward.  We find peace when we recognize that God is sovereign.  We can only do so much.  He is God and we aren’t. 

When we come up against the inevitable difficulties, sometimes God intervenes and works in clearly miraculous ways.  Often he uses other people to help us.  Other times circumstances take their natural course, but he gives us the strength to get through and changes us along the way.  It’s his prerogative to choose.  He always invites us to talk to him about our situation.  He never rebukes us for being honest with him.  (As if we could hide our feelings from him anyway!)  He promises to walk through the hard with us.  But he gives no blanket promises of miracles.  Only he knows best which circumstances will serve his good purposes for us.  

This isn’t doom and gloom stuff.  This is rock solid assurance that he is working for our best outcome.  He wants us to become our best selves and that normally doesn’t happen by giving us everything we ask for.  All of us know people who were spoiled by a parent as they grew up.  That word ‘spoiled’ may be more appropriate than we realize.  A parent who coddles, hovers, or indulges a child may be indeed spoiling their chances of becoming an unselfish, giving, others-centered adult.  Fortunately, God is in the business of changing us and he will give us life experiences that will refine our character if we cooperate with him.  No matter if we had an easy childhood or a difficult one, he will arrange circumstances to help us grow into a beautiful person like his Son.  All we have to do is obey his Word and completely trust that he has our best in mind.  We can candidly let him know that we may not like the situation, but we accept it from his hand and want to do the right thing.  

Jesus is our example of this right thinking approach to life’s hard things.  He knew he had come into the world for the purpose of sacrificing himself to pay for the sins of all.  But he recoiled at the price of pain – both physical and spiritual, he would have to pay.  Feeling the dark hours just ahead, he asked his beloved Father if there could be another way to save the world.  Yet, above all, he remained committed to God’s will.  He didn’t back out.  He didn’t demand. He requested. And his request was denied.  So he obediently went forward.

We try to avoid pain, as is normal and right. But if God allows pain, even that can be turned into a good thing.  God redeems bad things and changes them into good outcomes.  When we suffer, we become less proud and more dependent on God.  We become more tender with those who are hurting.  We can be an example to others of how to suffer and still trust.

The good thing about our hard times is that those are not the end of our stories.  Beyond those difficulties there is happiness.  Jesus willingly went through the pain and humiliation of dying like a criminal because he saw the joy on the other side.  He saw the millions he would pay the price for.  He saw you and me able to stand with him before God’s throne experiencing favor not because we were good enough, but because we were covered by his sacrifice. In those dark hours of suffering, he knew he would soon be back in Heaven with his Father and he would be bringing many sons with him.  Happiness, celebration, and perfection awaited.

“. . . keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.”  Hebrews 12:2

Think of great literature the world over.  The hero must surmount a serious difficulty.  In doing so, he becomes a better person and then things get better for him and those he loves.  If we never face difficulties, we never grow.  Until we reach Heaven and its never-ending happiness, we will face difficulties.  But we never face them alone.  And they always serve a good purpose.  There is always happiness on the other side of difficulties.  We can enjoy other-side happiness in the present and in the ages to come.

Sometimes we get to see happy endings.
Sometimes our stories end in ‘To Be Continued’.

Joseph in the Old Testament got to see a ‘why’ to his suffering.  He was hated and betrayed by his own family, enslaved, sexually harassed, reputation ruined, and unjustly imprisoned.  But he lived to see God’s deliverance, restoration, and elevation which resulted in him being enabled to save all his relatives from certain death and perpetuate the line of the Messiah.

Steven in the New Testament was also unjustly judged, but he was stoned to death and didn’t see the ‘why’ of his suffering. He didn’t live to see that the persecution that started with him forced other believers to flee which actually served to spread the Good News about Jesus far beyond his city and nation. He did, however, see Jesus and entered immediately into his eternal reward.

I got to see some ‘why’s’ in my mother’s early death.  Looking back, I see that if she had lived, I wouldn’t have gone to a particular college where I met my husband.  I wouldn’t have understood other people’s pain in losing a loved one.  I might not have lived overseas far away from her.

Some mothers when told to abort their baby due to birth defects detected in the womb choose not to kill their child and deliver a healthy baby.  Other mothers who choose life for their defective pre-born baby spend the next decades of their lives caring for a severely handicapped child.

^” So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.  These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.  The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.  They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.”  1 Peter 1:6-11