Hope in Hard Things—By Randy
“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” Psalm 119:71
Last week, my wife and I got to spend 4 days at Tumalo State Park camping in our travel trailer. What a beautiful part of the country with high desert, blue sky, and beautiful mountains. It was a wonderful time. What made it so wonderful was not just the camping in a beautiful spot, but the experience we got to have on the Ranch while we were there. We went for a 4-day training. The Ranch was incredible…horses, beautiful green pastures, round pens, riding arenas, houses…it was a dream. But you know what made it so incredible, was the presence of God and His people.
Rebecca and I met some beautiful people at the Ranch. But this one lady we are particularly fond of because we got to interact with her several times and for some reason, God used her to encourage us in some specific ways. She shared her testimony with us. Her story is filled with tragedy and really hard things. But one of the things that stuck out to me when she shared her testimony was when she said, “I’m glad it happened”. What! Wait a minute!! You just got done talking about a situation that most people would cut & run, jump off a cliff, or “lose” their faith. But you, dear woman, just said that “you’re glad it happened”! How can this be?
I don’t like to go through hard things. I really like my comforts. I really like for things to go my way. But as you probably know, life is full of things that go directly opposite of what you and I would like.
This is why the scripture above stands out. The Psalmist knew something that this dear woman at the Ranch knew. When we experience hard things in life, we have a choice. We can go back to Jesus to learn what He expects in and through each situation which leads to Hope. Or we can rely on ourselves through the suffering which leads to hopelessness.
Every person will have hard things in life to varying degrees. The question is, will you go to Jesus so that You can learn His expectations which lead to Hope?
Jesus suffered so that we don’t have to suffer forever but have hope for a future in an exciting new world where there is no suffering. Please consider going to Jesus today to Thank Him for His suffering and learn from His Word.