When all hell is breaking loose

All hell may be breaking loose. Financial upheaval. A family in shambles. Tragic loss of a loved one. Over powering sickness or disease. Lost hope.
To the person walking in Christ-faith facing a life challenge, two inner voices can resound as described in 2 Corinthians 6:10, “Our hearts ache, yet we have the joy of the Lord.”
Our natural human response expresses its pain; but, underlying the pain is a deep trust in God that says as Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” Oh, the joy and peace that grows within as we learn more and more about God’s grace and love for us. Our pain becomes gain as we see how God is allowing the trauma to build in us character qualities we wouldn’t experience without the situation.
(A counselor’s caution: a human response without a spiritual foundation can lead to great despair. Focus on the spiritual foundation and deny the human response and you get repression which leads to all sorts of physical/mental/emotional problems.)

“There is nothing, no circumstance, no trouble, no testing that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has come past God and past Christ, right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose.
“As I lift up my eyes to Him, and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing for my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will ever cause me to fret, for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is.” Alan Redpath

My challenge. Your challenge. Spend time with God consistently, knowing Him through Scripture, like Matthew 7:11 that states, “You earthly fathers, being evil, love to give good gifts to your children, how much more your heavenly Father wants to give good gifts to you.”
“Abba PaPa, I’m not excited about the situation in which I find myself. It is painful. It is confusing. However, I know you love me and want the best for me so, by faith, I rejoice in what I’m experiencing – not the pain, not the process, but the product. You promise in Psalm 84:11 that ‘no good thing will you withhold from those who walk in obedience.’”

Even when all hell is breaking loose.