September 5, 2024 | By Jay Ashbaucher
In my later years, I have seen changes in the world, and all not for the better; in fact, far from it. I’ve seen division and brokenness everywhere. There are churches not living in love and unity, families split apart, countries divided, wars escalating, and anxiety, anger and hostility in the personal lives of individuals. Throughout history, there have no doubt always been hard times of evil and pain. Of course, there are also intermittent good times, as well. Life does have its blessings and joys. Still, in a world where evil never dies, we need hope. We need a way to deal with things that threaten to destroy our lives of goodness, peace and safety. As I read the Bible, there is prophesied to be an escalating finish to it all and a need for God’s intervention to save us and recreate a good world. God gives us hope, but how do we grab hold of it and how do you get through life in the midst of hard times?
What is hope? Although we do it all the time, true hope is not wishful thinking. For example, “I hope the weather is good tomorrow so it doesn’t spoil our outdoor plans.” Or, “I hope I get a raise at work because daily living is getting more expensive and I feel like I’m going under.” The Bible says that “God is the God of hope” (Romans 15:13). True hope is not wishing for something in the future that I want to happen. True hope is the knowledge of what we can be sure will happen because the God who promises a good future is the God who can and will make it happen. For example, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28-29). We also know that “… He Himself has said, ‘Never will I desert you; nor will I ever forsake you’” (Heb. 13:5; Deut. 31:6, 8). Our hope is in God’s faithfulness.
Easy to say, but it is definitely hard to believe God is faithful when we are going through hard times. It can seem that God is failing us, or has failed us. Why isn’t He helping us? Why does He seem to have abandoned us? Why does He let wrong and bad things happen, and continue to happen? It can help us to know that many good people who have a strong faith in God, persons we read about in the Bible, have experienced those same thoughts.
A prophet of God said, “How long, O Lord, will I call for help and You will not hear” (Habakkuk. 1:2)? David, a man after God’s own heart, pleaded with God, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger to you…turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again before I depart and am no more” (Psalm 39:12-13). A messenger said to Gideon, “the Lord is with you.” Gideon responded, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?…the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian” (Judges 6:12-13). A man named Job suffered many things: his children were killed in a storm, all his wealth was taken from him, he also lost his health. In great grief and misery, he complains to God, “And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have seized me. At night it pierces my bones within me, and my gnawing pains take no rest… He (God) as cast me into the mire, I have become like dust and ashes. I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me…” (Job 30:16-20). One more example of feeling abandoned by God is Jesus Himself. Being physically beaten, and while suffering an underserved cruel death, he cried out from a Roman cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” (Mark 15:34). Was God unfaithful to Jesus because He let Jesus suffer death on a cross? Was God unfaithful to all the others because He allowed them to suffer great pain?
In light of the hardships and sufferings humans must endure, what does it mean to believe that God is faithful? I am convinced that anything I could say to try to defend God’s seeming lack of faithfulness to us would be unacceptable. The truth is that God does not promise us freedom from suffering in this life. We don’t want to hear that because it’s not very consoling and comforting. God’s definition of faithfulness differs from our definition of faithfulness. We are more self-centered creatures than we care to admit. We think life revolves around us and God must protect us from all evil and suffering. If He does not, He is to blame because He has the power to stop it. For many, this is why they reject the idea of there being a God. Even believers can become angry at God and decide to give up on believing in Him. This is a temptation we all face. God’s definition of faithfulness evidently is quite different from ours. Because we live in a wicked and sin-filled world, for some reason, God continues to allow evil and suffering, even using it as part of His ultimate plan to once again restore us and the world to goodness.
The Bible declares that God is a faithful God. It may encourage you to read these verses: Lamentations 3:22-23; Psalm 119:89-94; Romans 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; Hebrews 10:23. We can choose to believe God is faithful or not. Some of Jesus’ followers left him because he said some things they did not like. Jesus asked the remaining disciples if they also wanted to leave. This was their reason for staying with him. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. We have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:65-69). In the midst of things we do not like, we too can keep believing that God will be faithful. It is important to know that God allows us to complain, and it does not mean we have given up our faith in Him. In the scriptures, we see this truth in the lives of many people who complain to God, but keep the faith.
One of the things that helps me to keep believing in God’s faithfulness is the things that have happened in the course of my life to show me God really cares about me. You have experienced them too. Little things that seem only explainable by God’s working. For example, my daughter and I had a garage sale to help raise money for a mission trip we were planning to be part of. When the sale was over, I counted $199.50 we had toward the trip. I remember sending up a thought to God. I said, “God, if we had 50 cents more we’d have exactly $200.” At that moment, a little boy came to the garage sale. He wanted to know if he could buy something. I asked him, “How much money do you have.” He said, “fifty cents.” I told him he could have anything there for 50 cents. I have a list of many such happenings that I keep, so when I am suffering and tempted to doubt God’s faithfulness, I remember that He cares for me, and because I know He cares, He is with me right now in my suffering, and is helping me get through it. I also realize He is using my sufferings to grow me to be stronger and more mature in my faith.
We always have a choice in the midst of whatever our sufferings are, no matter how severe. We can choose to believe, or not, that God is good, He is just, He is compassionate, and He will fulfill all His promises; perhaps some now, but in the end, He will fulfill them all. The apostle Paul said, “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14). At the end of this statement (3:20-21), God gives Paul (and all believers), three promises of the prize he is pressing on to receive: (1) our citizenship is in heaven, (2) we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and (3) he will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory. Here is a promise from our Lord Jesus. “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). As you grow and mature through your sufferings, may you grow to experience God’s peace in the midst of it all. The certainty of His faithfulness is our hope.
