When Facing Troubles, Look Up To God
Today’s Verse:
Hebrews 11:1 ESV
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
On Monday, I talked with someone who was dealing with some rather harsh health news. He was stunned and scared, not too far from anyone getting lousy health news from a doctor. He told me he was a “good Christian” who went to church every Sunday morning. He couldn’t grasp how such bad news could make him angry at God.
We tend to do that, don’t we? When we get bad news, God is always the culprit. God gave us our illness or our struggles, right? Everyone who has dealt with hardships, even Lutheran pastors, says the same to themselves. As I explained to my new friend yesterday, God doesn’t sit in heaven figuring out how to smite His people. There is no supercomputer telling Him to give cancer or some other disease to people. God doesn’t hand out sicknesses or struggles to His people. Instead, when our sinful world crashes down in our lives, God promises to be there to extend His love, grace, and mercy to us, just like He’s promised us from the beginning of our lives.
Our Lord provides us hope. And this hope isn’t in a miracle cure or the end of our troubles but in His Son, Jesus Christ. He promises us that by faith in our Savior Jesus, He will give us eternal life where there will never be any more pain or suffering. God won’t yank His promise if we get mad at Him because we’re sick in this life. His never-ending love engulfs our lives, so when we deal with a troubled period in our lives, we have confidence that He’s never far away. His promise of a life to come that forever will be glorious and happy with Him, His Son, and His Holy Spirit, and our brothers and sisters in this life who have faith and hope in Him.
When going through a health struggle, it isn’t easy to have a smile on your face. Christians try our best to remember God’s love daily so that when the aches and pains crop up, we remember our God who loves us.
Prayers
A Prayer for Today:
Loving Father, grant to all those struggling with life’s troubles an abundance of Your Spirit’s work within their hearts, enabling their faith to flourish and their hope to endure. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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