When the Going Gets Tough

Have you ever gotten mad at God?  There are times where things just don't seem to fit together like you thought, or you did not get the answer from Him you expected, and life just is not going at all smoothly.  I'm not talking about something superficial like you didn't get that new car you asked for.  I'm talking about gut wrenching issues, agonizing hurt, after long periods of time pleading.  Something that just makes you drop to your knees and scream, Why Lord?

You may be wondering, why Lord. why do the evil succeed?  Why do they get away with it?  How long, oh Lord, must I deal with this or that situation?  Why is it that I never seem to come out on top, Lord?  Why is it that I have been alone so long waiting?  Have you not heard me?  Can't you see that I am hurting?  Why have you not delivered me? 

I think many of us get to these desperate heart aching points in our walk where we just cannot see or understand the plan God is working in or through us.  Times where we almost can't find any words to express the anguish that we are feeling or the desperation that we are experiencing.  What are we supposed to do?  How are we to carry on when it just seems like the world is falling in on top of us and the bottom has dropped away?

I've been facing such situations recently, so as much as this is sharing with others, it is also a little therapy for myself here.  All those types of questions are swirling around in my head, and I am asking and pleading, wondering when is it going to end?  What am I supposed to do?

I got a word before the intensity of the situation I am in ramped up several hundred degrees. 

Galatians 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

When we are upset and troubled, even wounded deeply to our core, we still need to carry on in a way that is pleasing to God.  He made a promise to us in that verse.  We can't let our pain become so great that we begin hurting others.  We need to keep our focus on God and doing what is right, treating others as we ourselves want to be treated, doing our jobs to the best of our ability, being honest, not being a gossiper, etc etc...  If we do those things, we have a harvest coming.  We might not know when it is or how it is, but we can rest assured that it will come when it is ripe and ready and perfect for us.

I wish I could say that I have been a perfect soldier in this, but really, it is kind of a hard thing to do.  We are hurt and upset and do some things that don't necessarily help, or think we can do something about it and forget that God is the one in control.  We can get caught up in our emotions and reap some consequences we'd rather not.  That is the hard part about the "faint not" in that verse.    We can make things worse when we get like, I got this God.

I think that when we get past the initial "WHY GOD WHY?", we can settle back and look to the word for the practical applications of "how, Lord, how?"  Maybe God will bring some useful verse to remembrance like He did for me with the above verse, or we may stumble upon a teacher on the radio or TV that has a message that speaks to our situation, and we should of course look through the word and meditate upon what it says.  The instructions on what to do can be found there.

Another hard thing that we should be learning to do in tough situations is learning to trust God even more.  It is all well and good to trust God when things are going well, but when things happen and appear to be at their worst, that is when we really need to knuckle down with some serious faith and determined faith that says, despite what I am seeing and feeling, I know that that harvest is out there getting ripe and I have no doubt that if I do as the word says, the blessing is promised to me by God, and God keeps ALL his promises.