Why is life so hard?

The one question I hear a lot is “why is life so hard?”

Well, why is it hard? Why is that it that no matter how hard we try, how much we do, easy seems further away than when we started?

My answer is I don’t know. I don’t know why you lost your job, why you were diagnosed with cancer, why you can’t have children or why your spouse left.

What I can point to is the Bible. Not as some book that answers those questions, but as God-breathed words that gives us assurance that He knows our troubles, our pains and our questions.

The most frustrating thing I see going on in the church is this prosperity gospel. I will not judge those preachers, but to see someone like Joel Osteen stand in front of millions of people and say you aren’t experiencing Christ fully if you accept sickness, poverty and relational strife.
Jesus never once uttered that you wouldn’t be poor, wouldn’t be sick or wouldn’t have relationship issues.

His promise is that one day, in heaven, those things will pass away for those who trust in him as the one who put the sins of the world on his shoulders and died on the cross for us all so that we can have a true, personal relationship with God.

When life is hard, and it will be, the question shouldn’t be why. Rather, it should be what is God trying to teach me? How will God be glorified through this? How can I go through this in a way that shows other people that I love Jesus?

There’s a song by Jars of Clay called “Work.” I love the chorus, which says, “I have no fear of drowning. It’s the breathing that’s taking all this work.”

For those of us in Christ, the fear of death is gone because our true home is in heaven. But life is going to be tough.

Hebrews 10:22 says “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

Do you believe that today? Do you believe that God is faithful? And if you do, do you know what that means?

I want you to know that God’s faithfulness has nothing to do with making our lives easier and everything to do with his own glory. God has created us to make much of him. Not because he needs the attention, but because he loves us.

Perfect joy is found in his son, Jesus, but we let the difficult circumstances of life to drown that joy out.

I love in the movie, Facing the Giants, when the real coach of the Georgia Bulldogs, Mike Richt, says “Well, in God’s word, he said 365 different times ‘Do not fear.’ Now if he says it that many times, you know he’s serious about it.”

That means each day of the year, we have a different piece of scripture that tells us not to fear.

Today, take heart in 1 Peter 3:14, which says, “But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, do not be frightened.”

I pray that God would comfort your hearts today, because I know that someone reading this is going through something they don’t understand. I’m right there with you, wondering the very same things you are.

And I’m praying for you to have the same peace I’m asking God to cover me with.

I leave you with Psalm 18:2-6, and pray your heart is comforted in his love.

“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

“I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

“In my distress, I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple, he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”