So, you say you have problems, huh? That may be true. What kind of problems do you have then? Are they life-threatening, substantial, medium-grade, or just irritating little buggers that never seem to die off? Problems can run the gamut, and, in some ways, we are born for trouble.
For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.
– Job 5:6-7
We all have problems. Heck, as Christians, we can expect to have even more! It’s how we respond to them, though, that really matters.
Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
– John 15:20
That’s just a baseline perspective for us to absorb. Here’s a shocker for you. According to Holy Scripture, our problems multiply when we get married!
But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that.
– 1 Corinthians 7:28
Probably not what you expected to hear from a married pastor, huh? It’s the truth. I’ll take it one step further and say having children brings even more problems into your life! These are the types of problems that often keep people distracted from the ultimate remedy. (For the record, I love my wife and children.)
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
– Mark 4:18-19
Problems left untended are a source of drudgery and depression. With the right attitude, though, problems represent an eminent source of victory, praise, and worship.
Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
– Job 1:20-22
God opposes the proud but loves to shower the humble with grace (ala James 4:6). It gives Him the opportunity to reveal His love. He especially loves to deliver the humble from their troubles.
You save a humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them down. For you are my lamp, O LORD, and my God lightens my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. “For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God? This God is my strong refuge and has made my way blameless.
He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great.
– 2 Samuel 22:28-36
With the right perspective, we begin to realize that our so-called problems are opportunities for God to bless us with His solutions. When He comforts us, we are compelled to give thanks. We know He doesn’t have to help us in time of need, but He does anyway. He is our Father.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.
– 2 Corinthians 1:3-5
As we mature in the faith, we tend to complain less and less about our problems. We learn to view them differently and to view the problems of others through a different lens, as well. Our scale of values changes drastically. We value the freedom perspective even more than the deliverance, itself. When this happens, everything changes, as James wrote about so beautifully.
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
– James 1:2-4, 12
So, you say you have problems, huh?
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins