When Things Get Ugly

Life has a way of not making sense some times. I remember reading the book Why Bad Things Happen To Good People"written by a Jewish rabbi whose son was suffering from a rapid aging disease. His conclusion, things just get ugly sometimes and happen to the just and the unjust, but in all cases our faith must pull us through. Listen to these words of Jesus:

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
                                                                                         John 16:33

There are days where it seems nothing turns out right, and we wonder if we have done the right or wrong thing. There are days we have prayed and prayed, but it all went against us, and there are prolonged times when we wonder if God is even listening. The easy answer is that's life. And life on this planet is neither easy or promised to be safe. 

The words above show that there will be trouble, and those words don't mean that God will always save us from it in the middle of what we are going through. When things get ugly, God wants us to turn to him for peace, calm in the middle of the storm, and to build our faith with him in the trenches of real life with its ups and downs. He is not there to prevent life, but to get us through it and to the right place in the end.

Through Him we can overcome anything but there are things such as death, consequences, divorce, life changing diseases (such as the rabbi's son who eventually passed away), and other things that happen that just happen. To think that God will bail us out of each situation, or correct everything is a hopeful dream not a real faith. Real faith is that somehow, despite any tragedy, it's all going to work for the good of those of us who serve Him.

Hard words to swallow, but truth. Truth is when it gets ugly, it  may get uglier for awhile before God provides us with a way out or a healing. To understand that is what faith is all about, that through Him we can overcome anything. I know this first hand. Life punches you in the gut and takes your breath away momentarily. But just as quickly God breathes his grace and mercy into us so that we live to fight another day!

And when we get through the ugliness, the hurt and the pain, we become stronger to fight the battles of life ahead, led by the only one who has ever overcome the world!
​