Heavenly grace helps us during life’s struggles

From the bottom looking up, it seemed so easy.

A two-mile hike along a meandering, wooded path tempted my sense of adventure.

Besides, the rifle’s weight hinted at a prospect of even more excitement.

So up we went, my son and I, intent on finding big game – and a spectacular view of the Selkirk Mountains and Lake Pend Oreille.

Vigor vanished quickly.

I hadn’t paid attention to the elevation change clearly marked on our trail map. Two miles is no big deal – unless it’s straight up.

In a matter of minutes, all thoughts of a blissful mountain morning faded to a single challenge: Can we even get to the top of this thing?

Life is just that way sometimes.

Expectation and reality collide.

Hope and optimism run head-on into distress and pain.

My hike quickly turned into an exhausting metaphor for life’s much steeper climbs.

You recognize the scenery: Friends and loved ones die far too soon. Good people hurt those who matter most to them. Our own blunders, and how we deal with them, rob us of peace.

Nobody plans this stuff. It just happens.

The Scriptures offer us solace and instruction in times of struggle.

Psalm 119:105 reminds us that God’s word is “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

The Bible is literally our trail guide, warning us of steep climbs ahead, marking a clear path through them.

This year, both of my wife’s maternal grandparents died.

We were reminded once again that God does not promise a painless life. But our family also experienced something much more hopeful: God’s grace.

As we turn to the Lord in times of struggle, his grace always overcomes our weakness.

When the hurt seems too deep, the trail too steep, God is there to carry us through.

To fail to run to him prolongs the pain.

Jesus told the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9 – NKJV).

Any strength we muster on our own, however impressive, ultimately will prove inadequate. When we are too weak to endure, when we’re too sapped to keep going, our Lord’s immeasurable strength takes over.

The benefits of relying on God’s grace and strength are long-lasting.

Another apostle, James, reminds us: “… Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow” (James 1:2-3 – NLT).

Joy is such a misunderstood thing. God does not ask us to be happy when hardship comes our way. How crass that would be.

No, he gently promises an inner peace, an inner well-being – joy – that actually will grow stronger as he leads us through life’s hardships.

Just as certain as pain in life is the truth that it will at some point diminish. Such is God’s grace.

He has ordered our lives according to seasons. As winter turns to spring, sorrow ultimately gives way to a blossom of hope.

In the meantime, the going is tough. It’s a steep climb.

But knowing there is a different view at the end of the struggle strengthens us.

Despite my gasping and flailing about, that mountain did not defeat me. And the view from atop was even better that I had expected.

Yet my real delight was the trip back down. Only then was I treated to an amazing view of the same scenery I had overlooked in my strain toward the summit.

I marveled at the strength and enthusiasm of a young man now taller and stronger than his father. (This view was fleeting; his patience and my knees gave out at about the same time. The kid ditched me on the way down.)

I gained fresh respect for his sensible sister, still warm and rested in bed.

Sunshine lit up the tamaracks like torches, and I delighted to smell majestic cedars I had completely ignored on the way up.

We do well to remember God’s past faithfulness in times of pain.

Today’s hurdles shrink somewhat in the memory of yesterday’s goodness.

And since our God does not change, we have every reason to hope for a taste of that goodness tomorrow.

A psalmist puts it better than I can: “Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?

“Then I thought, ‘To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.’ ” (Psalm 77:9-11 – NIV).

From the bottom looking up, life seems so easy.

Praise God for his infinite grace when it proves otherwise.