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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

These difficult times teach followers to take comfort in God

SteveMassey

The numbers aren’t encouraging these days.

Joblessness is high. Prospects for soon-to-be college graduates are low. Wages, relative to living costs, are flat or falling.

And it’s been this way for, well, far too long.

Josh and Sydney (not their real names), a young couple living in a single tiny room at a low-rent Coeur d’Alene hotel, put faces to the numbers.

He works six days a week at a fast-food joint; she works part-time at a local restaurant. Yet their weekly rent is just high enough that they can’t save up to get into an apartment or house.

They have no insurance. Their one car doesn’t run right. They are one small, unexpected expense away from returning to the woods, where they lived in their car most of last summer.

Yet they have something that eludes many who are in better circumstances: hope.

Where does genuine hope come from?

Christians struggling to stay afloat in this terribly tough economy have an opportunity to show friends, family and neighbors the power of hope among those who truly trust in God.

But God does not simply zap us with hope; he invites us to believe the truth about him, ourselves and our circumstances. Faith fuels hope.

God invites us to trust that he is sovereign. That means he is ultimately in control of all things, including our unwanted circumstances. Nothing happens to us outside of God’s control.

Hopelessness so often accompanies our feelings of losing control of our future. In reality, trials teach us that we never really had control of anything all along.

The sovereign control of God is not some distant, dry theological truth; it’s intensely practical and personal. God is not only in control of life’s storms, but he is present with us during the storm.

Scripture testifies to this truth from beginning to end. God told an uncertain man named Moses, fearful to face Pharaoh: “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest – everything will be fine for you” (Exodus 33:14 – NLT).

After his resurrection, Jesus commissioned his disciples to tell and teach others of God’s love, adding, “… be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

God’s control and presence with us have profound implications for our outlook on tough times. No matter how dim our circumstances, we serve a God who is in no way limited by the very circumstances that discourage us, or rob us of hope.

He is utterly able to accomplish in our lives what he intends to, no matter how grim the outlook seems to us. The very suffering we fight to avoid is not wasted, but used by God to accomplish his purposes in our lives.

For Moses and the disciples, hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds boiled down to this: living by faith, not sight.

And so it is for us.

In these hard times, God is teaching myriad individuals unique life lessons. But there is a uniform lesson in this for all followers of Jesus Christ.

Our God calls us to get our comfort and security and assurance from him, not from a house, a paycheck, or anything else that has no eternal value.

And when the world sees God’s people live by faith, rather than merely speak of faith, the reality of Christ’s power and presence is seen more clearly.

No, the numbers aren’t encouraging these days. Aren’t we thankful our God doesn’t play by the numbers?

Steve Massey is the pastor of Hayden Bible Church (www.haydenbible.org). He can be reached at (208) 772-2511 or steve@haydenbible.org.