Life can be just plain hard, y'all. I feel like I'm seeing so much suffering around me lately. Cancer, miscarriage, death, suicide, addiction, job loss, chronic illness, financial struggles....it's easy to get bogged down and question God. Why?! Why do you allow these things to happen?
Suffering was not God's original plan. Man screwed that one up big time. Once sin entered the world, all the yuckiness of suffering did too. The enemy LOVES when the Lord allows suffering. He uses it to attempt to draw us away from God. Humans are inquisitive beings. We want answers. But the truth is - God doesn't always provide them. And sometimes He does and it's not what we had in mind.
Daniel 3 tells the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. If you don't know the story, basically King Nebuchadnezzar creates a golden idol that he requires everyone to bow down to. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow before his statue. In verses 17-18 they say...“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and He will deliver us out of your hand. But even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image you have set up.” Wow. Gut punch, right? These three men were faithful when facing a literal furnace - and fully trusted in the power of God to save them from it. They are saying God CAN save us from this, but if he doesn't, HE IS STILL GOOD, & we trust His will.
Sometimes the answers we get when we pray are hard to swallow and the road we must travel is not an easy one. But regardless of the things of this world we must go through, He IS still good- even when our circumstances are not. Our circumstances are not going to change what Christ has done for us. He is my hope, because of what He has already done, not what the circumstances are doing to me.
So if you are facing a trial right now, cling to the truth that the God who delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from that fiery furnace is the same God who is alive in you today. He will not leave nor forsake you.
"Cast your cares on Him, for he cares for you"
1 Peter 5:7
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