He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house. Suddenly a powerful wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”  Job 1:18-19 HCSB

Job was a righteous, God-fearing man who had seven sons and three daughters. He had been blessed with wealth and owned a large number of livestock.  In our scripture passage today, Job learns his children were all killed when a powerful wind struck the house where they had gathered.  This bad news comes at the end of a string of bad news which all happens in a very short time span.  Job learns he has lost all of his livestock and all but a handful of servants due to various calamities.

In what was probably less than half an hour, Job learns he has lost all of his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, most all of his servants, and his sons and daughters. When you think you are having a bad day, read the first chapter of Job. You will see it could be much worse.

We may not all go through what Job went through or hopefully none of us will go through that type of loss all at once, but it doesn’t mean that when we go through any bad situation that our hearts aren’t broken. If you read all of Job, which I highly recommend, you will see that God allowed the devil to test Job’s faithfulness. Spoiler alert: Job passed the test and was restored and given double everything for what he had went through.

The bible never tells us that we won’t go through hard times and face difficult situations. It never promises us we will not be heartbroken. In 1 Peter chapter 5 we are told to be alert and to resist the devil. Verse 10 it tells us, Now the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus will personally restore, establish, strengthen, and support you after you have suffered a little.  

God uses these periods of suffering to strengthen us.  We are told in Romans 5:3, we can rejoice in our afflictions because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character and proven character produces hope. The hope we have, as Christians, is found in Jesus Christ.  He paid the price for our sins so if we call on Him and believe in Him, we can be saved. We have the hope we can spend eternity in heaven with our Lord and Savior if we choose to do so.  We have the hope of spending eternity in a place where there will be no more tears.

But here on earth there will be suffering.  There will be times when our hearts are heavy, and we feel burdened by the load that we bear. We are told in Matthew 11:28 that we can turn to Jesus, and He will lighten that load for us. He will give us rest.

If your heart is hurting and your load has become too much to bear, turn to Jesus.  He wants to strengthen you and carry you through these tough times.

Footprints in the Sand is a poem written by Mary Stevenson in 1936. It’s one of my favorites because it so aptly depicts God’s love for us when we are hurting.  The poem says:

One night I had a dream. I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life. For each scene I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to me and one belonging to the Lord.

When the last scene of my life flashed before me, I looked back at the footprints in the sand. I noticed that many times along the path of my life there was only one set of footprints.  I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in my life.

This really bothered me, and I questioned the Lord about it:  “Lord you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why, when I need you most, you would leave me.

The Lord replied:  “My precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

If you take nothing else from today’s blog, please understand this. God loves you. No matter how cruel the world may be, God is there for you.  Turn to Him and follow Him and trust Him to bring you through the hard times.

Have a great day!