Why Is My Life So Hard?

eDevotion

Encouragement for your daily walk with God 

I write a by-monthly article for our town’s newspaper. I solicit questions from townsfolk through eMails, phone calls, and snail-mail. The name of the column is, Religion in the News/Ask Pastor Rick. There’s a question asked quite often that comes in a variety of ways. I’ve reduced them into one question for today’s eDevotion: Why is my life so hard?

Maybe you’ve asked that question yourself. Why did I lose my job? Why did God take my spouse from me? Why doesn’t God bless me like some other Christians I know? Why didn’t I get accepted into the college I wanted? Why didn’t I get that promotion? Why doesn’t God heal me so I don’t have to have an operation? If God loves me, why does He let me struggle like this?

This may sound a little earthy, but listen, maybe God doesn’t take away your hardships for the same reason you don’t do your child’s math homework. How will they ever learn quadratic equations if you do the math for them? They need to struggle through it, fail a few times, and learn to overcome the problems. 

It’s the human condition that growth and change come from challenge and pressure. Muscles don’t come from M&Ms. Speed and agility don’t come from watching TV. When we suffer, it’s not because God doesn’t love us, but because He does! He wants us to grow, to be different, to be better. His greatest desire for us is not pleasure and comfort, but that we survive life’s challenges with ever increasing faith. 

Here’s the deal: When you are a Christ follower, God makes all hardships work for you and for Him; for your good and His glory.

That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8.28 [The MESSAGE Paraphrase]