How should a nation deal with national tragedy (recent hurricanes, mass shootings, and COVID-19)?
Today it is typically the blame game. We blame someone (the weatherman, President Trump). We blame something (guns). We blame the government.
On a personal level, how do we deal with personal tragedy and trials?
It is a fact of Christian experience that life is a series of troughs and peaks. In his efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, God relies on the troughs more than the peaks. And some of his special favorites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else (Peter Marshall, Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 2).
Even Jesus was not exempt from trial,
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led about by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. ( Mark 4:1)
Just because we are living right or doing God’s will, does not exempt us from trials and testing. To think any different is to be deceived, with our heads in the proverbial sand.
In general, as we find in the book of Job, man is born for troubles as the sparks fly upward. In particular, as Peter says to believers,
Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. ( 1 Peter 4:12)
Jesus said to his disciples in John 16:33, “in the world ye shall have tribulation,” that is trouble or affliction…We need to realize that part of walking with Jesus is to face trials and, as a result, we need to trust Him in them.
In the next few devotionals, we will be looking at Psalm 121. The thought that we will emphasize is this: We need to turn to God in the midst of our trials. – Pastor Stevens