God with Us in the Trouble  

Perhaps it’s an old wives’ tale, but I once heard someone say, “Bad news comes in threes.” At this point, my family and I are on number four in eight short months. We have had a series of rapid-fire unfortunate events occur in a short amount of time. “Unfortunate” is actually too mild a word. Perhaps “excruciating” is a more appropriate word. Three of the four events are due to costly injustices against us where we were the vulnerable party. They have been exhausting and emotionally draining. This latest event would be number four, but it is not an injustice against us. It’s one of the vicissitudes of life: our car died. And—wait for it! We just paid it off last month!  

Seriously, I have to chuckle because my husband and I are finishing a book based on Jesus’s words in Matthew 11:28–30, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (KJV). Honestly, Shawn and I have been chronically weary and heavy-laden over the last eight months. And in the last few days, we have barely survived given the sheer demands, exhaustion, and stress upon us. It has been relentless. 

But then again, I always end up needing to live out what I write about in my books!  And it should be that way for a book to be authentic. I have written books about emptying ourselves of all that is in us that is not of God (based on Philippians 2), about the wilderness, and storms in uncertain times. However, I really should pick different topics. Really, I should.  

The Righteous Will Suffer 

It turns out that being people of integrity and doing what is right does not spare any of us from injustice or harm. Sometimes it causes more pain, hurt, opposition, insult, and difficulty to be foisted upon us. For some, it ends in martyrdom. Why do the evil flourish (see Psalm 73)?  Yet in all this, I have not been angry at God. I do not blame him for allowing it. I am definitely mourning and writing about the pain and suffering we’re experiencing, but nothing in me has accused God of doing wrong by me. I know that God loves me, loves us all, deeply, and seeks our flourishing. In fact, God’s mercy and goodness chase us down. In Psalm 23:6 David sings with confidence, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6, NIV). The comfort from Psalm 23:6 comes from God’s good presence, God being with us amid all of our trials, not being spared from trials—though I often wish we were spared!  

Jesus said it well while also reminding us of an important truth: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16: 33). It’s interesting to me that Jesus did not accuse the Father of wrongdoing or blame his own suffering on the Father. He noted in this world that there will be trouble. The “trouble” in the world did not deter Jesus’s confidence in reality of the Father’s goodness and love.  

I do not understand why all this is happening to us. But I do know that God has deep affection for both us and for you, no matter what you are going through.  

As I type these words, I am doing so during another round of bad news, of deep unkindness and unfair treatment toward us. Even so, I can confidently say, without batting an eye, that God seeks our good. Paul and Silas could say the same things even though they were imprisoned and in chains for proclaiming the gospel (see Acts 16:16–40). While being believers in Jesus does not spare us from trouble, we can have confidence that God is with us in the trouble.  

I hope these truths about God’s love and care amid life’s difficulties is as encouraging to you as they are to me. Have you been able to experience God’s love, care, and goodness in life’s difficulties?  

—Written by Marlena Graves. Used by permission from the author.