Yes! There is Good News! 2.24.18

What should we do when trouble strikes? I suppose one must define “trouble.” Like everything else in this world, we all see trouble in differing lights. And depending upon our own personal situation in life, we might rate trouble higher or lower. For instance, suppose you receive notice that your home insurance is going up – that can be labeled as trouble. But last week your boss was feeling generous and gave you a healthy raise in pay. On the other hand you just learned last week that you will be laid off and the possibilities for getting a good job are slim. On a scale of one to ten, the first case might be a 1 or 2 but the second case is scarier and is a 6 or 7.

I just finished reading a book titled, “The Auschwitz Escape” by Joel Rosenberg. I’m sure we are all aware of what happened at Auschwitz during the early 1940s. So why didn’t the Jews rebel? Because they thought their trouble was at a level of 4 or 5. Getting on the trains, they thought they were going to a concentration camp to work in factories helping to supply the German war machine.

All will be back to normal after the war.”

Shortly after they arrived, they saw that their trouble was off the scale of 1 through 10. As one prisoner put it, “The only way out is in ashes up the chimney.”  Death and cremation was all that was in store. I have never ever seen that magnitude of trouble.

And so trouble, in varying degrees, comes upon us all. What should we do when trouble strikes? The Bible has a lot to say concerning trouble. And I am sure you are way ahead of me on this one. The number one answer to my question is to seek God.

As I ponder this topic, my mind turns to a statement that Jacob made after he had come to Egypt and to his long lost son Joseph, who was now second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt. Joseph then brings him into Pharaoh’s presence. (This episode is found in Genesis 47.) Pharaoh’s first question to Jacob is a curious one, “How old are you?” he asked. And Jacobs answer is equally curious, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult.” The story of Jacob’s short (130 years) and difficult life begins in Genesis 25:21 and end with his death at the end of Chapter 49. It is a long section of scripture devoted to one man and his family, but it gives us quite a picture of Jacob who started as a self-serving twin son of Isaac who encounters many troubles and difficulties, who was changed into a to a repentant patriarch who seeks the God of his fathers and then confesses that this God is his God.

Where are you in your short and difficult life? I believe I have said this before but it is true that we have a tendency to seek God only when we have difficulties and troubles. A very wise man once said to me, “Seek God when things are good and perhaps you won’t have to see many troubles.”
 
This world can be full of troubles. I think back to my first attempt at an article for this venue and consider the fact that sometimes we just need good news. God willing we will consider the topic of trouble and its anecdote, seeking the face of our God.