Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. Genesis 3:17b
Life is a struggle. Finding work to provide both a home and food consumes the largest percentage of our time. Without an income, life quickly collapses toward chaos. We fear financial instability for it threatens the very fabric of our identity.
Yet, work defined as physical and mental effort is a consequence of the conflict that exists in our world. Work is not bad, yet there are forms of employment that offer little personal fulfilment and may damage mental health. The way of the world means that we need to take any job, for without paid work-life becomes impossible.
But complaint does not need to rule us, for we are invited to seek God in all that we do. God is not merely associated with the pleasures of life. This is good news in reality. It means wherever we find ourselves God is present and available. We just have to locate God.
It came as something of a shock when it first dawned upon me that life wasn’t plain sailing. For a few years after accepting Christ, I carried a fiction in my head that now I loved God my difficulties were somehow behind me. In fact, one consequence of saying yes to God was that I found myself in more challenging circumstances.
In my frustration and confusion, in unanticipated and unwelcome circumstances, once I’d vented my fury and fears, I discovered that prayer was what I needed. It never gave a direct solution, yet calmed and focused me sufficiently to keep on after God without knowing when or how my life might change.
Prayer acts as a rudder keeping me upright in the storms of life. It also sends out the appropriate distress signal as I await much-needed help if I’m to endure to the end.
Something to Consider: How do you choose to navigate the storms of life?
An Action to Take: Identify some key Christan friends who you can turn and talk to when enduring life’s storms.
A Prayer to Make: ‘Lord, help me to fix my eyes on Jesus as the one who will lead me from storm to safety.’
Photo by Katherine McCormack on Unsplash
Used with Permission
