There are a lot of ways to describe life and no one word describes everyone. Perhaps the closest I can think of is the word “struggle”. From the cradle to the grave we struggle. As Job 14:1 says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.” An old song describes it like this, “Troubles and trials more than enough, Sometimes my way gets rugged and rough,” indeed it does. We’ve all been there.
Miss Edna Dean Proctor (1829-1923) wrote a poem wherein a child asks her father, “What is life father?” He responds by saying life is a battle, where many fail and yield. The girl then asks, “What is death, father?” When the father describes it as the rest which comes at the end of the strife, the girl says, “Let me die, father, I fear to live”.
I suspect a lot of folks have similar feelings. They “fear to live”. They feel as though they are pushed to their limit and that they can’t bear anymore. They are weak, weary, and worried. They feel battered and broken. Life is a burden rather than a blessing. They know this is the common lot of man and that it is unreasonable to expect better, but the yearning for relief won’t go away. Sometimes we feel as Cain when he said, “My punishment is greater than I can bear” (Gen. 4:13). Even if we know it isn’t punishment the pain is just as real. Making it all the more difficult, we can’t understand the purpose for it.
So, how do we survive the struggle? How do we endure the experience? How can we suffer successfully? Obviously it is possible, for others have done it. History is filled with examples of people who have suffered greatly and yet lived life to the fullest. Their example is encouraging, but we have something even better than that. As Christians we have God’s precious promises to rely upon, and they never let us down (2 Pet. 1:4). Trusting them transforms us. It might not change the circumstances, but it changes the Christian. We are sustained by the grace of God which is sufficient for every need. ( 2 Cor. 12:9) – HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
