Oct 26, 2016
by Seth Osborn
Thanksgiving is just around the corner! A day to spend with family, eat good food, and be thankful for all of the blessings that the Lord has given to us. Of course, it would probably be better if we did those more often than one day out of the year. Especially that last one. And it should be easy! With all that God has done, how can we not be thankful?
But it’s not always as easy as it seems, is it?
Sometimes you suddenly find yourself down in the dumps. And there’s not usually an easy way out of there. Sure, maybe you can distract yourself for a bit. But once that’s over you’re still in the same place. So what do you do?
To be honest, I don’t know. I haven’t run into any good “get happy quick” schemes. But I know we’re not alone in this. Plenty of Biblical figures have been in a rough spot too, and they wrote about it for us.
First, let’s take a look at the Psalms. David, a man after God’s own heart, often sings of his sorrows. Psalm 22 pulls no punches with its opening couple of verses: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” And just in case you feel a little uncomfortable about God being spoken to in such a manner, take a quick peek over at Matthew 27:46 or Mark 15:34 where we see that Jesus Himself quoted the first line of this Psalm as He died on the cross. If His example isn’t good enough for us, then whose is?
We can delve into the book of Job next. After two chapters of undeserved tragedy, Job mourns. He asks why God has made him — a righteous man — suffer through all of this. His friends insist that he must have sinned in some way and that he is now facing punishment, but Job continues to assert his innocence. In fact, we see earlier in the book that Job’s blamelessness was the reason for his suffering. Satan wanted to do harm to Job as a challenge to God: he claimed that the only reason Job acted this way was because of the Lord’s blessings in his life. Satan thought that if Job lost everything, then he would no longer fear God.
These sections of the Bible are two of my favorites when it comes to mourning. Not only because they show that it is healthy and acceptable, but also because of what comes next. If we go further in Psalm 22, we can watch it transform from a desperate plea for help into a confident assertion of praise, certain that the Lord will come to his aid. In Job, God himself eventually answers. He points out that humans cannot even begin to comprehend His power and majesty. After Job repents, God gives Job twice as much as he had before.
So maybe things are hard right now. Trust me, I’ve been there. Just know that it’s okay to be disheartened, even during that time of year when we’re supposed to be thankful. It’s okay to ask God, “Why?” But don’t let your situation turn you away from Him. Continue to walk with Him, and He will carry you through this. Remember, we were never promised a life without suffering. In fact, Jesus promised the exact opposite for us in the second half of John 16:33: “‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’”
