Ecclesiastes 7-9; Ephesians 4

"When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future." Ecclesiastes 7:14

Sometimes terrible things happen to really good people, an unexpected death of a spouse, a painful illness of a faithful loved one, the betrayal of a spouse, a child walking away from the Lord. Trusting God when life is good is the easy part. Relying on him during difficult situations is when it is hard to understand how or why He would allow things to happen."Why God, I have been faithful?!" or "Why them God, they've served you with their whole hearts?" Sometimes there are questions that will never get answered, but God has plans for all of these people.  Pastor Carol once said, "You can't carry other people's sorrow because you will never be able to experience God's grace for them."

Even while smack in the middle of a despairing situation it's easy to shrug in almost distaste at Paul's passage in James that says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds..." Consider it pure joy?! How?!

After having my glasses missing for two weeks, I finally got them back yesterday. It's amazing the clarity I had forgotten was missing from my eyesight. Taking a step back and changing our perspective may not give us all the answers we want or the changing of our circumstances, but we can refocus on the fact that Jesus has experienced all of our pain.

For the widow, He felt the pain of losing Lazarus; for the ill family member Christ physically endured pain on the cross; For the betrayed spouse, God felt the pain himself when your spouse turned against Him before they took the first step in betraying you; For the parent, none weighs closer to the heart than the story of the prodigal son.

We may not know the outcome but we know that "It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." Philippians 2:13

Take hope in the promises he has for you, your future and the future of those you care about.