Going through a hard time?

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Going through a hard time? Mistreated by those who were closest to you? Trust me, I know what it is like. And there is no explaining at times how people who are believers in Christ may act toward a fellow believer. Facing such circumstances can create the most baffling times in one’s life.

Where is God? Why did he allow the behavior that hurt so much? Where is justice, right and wrong?

Our feelings come close to the words of Psalm 73 when they say:

I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death; and their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men. Nor are they plagued like mankind. Their pride is their necklace; the garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; the imaginations of their heart run riot.

They mock, and wickedly speak of oppression; they speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue parades through the earth.

We wonder why people who have done wrong to us seem to be going on about their way "prospering" while we are suffering because of their actions.

I remember counseling a wife whose marriage had been destroyed by her husband’s philandering. She ached for her children and herself and very understandably you could hear the bitterness in her voice.

How easy it was, not having experienced such betrayal, to say, "Don’t become bitter. I know it looks like your ex-husband is going on with his life without consequences, but that is not the case. God will be there for you."

The right words, but without a full understanding of the desperate feelings of loss and betrayal one goes through when betrayed by those closest to them—a spouse, a fellow believer, a friend.

It is so easy to think that we should just "buck up" when facing such situations, or that others should too. "Just get over it" we think, but won’t say—at least we shouldn’t.

But things aren’t that easy with our frail flesh. We hurt and we bleed and we need God’s help to get through it.

Our minds wander and we can even think as the Psalmist did as he continued in Psalm 73:

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure, and washed my hands in innocence. For I have been stricken all day long and chastened every morning.

But the Psalm isn’t written at the moment that Asaph, the writer, was betrayed. It was written later. He begins his words not where we started above, but earlier with the results of the lesson he had learned that what we see and feel are not always what is happening around us.

He says in verse 2:

But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling; my steps had almost slipped, for I was envious of the arrogant, as I saw the prosperity of the wicked...

He tells us that he almost fell into the trap of believing that there was no point in doing what God wanted, because suffering results for those who do, and for those who mistreat others, there only seems to be prosperity.

In the end he learned something important that he shares with us:

When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived their end. Surely Thou does set them in slippery places; though dost cast them down to destruction……when my heart was embittered, and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before Thee.

When Asaph was embittered by the seeming inequity of what was happening around him, he had forgotten that the last chapter of the story had not yet been written. Finally he understands and help those of us who would follow in his embittered footsteps, realize the truth:

Nevertheless I am continually with Thee; Thou has taken hold of my right hand. With Thy counsel Thou wilt guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from Thee will perish, Thou has destroyed all those who are unfaithful to Thee. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord my refuge, that I may tell of all Thy works.

Going through a hard time? Having trouble thinking your way through it? I understand. But skip to the last chapter of the "book" of your life, rather than thinking only of the chapter you are in.

Remember, God does bring justice in the end, and that:

...the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord my refuge, that I may tell of all Thy works.

Remain steadfast. Continue to do right. God will not let you go. Though you may not feel his presence, count on it. He is walking with you through the fire and has a better chapter coming at the end of the book.