I have thought many times how thankful we should be that we don’t know our immediate future. God has so designed things that we have no assurance of tomorrow in our life now, but we have a built-in sense of hope and expectation that tomorrow will be better than today. What is reality? If we continue to live, all of us will face difficult situations. We will lose family and friends to disease and death. We will hear news from a doctor that we have such and such terrible disease. We will see loved ones and most likely ourselves involved in what we would otherwise call accidents or calamities. We will have our hearts crushed by these and a myriad of other unforeseen happenings.

This next week will be four years since our son Josh, husband of Allison, and dad to four precious grandchildren, and one of our primary church teachers had a massive stroke. To this day we are so thankful that the Lord let him live, but he has made little recovery or return back to the Josh we knew. Not only his life, but our lives radically changed on that day. Most of you to whom I am writing have your own life events that have been and or continue to be challenging. No person is exempt.

A very important issue is what do we do when tragedy strikes? In this brief writing let me remind us of the important things that we know to be true from Scripture. We have already stated we know that tragic events will occur, but that does not mean we live in fear, but we walk with God and trust Him daily. Every day is a day to live by faith. The expected but never known times of difficulty are the times when we are to exercise our faith in the fullest measure. That is what Hebrews chapter eleven is all about. It is a record of people of faith exemplifying and exercising their faith in the most challenging situations of life.

Knowing this, what is the first thing we do when tragedy strikes? We intensify our turning to God and to His Word. Peter was right by his assessment when many of Christ’s followers abandoned Him as things got difficult. When Christ asked Peter if he too would leave, Peter answered, “Where shall we go, You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68)! There is no other answer to the problems and difficulties of life but to draw close to Christ. Peter would say later in his first epistle that we are to, “Cast all our anxieties upon Him for He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7).” This brings to mind the extraordinary need to seek our Lord in prayer. Are we encompassed by a trial? Fall on your knees before Him! For when brutish tragedy enters the life of any person there are two main choices. We can flee to God or find ourselves in confusion running from Him. The latter provides no hope, but running to Him provides all hope!

God has repeatedly told us in His Word this life will not be easy and that it will ultimately fail. The wages of sin have been death since the fall. When difficulties arise, it is not some strange thing out of the ordinary, but in fact should be expected. God gave us the example of Job to provide understanding of the nature of fallen life, and amidst Job’s troubles is this reality stated, “Man is born for trouble as sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). We are reminded from this as well that we are not above our Master who was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We know that Christ overcame all the assaults of the world, and that we in Him by His power, will also overcome (John 16:33). Are things out of control? No, and this is yet another of those mighty truths to fall back on – God is entirely in control and has a purpose in every event of our lives.

We also know that God is full of love for us, and that He is a God of compassion. Christ is fully man and fully God. He knows all our weaknesses and the makeup of our sorrows and trials. He doesn’t just know them intellectually, but the writer of Hebrews tells us, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things just as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Added to His sympathy, we read of His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). His attributes, character, and presence become our chief source of comfort. As He is the Word, every page of Scripture serves as a healing balm to our soul. When we take His Word in hand, the temporary crushing matters of this life begin to lose their intense sting.

We should always bring to mind Romans 8:28, “God works all things together for good to them that love Him and are called according to His purpose.” From this we know that our sovereign God is doing all He is doing in every situation of our life to the very best that can be done for His glory. In His omniscience He not only knows everything, but included in that glorious knowledge is that He knows every possibility. This is so certain it should bolster our faith and give us supernatural peace in difficulties. This also brings us to another reality to fall back on in times of great stress – He makes no mistakes!  We should have all confidence in the wonderful faithfulness of our God. Think of all the Old Testament promises of our Lord’s first coming. There is not one failure. This also means that every promise He has made to us in Christ Jesus will absolutely come true.

In times of difficult circumstances, it is also good to be reminded of the brevity of this life. It is only temporary. Are we missing a loved-one in Christ? We will soon join them eternally. This life is, as Solomon stated, a vapor. Something that only appears for a little while. This alone should help to sustain our mind amidst the grief and fear. We know where we are going. With this is the fact that no matter our circumstances in the immediate, the ultimate outcome of our destiny in Christ Jesus has not changed. Think with me as well of all the saints that have gone before us, and the pressures, difficulties, hurts, testing, and sorrows they faced, but where are they now? They are with Christ in glory where there is the fullness of joy forever more!

This kind of spiritual reasoning on this subject can go on exhaustively. The weight of God’s comfort and peace is so strong when we take into account who He is and what He has promised! Wherever we are in this life at the moment, what really matters is our relationship to God through Jesus Christ. If we have our Lord, we really have everything. What has been stated here in brief, and much more could be added, will sustain us in trials. We must trust Christ, call on Him, and continue our walk of faith! “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Isaiah 40:31).