The Lodestar

As much as we would like, not every season of our lives is filled with peace and joy. Human beings live dynamic lives full of ups and downs. There are seasons when it’s easy to see God's faithfulness, and seasons when he feels very distant.

Encountering difficult seasons:

We all go through challenging times because life is rarely in our control. Although it’s beneficial for us to believe that God would not give us more than we can handle, life sometimes gets the best of us. Difficult seasons can look like financial troubles, family dysfunction, battles with addictions, etc. These are times when God may sometimes feel out of reach.

What the Bible says: All of our favourite characters in the Bible have gone through difficult times. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and then thrown into prison, Daniel was thrown into a den of lions, and Job lost his children and everything he had. No matter what we do, we can’t prevent bad things from happening but the Bible encourages us to lean on the Lord when we are overwhelmed (Psalms 61) and that God is close to the broken-hearted (Psalms 34).

Our response :

There are times through prayer that God delivers us from our difficult seasons. However, there are seasons when we must endure hardships so that we may be able to reach the place where God intended for us to be. In these times, it is important to acknowledge that although God might feel far away, He is not. Our feelings and the truth are two different entities, so when our emotions say otherwise, it is important to remind ourselves of the truth about God's steadfast presence. In the grand scheme of things, our tough seasons, like the stories in the Bible, eventually come to an end. There are some life experiences we have to go through, but God's track record shows He always leads His people through, making them stronger in the process. They just had to hold on and trust that he was in control, even when it didn’t feel like it. (Shruthi Susan is active in her church and is passionate about the various complex issues the Christian youth face in their individual journeys of faith and growth.)