My dad used to say, “I was told to cheer up because things could be worse, So I cheered up, and they got worse.”  It is easy to feel like you’ve been hit by a tsunami, followed by flooding, then by waiting for the devastations to subside before removing the destruction, all before the rebuild or starting new can begin. 

Trials can be like a slave master. It can limit all you think and feel able to do. It can confine you in the circumstances defined by the trial. The desire to capitulate or surrender can arrive if the pain or sorrow becomes so much that you will do anything, sacrifice anything, to get away from the pain. The surrender can be the time you really do something destructive that will extend the suffering and/or entrench it into a life stronghold. Ask any addict. They will confirm the pattern. Ask anyone who has made a rash decision how they got there, and they will probably confirm the pattern too.

My high school students would occasionally pull me aside for a private conversation. They wanted me to revisit a time of pain and suffering in my life to hear how I survived so they they could be encouraged about their survival. They wanted to be strengthened so they wouldn’t add to the problem. I believed it was wisdom on their part. We are surrounded by witnesses. The greatest witness to me is the Bible.

Some people have turned the Bible into a legal type document like a contractual agreement. That is not the Bible I know. The Bible I know is more of a diary, a story that God tells His children so they can know Him. He fills the Bible with stories of real people and a real God with all the problems, solutions, victories, and losses. He teaches us that He is faithful. The Bible can’t be a contract because there is no way for humanity to live up to a contract with God. It is a life story, the story of God walking with mankind, the good, the bad, and the inbetween.

We can project our beliefs and values into anything, including the Bible. An atheist can read the Bible and tell you it contains the proof that God doesn’t exist. I find that interesting because the atheist is living a life explained in the Bible and preferring the same values that God prefers (except the atheistic beliefs). God is alive. Read the Bible looking for Him and He is faithful to show Himself to you. You will find that the Bible is a living book of revelation, comfort, and guidance. You will find a testimony in it that meets every need.