In 1959 the group The Coasters came out with a song called “Charlie Brown.” In the song, a famous line goes “why is everybody always picking on me!” Do you ever feel like that? Oh, you may not have someone actually picking on you like Lucy or the rest of the gang always picked on Charlie Brown, but it seems like everything else is out to get you?
Maybe it’s a problem with your health that just seems to never be resolved, maybe it’s a relationship with a family member, friend, or someone at work that seems unrepairable. Maybe it’s regarding a job that you would like to leave or one you would like to get but it just seems like it will never happen, or a promotion that passes you by every time it comes up. Maybe it’s a class you are struggling in or a teacher that seems to not like you. It might be one of these or one of a million other things that life seems to throw our way.
Have we ever wondered where is God? I say we because I can be the world’s worst. Why am I going through this? What have I done wrong to deserve this? Haven’t I been through enough? Can’t I get a break, at least just a chance to catch my breath? This can lead us to feel like no one cares or understands what we are going through. To an extent, that is true. Although many people may have gone through similar circumstances, there is nobody that knows exactly how we feel and exactly what we are going through. Or is there? If only there was someone who had suffered like me or knew how I was feeling.
If we read our Bibles, we will see people who, although they were God’s people, they suffered greatly. Sometimes the suffering was brought on by their own disobedient actions, but many times it seemed it was no fault of their own. As a matter of fact, you will be hard pressed to see anyone in the Bible form Genesis to Revelation that did not suffer, from Adam to Noah to Job to David to the Apostles and to everyone in between. Most of all Jesus! Our Bible tells us He suffered as no else did and in Isaiah 53:3 says He was “…. acquainted with grief”. If we read Isaiah 53, we will get a glimpse of just how He suffered. It is us who can never truly identify with His sufferings, but He can identify with us. He has been there, done that, and got the t- shirt as they say.
When we go through these hard times, where do we run to? Do we run and hide from everyone, do we cocoon ourselves into our on little world and try to shut everyone and everything out? What should we run to? I think the better question is who do we run to? We should run to Jesus. He has suffered more than anyone and can understand our suffering. If we are a child of God, our suffering should draw us closer and closer to Him. Jesus does not promise us the pain will go away, the medical condition will be instantly healed, the relationship will be restored, or will get that job or promotion. He does promise though that He understands, He knows us better than we know ourselves, He promises that no matter how bad it seems that everything will end up working together for our good. He promises that He will never leave or forsake us.
Jesus never promised it would be easy. Wait you say, what about “for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”? Yes, His is. But the world’s burdens are crushing. Life is hard and unforgiving at times. And we are in this world and going through life in this moment. Jesus said “in the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” If we go back and read what Jesus said before He said my yoke is easy and my burden is light, we will see He said “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. He said we would be weary and burdened. But what did He say first? He said come to Him. Have we come to Him? Have we carried our burdens to him, cried out to Him, fell at His feet? You say you have and still no answer. In Matthew 15 we read about a gentile woman who begged Jesus to get rid of a demon that her daughter had. But when she fell at His feet and poured her heart out to Him, Jesus went from not saying anything to her to what seemed to be rebuking her, even some might say insinuating she was a dog. But she grabbed ahold of that and knew if even she was a dog, she was His dog, and He was her Lord and He could and would do it. She did not give up. From silence, to what could have been seen as rejection and insult, she persisted in her prayer. She had to come to Jesus first though didn’t she. We must ask ourselves, are we running away from God with our troubles and burdens or are we running to God? We must continue in prayer, and draw closer to Him. Satan will whisper “if He cared He could have done something by now, He does care about you, He is not listening, He has helped others, why has He not helped you already.” Satan loves to start with “if” doesn’t he? Are we willing to draw even closer to God through His Word and in prayer even though we may initially get silence or what may seem like a rebuke? Are we willing to say what Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I serve Him.” Go to God first and stay with Him. Don’t give up, hold on, run to Him, fall at His feet, cry out to Him, hold on to Him, but always remember it’s not our grip on Him but His grip on us that keeps us. He holds us in His mighty right hand. God knows, He cares, He has not forgotten us, it is us that forget Him. Just as the gentile woman, we must go to Jesus, cry out, and hold on! As Charles Spurgeon said, “I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me against The Rock of Ages!”
-Shane Williams