Bitter Hardship and God's Glory

Once again I am stealing from someone else's blog. This one is from Ashley. The message Sunday at Grace Community Church was amazing. Take the time to listen to it this week. This is Ashley's take on it. Basically, she beat me to it and frankly did a better job than I could have. To read the entire blog go here. My thoughts are at the bottom.

God shows up in hardship. This is contradictory to this world's idea of, "if I have enough faith, this will all work out." We are often afraid to look at real suffering. We think sin and suffering reflects poorly on God and that we need to protect His reputation. Maybe I just don't have enough faith. Moses didn't try to hide the hardship. He stared it straight in the face with no fear of embarrassing God. He simply records the hardship and let's God's glory appear in due time. The reality is that God's glory is often displayed most in the most difficult things of life.

The pastor took us back to the passage in Exodus where the people of God were experiencing oppression. The interesting part of the story lies in Genesis where God told his people to go to Egypt. We might be tempted to look at the story and say, "Surely Satan is behind this oppression." But no, God is. God led them to this land and God brought them under this oppression for a purpose. The point was not the hardship. The point was their obedience to follow God into the unknown. Through that oppression He birthed in them a hunger in their soul for a land of freedom, the "Promised Land." Canaan was on the other side of that oppression.

Scott went on to remind us that no place on this earth is unaffected by sin. Even the promised land became a place of idolatry. Sin resides in every human heart. Life will inevitably disappoint us. Even the relationships that we think are so "perfect" will fail us. They can never be perfect. Not on this side of heaven. Praise the Lord that nothing on this Earth can truly satisfy the longing on our hearts that only eternity can fill.

The last 18 months have been a picture bitter hardship in our lives. Joshua's cancer is the affect of a world filled with sin and God can handle it. He has and is handling it. He has heard our cries, remembered us, and knows each of us (Ex 2:24) It amazes me that we can already look back and see the ways that he has revealed His glory through this. The Isrealites had to wait for 400 years to see His redemption. Obviously, I would rather our hardship not include Joshua's pain, but I am thankful that we are not facing this without the One that hears us and knows us.