We are living in a fallen world, and life here is often hard completely apart from whether we are, at the moment, acting like a \u201csaint\u201d or a \u201csinner.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nThe first sentence in M. Scott Peck\u2019s famous book The Road less Travelled <\/em>is, \u201cLife is difficult.\u201d Whatever one might think of the rest of Peck\u2019s thoughts on the trials of human existence, this first statement absolutely rings true. Life is<\/em> difficult for all, and that includes believers. We have no immunity from being touched by the same tragedies that affect all of humanity. The trials and tribulations of being human come to all of us. Life is often hard, and sometimes it is so hard as to leave us in a state of misery. I\u2019ve known enough sincere but miserable Christians in my day to know that we are not immune. In fact I know it from my own life experience.<\/p>\nThe big question we cannot seem to avoid asking, at least from time to time, is \u201cwhy?\u201d We want to know why<\/em> things have to be the way they sometimes are, and one of the obvious places we go to find an answer as followers of Christ is the Bible. As we read through the Word of God, we can easily find examples of people who are going through a time of trouble for the first two reasons.<\/p>\nFrom the prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament to the apostle Paul in the New, we encounter great men of God who deal with all kinds of adversity simply because they are carrying out God\u2019s redemptive will in a world of people who are not only not interested in the redemption He offers but openly hostile to it. We then compare this to the oppression we may have seen in some of our more spiritually productive contemporaries and decide that our own life ministry has drawn the attention of the Enemy of our souls. This is, no doubt, sometimes the case.<\/p>\n
We also find plenty of human beings in the Bible who have brought misery upon themselves because of the wrong they have committed. The disobedient and divinely disowned King Saul is one good example and, on a metaphorical level, so is the \u201cprodigal son\u201d of the Gospels, though his ending is happier. Again we read about those who suffered for their sins, and note some we know today who have sinned mightily and paid the price in some form of enduring pain. (We might even note the appearance of such an unfortunate soul while looking in the mirror.) Unrepented sin can certainly be the catalyst for great pain; in fact, even sin for which we have truly repented can still leave us in the unpleasant position of reaping what we once sowed.<\/p>\n
However, if we search the Scriptures we will eventually encounter the story of one particular blind man among the several whom Jesus heals. On this occasion the disciples ask their Master the question of who sinned so that this person was born sightless. Was it the man himself or his parents? Jesus replies that none of these \u201clikely suspects\u201d committed a sin that caused this person\u2019s condition. It actually happened so that God\u2019s glory would be displayed\u2026. and then He gives the man his sight.<\/p>\n
So just in the light of this one episode, it is safe to say that part of our burden in life is just the result of living in a fallen world as generally fallen people. Perhaps even more importantly we can also say that trouble which comes upon us for this reason can be turned to our gain while simultaneously glorifying our God. The wonderful thing is the fact that this applies to the other causes too. Whatever the reason for our pain, we have a Savior who can use that pain to our ultimate eternal good if we continue to trust Him in the midst of it. Maybe we would do well not to be as concerned with how our misery comes about as much as how God is going to, in His time, bring the best for us out of it.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Copyright 2016 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved When we who bear the name of Christ sometimes feel particularly miserable in this life, we often come up with one of two reasons to explain why we feel that way. They are Since we are doing some great work for the Lord we must be under… <\/p>\n
Read more The Third Reason<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6GkOA-eJ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":648,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2015\/04\/08\/can-a-christian-be-content\/","url_meta":{"origin":913,"position":0},"title":"Can a Christian be Content?","date":"April 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2015 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved The answer to this question depends on with what we are content. It is one thing to be content with our circumstances; it is quite another to be content with our character. The first type of contentment is encouraged by scripture, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1148,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/07\/a-subtle-but-dangerous-temptation\/","url_meta":{"origin":913,"position":1},"title":"A Subtle but Dangerous Temptation","date":"October 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2017 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved Sometimes \u201cthe World, the Flesh, and the Devil\u201d are not trying to get us to do something obviously and openly wrong. Instead they are more quietly tempting us to try to work our way to Heaven in a way that apes the\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1036,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/10\/gods-power-and-our-motivation\/","url_meta":{"origin":913,"position":2},"title":"God’s Power and Our Motivation","date":"May 10, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright\u00a0 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved We are often counseled to look at the difficult requirements of the Christian life from the perspective of comparing what we are asked to do for God with what God did for us on the cross. This counsel is valid, but the reason\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":639,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2015\/03\/25\/a-deeper-kind-of-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":913,"position":3},"title":"A Deeper Kind of Love","date":"March 25, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2015 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved To love God out of desire rather than necessity is one of the greatest goals of the Christian life. We tend to love Him because of what He can do for us rather than for who He is. It is no doubt\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":906,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2016\/10\/12\/reason-emotion-and-the-21st-century-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":913,"position":4},"title":"Reason, Emotion, and the 21st century Church","date":"October 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright\u00a0 by Shea Oakley All rights reserved In our Post-Modern era it has become fashionable for certain segments of the American Church to denigrate the use of reason as an important part of living the authentic Christian life. Some voices in the \u201cEmergent\u201d movement have opined that Evangelical Protestantism has\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":308,"url":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/2012\/10\/26\/the-forest-for-the-trees\/","url_meta":{"origin":913,"position":5},"title":"The Forest for the Trees","date":"October 26, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It is sometimes difficult to see the truth in a given situation. It is even more difficult to see the truth if we are reeling from some pain connected with that situation. All human beings, Christians included, are plagued by the curse of a negative subjectivity that can be overwhelming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Christian"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":916,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions\/916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sheaoakley.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}