It's A Hard Knock Life

IT’S A HARD KNOCK LIFE.

It’s a hard knock life.  Those immortal words from the musical Annie bring images to mind of the poor orphans and how horrible their lives were.  Everyone had a great sense of satisfaction when one particularly precocious red-headed orphan actually escaped the brutality of her horrible and mundane existence.  We cheered – albeit with a little envy – when she was rewarded for keeping the hope alive. It’s a hard knock life.  That is the phrase that many would use to describe our earthly existence.  One would be hard pressed to find anyone who has not endured his or her own trials, heartaches and tribulations.  It’s just a fact of nature that we’ve all come to realize is just a cold reality.  Life is hard.  It’s difficult.  It’s trying.  It’s unfair.  Did you ever find yourself angry with God?  Did you ever beg him to just “throw you a bone” and reveal a little light at the end of a dark tunnel?

My thoughts turn immediately to Job.  His life was one of true hardship and heartache.  This Godly man of true piety, through tragic series of events is brought to his knees in brokenness and pain.  He is childless, homeless, penniless, and helpless.  He has lost everything and is suffering from physical affliction – and yet – he still will not deny the glory of God.  His friends question his faith.  Even his wife tells him to curse his God, and yet he does not.  I think there are a few lessons we could stand to learn from Job.

BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE – JUST PRAISE

We’ve all been though heartache and pain; some without question, as much as Job, others not.  However, did we, or would we handle that kind of tribulation with as much blind faith as Job did?  In Job 1:21 when his family perished, he fell upon the ground and said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.  May the name of the Lord be praised.”  Job never let his setbacks weaken his resolve and his faith. We won’t always know the reasons behind our trails. As with Job, God may be silent in revealing his plan to us, but he will reveal things in His time. It’s important to praise the Lord at all times, and for everything – even the hard times.  It’s those hard times that help to mold us into the image the Lord intends for us.

IT’S OK NOT TO KNOW- JUST TRUST

   Job is proof that man usually has no idea what God is doing behind the scenes in the life of each believer.  A hard thing for us to learn, and one that Job learned the hard way as well, is that God does not have to answer to us for the things he does or does not do.  The experience that Job has teaches us that we may never know the specific reason for the trials that God sets before us, but we must trust in a righteous, sovereign and holy God.  Psalm 18:20 says that his ways are perfect, and we can trust that whatever he does is also perfect.  We also learn in Isaiah 55:8-9 that “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”.  In reality, we’re not supposed to know everything that God has planned for us; only that he does have a plan, and it is for the greater good, and to his glory.

GOD REALLY IS LISTENING – JUST WAIT

No matter how severe the trial is, we should never assume that God doesn’t listen to our pleas or that he doesn’t care. Haven’t we all experienced this – suffered and prayed endless prayers, only to have what we think is no answer from God?  God has knowledge of the lessons we need to learn far beyond what we can see or comprehend.  King David probably said it best when he told us to wait on the Lord; have courage, and He shall strengthen you heart.  Job suffered a long while and pleaded with God to give him relief.  At times he almost closed his mind that he could learn anything from his suffering. In the end, God blessed Job, and Job realized that although he was still praising the Lord, he was having trouble letting go and letting God do the work.  He said in Job 42.3-6, “I have uttered what I did not understand things too wonderful for me, which I did not know…  I have heard of You by the hearing of the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.”

 Like Job, we may fail to see or understand those things for our lives that God sees.  We just need to praise Him, trust Him, and wait on Him.  He alone knows the plans he has in store for our lives.  Doing these things can allow God to reveal the many blessing he has in store for us through the lessons he teaches us in all the storms of our lives.