But Trouble Comes

Trouble comes. It’s nothing new, but we have the assurance of others, so we hold on tight and ride our way through it.

You can see it coming. You’re sailing along. Life seems to be going along ok, but out on the horizon, you can see a storm. You know that it’s coming straight at you. You didn’t cause the storm; it was simply part of the ebb and flow of being on the ocean.

On your little boat, you wonder if you will make it through. You prepare, get ready, and you hold on tight.

Trouble comes. You know it comes. You’ve been through trouble before, but this storm seems bigger and all-consuming. This will test everything in you.

You look at the only crew member you have, and he is asleep in the back of the boat. He is a wise old sailor, an ancient mariner that has callused hands from handling the ropes in many a storm.

Just his presence seems to bring calm to your soul. Perhaps you can make it through. He stirs a little, opens an eye, looks over the seas, and says, ‘You’ll be alright, just steer into it and hold on tight.’

With that, he yawns, rubs his stubbled face, and goes back to sleep.

And you thought he would stand and command the wind and the waves to be still.

Not this time.

You aim into the storm and hold on tight.

It’s inevitable

I sit with people and listen to their storms.

The most often heard phrases are ‘What did I do to deserve this’ or ‘I didn’t deserve this’?

Both point to a kind of surprise that they have a storm, a full-blown hurricane whirling and stripping at their life.

They look to fate, logic, and God for reasons. A crime and, therefore, a punishment. A reaping of what you’ve sown. Choices and consequences.

Sometimes there is a connection. You can hardly blame God for a speeding ticket when you drove too fast and were caught.

But at other times, it seems you can’t make sense of anything at all. You’re just stuck in the middle of the mess, and night time is rolling in, fast.

Oh, and Jesus seems to be fast asleep in the corner of the boat.

Sorry, here’s the hard truth. This was inevitable. It’s normal to have times of trouble, but it’s not what we were made for, and that’s why it causes so much pain.

Good listening helps the storm-tossed to get through.

But trouble comes

At the bottom of the swirl, where everything settles, comes the conclusion of the angst of the moment. Well, that’s the way I read the last verse of the pain story of a man named Job.

Out of probably the first book ever written for the Bible comes the woe of a man caught in a whirling hurricane where he has lost his family, his wealth, and his health. If you think your trouble story is bad, read the story of Job and be thankful. Read the storm here.

Job is literally sitting in the town’s rubbish heap, throwing ashes over himself, and picking at his sores (read self-harm).

The last three words sum it up.

I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest; but trouble comes. Job 3:26

It’s a simple acknowledgment that trouble comes.

There is a normality to trouble. Post the time of Garden of Eden tranquillity of ease, quiet, and rest, we now live in a world where trouble comes.

In my nostrils I still have the faint fragrance of a garden where ease, quiet, and rest were the norm. I get little morsels of it every day; I soak in them, but I know trouble comes. It will come as sure as storms at sea.

It’s normal to feel that way

One of the strangely comforting things to say to someone when they are going through trouble is that what they are experiencing is normal. This is not to downplay the struggle or to minimise their pain, but more so to say, ‘This is trouble and we can get through it.’

It’s normal that you are feeling depressed, anxious, overwhelmed, in grief.

It’s normal for your body to be reacting in that way.

It’s also normal for your friends and family to not know what to do.

It’s normal to curse, blame others, project out your pain, run, hide, and feel guilt and shame.

It’s normal to want vengeance.

It’s normal, but in the long term not good to stay in that hole.

I often add that I would be concerned if they weren’t feeling these emotions and desires for all that they have been through. It would be abnormal.

It brings a strange reassurance to the storm-tossed that what they are going through isn’t strange to you. That you are in their boat with them. That you know what trouble is all about and you can be a steadying hand on their shoulder as they face the wild.

The building of faith has storms

Jesus, the one who knew trouble like no one else, speaks to the storms in our souls.

That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.”

Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat.

There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.

Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down, and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

Going through internal storms (not running from them) builds our faith muscles. This is where borrowing some faith from someone else is such a beautiful Garden of Eden gift.

Quotes to consider

Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where he found bread. D.T. Niles
The Book of Job proclaims from the beginning that there is no correlation between sin and suffering, between virtue and reward. That logic is hard for us to break. This book tries to break it, so that a new logos, called grace, can happen. Richard Rohr. Job and the Mystery of Suffering
Untested faith tends to produce a very mechanistic and impersonal spirituality. Mature faith, however, almost always has a quality of paradox and mystery about it Richard Rohr. Job and the Mystery of Suffering
Sometimes people who don’t know God well presume that God would use power the way they would use power: as a dominative force. They want a deus ex machina, a magician God who appears out of the wings to solve the problem. The paradox of the Book of Job is that Yahweh remains totally present in power, yet to all appearances does nothing. And for thirty-seven chapters, God says nothing. It’s our worst nightmare: a silent, hidden, and ineffective God. Richard Rohr. Job and the Mystery of Suffering.
Too often, our version of trusting God carries with it an expectation of what God should do. We are, of course, to trust God to do all that He tells us in the Bible He will do. But this is where we sometimes get off-track. Without noticing it, we tend to trust God to do what we think a loving God ought to do. An honest look at what we mean when we use the word trust would likely turn up a subtle demand, a stubborn sense of entitlement to whatever good things we’d like God to give us. Larry Crabb When God’s Ways Make No Sense
When you stand before Me [God] in mystery, you will eventually rest within Me in trust. When you can’t figure Me out, you will give up the illusion of predictability and control and discover the joy of freedom and hope. Larry Crabb 66 Love letters – Job.

Questions to consider

You’ve been in times of trouble. What helped you through your storm?
What’s your natural reaction to trouble? What would be an unnatural, or even a supernatural, reaction to trouble?
With no sense in minimising your struggle, what’s it like to be reassured that the trouble you’re in is normal?