Hard Times

Often in life hard times come and go. There are many in the church who assume that those who suffer hard times have a lack of faith or have done something wrong.

You see no matter how much the bible insists on the point that many great people of faith have suffered greatly of no fault of their own the church still falls into this error.

The list of those who suffered through no fault of their own include: Moses, Job, Daniel, Joseph, David, and many of the prophets. None of them were perfect and some of them made great errors. But all of them suffered unjustly at many times.

You see the bible often disconnects the situations people are in from their actions. Sometimes the situations people are in are a result of their actions and sometimes not.

You see it works for the rich too. Many of the rich are rich through no good actions of their own. Maybe they are skilled or maybe lucky, but it shows nothings of a true spiritual nature. Also poverty or suffering shows nothing of a spiritual nature.

The call of scripture is always to look past circumstances and judge truly. Men judge by what they see instantly: status, wealth, prestige, etc. But scripture calls us to see what is hidden and see the potentiality of all people as sons and daughters in eternal fellowship with God.