When Life Gets Hard — E.A. Johnston

God's Shelter in Times of Trouble

Years ago, when I was a younger man, my father died, and at his funeral, an army chaplain quoted Psalm 27 .5, which states, for in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. And when he said those words, I shrunk back.

I didn't like them, because at the time, my life was all sunshine and honey blossoms, and I didn't wanna think about entering any time of trouble, so I resisted that. But life doesn't always stay in a time of sunshine.

At times, dark storm clouds will appear with a fierce wind, and whether you like it or not, friend, you'll suddenly find yourself in a time of trouble. If you live long enough, that's true in the life experience.

The title of my message today, friends, is When Life Gets Hard, and our text can be found in the Book of Job, in chapter 29. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. It has been said that there are two types of preachers in the world, those who comfort the afflicted, and those who afflict the comfortable.

The majority are in the first part of comforting the afflicted. God called me into a revival ministry years ago of Afflict and the Comfortable, which is a unpopular ministry, by the way, and if you don't believe me, go read the Book of Jeremiah and see how he made out.

Comfort for Those Wounded by Loss

But I feel led today to bring a message of comfort to the hurting. We live in a sin-soaked world that's a sinking ship, ready for destruction and ruin. Life hurts. Our hearts get broken by the grief of our loved ones.

We lose them in death, or at times, we lose them to the world. How many parents exist to raise their kids in a Christian home and had them in church ever since they were in diapers, but now they don't wanna have anything to do with God or church, or perhaps their lesbian adult daughter has just married another woman, or their son hates the Bible and the God of the Bible?

A sudden tragedy can remove the loved one from us. I lost my wife to a sudden tragedy. Perhaps some of you have kissed your loved one goodbye that morning and they were taken from you before the sun set that day.

Sudden Death, Disease, and Personal Suffering

We live in a world of sudden death, death by disease, death by tragic accidents. We live in such a crazy world why you can go to the grocery store and get gunned down by a madman, or a drunk driver can go through a light and remove the life of a family member instantly.

You may have a heart attack like I did. I had to undergo quadruple bypass surgery, but God kept me alive, even though my health will never ever be the same again. You get some bad news from the doctor that you have cancer or an incurable disease that's just gonna make your body waste away slowly.

Job Remembers Life Before His Affliction

When life gets hard, what do you do? Well, in our text today in Job chapter 29, we see that Job had a lot of time on his hands while he was in his afflictions, and he had time to reflect on his life, what it was like before he lost it all.

I call Job chapter 29 when Job remembers. Let's begin reading in verse one, friends, and following. Moreover, Job continued his parable and said, oh, that I were, as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me, when his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me, when I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil, when I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street, the young men saw me and hid themselves, and the aged arose and stood up.

I will stop there, friends. Here, Job is reflecting on what he has lost. He's down in the dumps, and he laments over things lost. He lost God's favor, so he's convinced himself. When we get blue, our faith often falters, and we allow the devil to convince us that God is a million miles away, and he doesn't give a hoot about us, but that's not true.

Depression and the Feeling That God Is Far Away

God's eyes are continually upon us, but when life gets hard, our thoughts often get muddled with depression. Job speaks of his former prosperity. The verse that most resonates with me is when he says, when I washed my steps with butter, oh, how I remember times in my own life when I too washed my steps with butter, so to speak.

Mourning Lost Children and Lost Reputation

But then, Job's heart begins to break all over again as he mourns the loss of his children when he says, when my children were about me. He cannot hear their laughter now. He's not laughing now. All his happiness, like a rug, has been pulled out from beneath him.

Job then goes on to recall what it was like when he still had a good reputation within his community, and he talks about how the man would respect him as he passed before them. They stood up before he became a laughingstock to some and a object of pity to others.

The Four Seasons of Job's Trial

For in Job's life, there came a time of trouble, like Psalm 27 said. If I were to outline the book of Job, I would break it down into four sections, which represent four seasons in his life. For he had a time of taking, testing, teaching, and turning.

Job's trial finally ended, and in his case, God restored not only what he had lost, but increased it. But for most folks, it doesn't always have a happy ending here on earth. A happy ending, if we are believers, comes when we go to heaven.

Clinging to God Through Hardship

Well, that begs the question, when life gets hard, what do you do? Well, I'll tell you what I've done, friends. I've cleaved to my God like white on rice through faith, and I can say this, Jesus is now nearer and clearer and dearer than he's ever been before.

Listen, Jesus will never let you down, and he will never let you go in times of trouble or in times of prosperity. Let us pray.