Job Chapter 10. I hate my life.
In my years of counseling and ministry I have heard these words over and over again and have even said them myself, “I hate my life!”
I've heard these words come from those who feel alone, who are bullied, who feel no hope in life.
I've heard these words from those seeking for HAPPINESS but look in all the wrong places.
A teenage girl had a child and neglected her child so that her mom was raising it. The teenager moved from place to place without her baby living with different men. She was looking for love in all the wrong places. She called me asking me to give her a ride so she can buy groceries with her boyfriend. So I picked them both up. I asked her if she was happy. She said NO emphatically. I wondered how the boyfriend felt about that comment? I then shared the love of Jesus with her and said you will never be happy if you keep running from God.
I say all this for this reason:
1. People are hurting. People are in pain. People are lonely. People are seeking but not finding.
2. We need to let God use us to be a light to those in darkness. I mean we need to take the Light of Christ to both the Christians who are hurting and the non-Christians who are hurting.
3. Don't be quick to judge, but be quick to look past the negative behavior and into the Heart of the person which reveals their real hurt and pain. Come alongside and love and support them and encourage them.
Job was in misery and he questioned why things had to go the way that they did. I understand where he was coming from. There are times that we may also have questions or doubts and it can certainly be difficult to persevere during the midst of the storms of life. We might feel like we have fallen into a pit that we are trapped in sometimes, but God can redeem our life from the pit. May the Lord give us strength and help to keep the right attitude and the right perspective through it all as He shines His light in us to also help others in their times of need.
I would like to share this passage today from Psalm 103:2-19.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments. The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all.