Articles From Our Bulletins
When Good Times Are Bad
In many writings and in sermons, Christians are often asked whether their faith is strong enough to withstand bad times.
Will your faith be able to endure the difficulties of dark days? Yet, I wonder sometimes, if it would be better to ask: “Is my faith strong enough to survive good times?”
When times are hard, many have the tendency to actually be more attentive to God and His Word. Yet when you hear about people who drift away from the Lord, it is not when life is bad but when it’s good. For some, this is when God seems unnecessary.
Too often we interpret His blessings as an indication of our goodness, not His. Yet He causes the sun to rise and the rain to fall on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). It is easy to assume we deserve everything pleasant that happens and we often fail to appreciate what He is telling us about Himself through the good gifts He lets us enjoy.
Will we learn that important lesson from the failure of Israel? Although God had given them “a land flowing with milk and honey,” they turned from Him, so He caused “calamity to come upon them” (Jeremiah 32:21-23).
The goodness of God is a wonderful reason to obey Him. It is not an opportunity to disobey. Paul told the Romans that the riches of God’s kindness, His forbearance and patience should have lead them to repentance (Romans 2:4). When we realize this, our relationship with the Lord will be strengthened by His wonderful blessings, not weakened. Are you willing to follow the Lord through the good times and the bad?
