It is good to have a “life verse.” It can be a Biblical source of comfort, security, and strength as you walk the Christian life. We usually choose a verse that highlights the compassion or victory of Jesus; of his blessing and presence. “I will never leave you or forsake you,” “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” or “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Let me give you a life verse that is more real, raw, and honest – Psalm 66:10-12. “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” I know of a family friend who lost his battle with cancer at 61, and this past week a PCA lost his 9 year old daughter to an active shooter. Life is hard and death is sure.
The Christian life is not easy. There are many obstacles, setbacks, and very confusing events along the way. The way home is a jagged, craggy path up and down the mountains, into some sad and dark valleys of bitter experience. Jesus never promised you a Rose Garden without any thorns. He did promise to make you more like Jesus. He did not promise happiness, but holiness.
Jesus is present, and working powerfully in the valleys, after the stumbles, and through the disappointments. The burdens of this life are the chisel in God’s hands to make us and others fit for the glory to come. This life is a preparation, it is not the final destination.
In Psalm 66, God tests us, brings us into the net, lays crushing burdens on our backs, allows evil men to place injustice on our backs. God does these things! “There is none beside me.I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil:I the Lord do all these things” (Isaiah 45:6–7, KJV). And God brings something precious out of the chaos and confusion. “Yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.”
The road home is filled with difficulties. We often judge the quality of the trip before we even reach the destination. Hindsight is 20/20, but we are not yet home, in heaven, to enjoy that hindsight. For now, on the trip home, we trust our navigator. He does have answers for us, morally sufficient and satisfying answers, but we are not home yet. Therefore we continue to ask, like the 5 year old siblings in the back of the car, “Are we there yet?” “How much longer?” “Are we close now?” The answer that we receive, “Almost; we are almost home.” “It will be so good when we get there – it will be heaven, and well worth the trip.”
“Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
leave to thy God to order and provide;
in ev’ry change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”
– Katharina Amalia Dorothea von Schlegel