Hard Pressed but Not Crushed

Murphy’s Law states, “What ever can go wrong, will go wrong.” Have you ever had a time in your life where Murphy’s Law was in full effect? Where everything seems to be going wrong? Maybe you’re going through that time right now. If so read on…

Sometimes it seems that we cannot do anything right. Every decision we make seems to be the wrong one. Every thing we say seems to be taken the wrong way or said at the wrong time. We start to question every choice we make and every thing we do—down to picking the right shoes to wear when we leave the house in the morning!

We may find ourselves in this rough patch in our lives suddenly, and without warning. “Just when everything was going so well!” Or, “Just when I was finally starting to get ahead, here this comes to knock me back down!” And the worst part about it is that it makes us feel so bad. Sometimes, the pressures of life weigh so heavily on us, they feel like they’re going to crush us.

Recently, while going through a rough patch of my own, a good friend of mine passed along a scripture to help me put things in perspective, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” What hope we find in those verses!

As Christians, we are not promised a life without disappointment and hard times. Unpleasant experiences are par for the course in living on earth. However, the difference between Christians and unbelievers is a simple matter of faith: When everything goes wrong, Christians are not left without hope. We can talk to God about our problems; we can read His Word for strength and encouragement; we are comforted by the Holy Spirit. And we bounce back!

The most important thing we can do is recognize that when everything is going wrong, there is only one thing to do—take our problems before the Lord. He hears our prayer and He is faithful to respond to us.

In the end, you win!