Have you ever been in a troublesome situation? We all have faced problems and tribulations almost on a daily basis. If is not one thing is the other, but the fact remains that troubles will visit all of us with an irritating frequency and intensity.
And yet, there are days which seem more problematic than others. I am referring to the days when attacks come one after another; like a swarm of locust that devastate everything in sight. These days are intolerable and seemingly never-ending.
That is exactly how I have been feeling these last few days. It all started on Friday with a simple cough, but it has degenerated into something far worse. Now I have problems or pain in almost every inch of my body. I have a medical condition in:
My head and my eyes
My nose and my mouth
My throat and my neck
My stomach and my chest
I also have constant fever, which in turn has drained all of my strength. I am also suffering from headaches, insomnia, allergies and dehydration and a few more I forgot. The only “good news” in all of this is that I have dropped a few pounds…which I need to.
My case cannot be compared to Job’s day of trial. In one day, Job went from being the richest and most blessed man of his time (Job 1:3), to one of the poorest and most miserable (humanly speaking). In one day, Job lost his fortune (camels, cows, sheep, and donkeys) and all his children (Job 1:13-18).
Only Jesus, and perhaps the apostle Paul, suffered even more than Job. In fact, Isaiah 53 tell us that Jesus was:
“…despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” (v. 3)
Do you want to talk about having problems? Jesus is personally acquainted with sorrow, grief, troubles, pain, abandonment, betrayal and any other problem you can think of (or complain about). He, who put Job to the test, voluntarily became the Object of derision, scorn and all sorts of attacks.
But Isaiah continues,
“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…He was bruised for our iniquities…and by his stripes we are healed” (vv. 4, 5)
I don’t know how to end my problems or this blog, but perhaps we can learn that problems are part of life; that Jesus knows about our problems and that He uses problems to bring the best out of us. Remember that it was He that faced the wilderness for 40 days; that prayed with his own blood on Gethsemane and that shed that same blood to save us from Hell.
Alexander Gonzalez
