Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of LifeSample

God’s covenant promises do not mean that our lives will be predictable, comfortable, easy, or trouble-free.

I have jokingly said many times that if God’s ultimate plan is to unleash his power to deliver comfortable lives to us, he is a massive failure. God’s ultimate plan is to unleash his wisdom, power, and grace for our final and eternal redemption. I don’t know about you, but I like comfortable things. I love those seasons when life just seems to work without interruption or difficulty. I don’t really enjoy having to struggle or being asked to wait. But I have been confronted again and again with the reality that the God who loves me and who gave up his Son for my redemption will lead me through difficulty.

Such was the life of Jacob. The blessings of Abraham, by God’s wise plan, had been passed down to him, but his life was surely not without difficulty. In Genesis 30–31, Jacob is in conflict with his father-in-law, Laban, over payment and possessions. God had prospered Jacob, and Laban had benefited greatly from Jacob’s prosperity, but he did not want to give Jacob what Jacob thought was rightfully his. This story of extended family drama is all too familiar to us. We are well aware of family conflict. We have all had moments when we wished life with family were easier and more comfortable. Many of us have at times disagreed with family members about what is rightfully ours. Many of us have been hurt and felt wronged by those close to us. In these moments, it doesn’t seem like we are the objects of the blessing of the King of kings and Lord of lords.

In these hard moments, when life just doesn’t seem to be working as it should and when God may seem distant and unattached, we are being called to hold on to God by faith and to persevere. The biblical call to persevere is in God’s word because between the “already” and the “not yet” we will all face seasons and situations of hardship. These times of hardship are not to be understood as a failure of the promises of God or as evidence that he has abandoned us. In these times, God is working out his plan and deepening our trust in him and our willingness to live as he calls his children to live. Perseverance is deeper than working to make a situation better. It is about refusing to let hardships convince us that God is not good or that his promises are not trustworthy. Perseverance is holding on to faith in God when it seems he is not near or what he is leading us through is too hard. In these moments of unexpected conflict and trial, God meets us with his grace, empowering us to hold on to him as he holds on to us. God was not done testing Jacob, and this moment of family conflict would not stop the march of his covenant plan.

For further study and encouragement: James 1:2–4