Reconciling GraceSample

Grace of Hardship

Have you ever felt as if the weight of adversity was so heavy you’d rather die than bear it any longer?

Job was a man who had everything that mattered in life taken from him: his wealth, possessions, children, and health. His adversity so overwhelmed him that he cursed the day he was born. In my own life, I have had several “Job” moments—times in my life where I felt like I could go no further and prayed for death. Losing my grandparents was especially difficult for me, as they were the ones who taught me how to love. I felt lost, abandoned, and betrayed.

In considering how God demonstrates grace, it is easy to focus on what we perceive to be our blessings. We might speak of how God delivered us from cancer or how he provided a way to pay our mortgage just when all seemed lost. In short, we may be tempted to think of grace as deliverance from hardship.

But what if the hardship is actually the grace? What if our deliverance is only the after-effect? Job was so acquainted with grief that his name is synonymous with it. He was a man defined by hardship.

Yet a closer look at Job may reveal that until that point, when everything that mattered to him was stripped away, he had been living a life of such great comfort that his faith was brought into question. Maybe it was only after great loss that grace was truly active in Job’s life.

Perhaps the grace of hardship is what helped Job see that, above wealth, health, or family, what mattered most in life was his intimate relationship with the Creator. May we also experience God’s grace in a way that brings us nearer to him.

Prayer

Holy Father, we adore you above all else. Forgive us our sins, and guide us in the way everlasting. We ask you to remove any hardship or sorrow from our lives. Yet if we must endure, may we suffer in such a way as to draw us closer to you. May our hearts be always in love with you, O glorious King. In Jesus’s name, AMEN.

Author

J.M. is a writing adviser who hopes to help his peers improve how they think creatively through their writing. He is part of an extracurricular performance arts cohort that weaves together stories of multiple students into one piece that will be performed by outside actors. He is devoted to searching for new approaches to understand and interpret Scripture in ways that are relevant to society today.