WHEN LIFE IS HARD 

"Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning".  Ps. 30:5

            There are times in our lives when this scripture seems to just roll off of our tongues.  This might be particularly true in the beginning of a trial.  But Bro. Phil Walker came and preached a sermon once entitled "How Long The Night".  Sometimes when the trial goes on and on, or when it seems that we are fighting with a whole host of trials at one time, we wonder how long is the night.  You see getting saved or turning our lives over to God did not assure us that life on this earth would be easy.  In fact, for both Christians and non-Christians, life sometimes seems to be hard.  In fact, life sometimes is hard.  So I want to talk to you today on the topic "WHEN LIFE IS HARD".

            Now some would call this a negative message, but I call it a honest message.  Life does get hard for the believer and so that the world does not get a false impression we must sometimes talk about the hard times too.  It is the hard times that show God's strength, ability, love and concern for us.  The world must know that life gets hard for us so that they can see God's deliverance in those times.

            Also, young Christians need to know that life sometimes gets hard for the seasoned Christian too.  If not the devil will use their hard times to tell them that they are doing something wrong or all would be going well with them.  So if we were to really face facts today, life sometimes gets hard.

     There are at least four conditions that make us feel that life is hard.

     1.  When we have done all that we know to do and still we do not get what we want or things still continue to go wrong.

     2.  The lose of things that are important to us, such as our family, friends, finances, mental or

         spiritual peace.  When we lose peace life can become unbearable.

     3.  When the everyday pressures of life seem to be pounding on us from every side.  When we feel as though we are already faced with tremendous odds and more difficulties seem to be rising on the fore front.

     4.  When our physical body will not function to do that which is required or what we are accustomed to it doing.

 These situations tend to make us feel that life is hard.  We have some Biblical examples of enduring hard times. 

JOB 1:1 - 3, 6 - 8, 12 – 22; JOB 2:7 – 8; II COR. 11:23 - 12:7 – 10; ACTS 27:10 - 20 

            As we read through the book of Job we find that Job understood that the events that had happened to him and his present situation was a trial.  He maintained his innocence and refuse to except that his friends were right in accusing him of bringing this on himself.  Now before we talk about how Job faced this period in his life, let's try to paint a very clear picture of what he is experiencing.  Let's put Job in our times.

            "There is a man in our fellowship whose name is Job.  He is a minister of the gospel, teaches Bible study, tries to help everyone in need and is described even by God as a perfect and upright man. Job has a loving wife, three sons and a baby girl. 

            Job is the Chancellor of NCSU.  He is a wealthy man but is not consumed by his wealth.  Job goes to work one Monday morning in his normal cheerful mood to find that his co-workers have lied on him and set him up in such a way that it seems impossible to prove his innocence.  Job without the ammunition to defend himself loses his job.  His whole career is wiped out.  As Job heads home he turns on the radio looking for comforting music.  He finds the news and hears immediately that his insurance company has just declared bankruptcy.  As Job nears his home he sees fire trucks and medical personnel all around what used to be his house.  He finds out that a gas line has burst, the house exploded, his wife and all of his children were trapped inside and were killed.

            Totally devastate and stressed out Job's body experiences an immediate physiological reaction and he breaks out in boils from head to toe.  Job sits down among the ashes of his burnt home and prays for help.

            A month later the boils are still there and Job finds that he has a rare disease, which causes inflamed ulcerous sores, itching, degenerative changes in facial skin, loss of appetite, depression, loss of strength, worms in the boils, running sores, difficulty in breathing, darkness under the eyes, foul breath, loss of weight, continual pain, restlessness, blackened and peeling skin, and fever.  The disease seemed to have no cure.  With each day it only got worse.

            This is the situation of Job in the Bible.  In this state life is hard.  But we must cope with the harshness and difficulties of life.  Let's look at how Job dealt with his condition.

     1.  Job 3:1 - self pity

         He went into deep depression. why didn't I die. Why continue to live. Woe is me, woe is me.  

     2.  Job 7:11 - 21 - questions God angrily

Am I a raging sea or a monster that you should have to continuously keep watch on me?  When will you leave me alone?  Why don't you forgive me and let me get on with my life?

         (nothing wrong with questioning - Is 1:18 reason )

     3.  Job 9:17 - 24 - Accuses God

         Says God is overwhelming him, multiplying his troubles for no reason, fills him with bitterness, laughing at the trials of the innocent, and being in league with the wicked.     

There are also brief periods where job declares his trust in God and seems to be broken and humble before Him.  Job 13:14 -15, Job 10:9 – 10.  But for the most part Job sinks into a pattern of self-pity, anger and accusations directed at God.  If we are honest there is not much difference in Job's reaction and that of our own when we face hard times.

            But when we look at Paul and the way he continued his ministry through all the trials and hard times he encountered we can glean a few pointers on what to do when life is hard. 

Acts 27:21 - 44

             Paul in going through this particular hardship did not focus on the circumstances.  Not only was he being held prisoner but he was also in the middle of a terrible storm.  Yet in spite of this he focused elsewhere.  What did Paul focus on?

     1.  Focused on hearing from God.  Paul began to fast; to shut out all the worldly circumstances and concentrate on spiritually.  Maybe he remembered Is. 26:3, or Ps 46:1.  When we focus on God He takes us beyond the circumstances. Rather than focus on the circumstance we are to think on  Phil 4:8.  It was during this period of fasting that Paul received his deliverance.  For it was then that he received a message from God and this message gave him a new focus.

     2.  Focused on a new vision.  He received a vision not of vanishing in the sea, but of going on

         to Rome, after stopping by a small island.  Prov. 29:18 - without a vision and with a

         wrong vision man perishes.  We become disheartened and give up when we can not see a better ending than our present state.  That is why Paul told the Corinthians that if we have only this world to look forward to, we are in pitiful shape.  But we have a greater hope than life on this earth, and we must direct our focus to that hope especially when life is hard.           Phil 3:7 - 15 - hope of resurrection and we must press towards that mark of being found in Him at His return.  Rom. 8:18, I Cor 2:9; II Cor. 4:17 - 18 - In the midst of life’s hardships

         we must focus on the eternal and not on the temporal.

     3.  Focused on his faith in God - vs 23 - 25.  He chose to believe the Word from the Lord, and exercising his faith he spoke that word to other in the situation.  He held fast to  his confidence in who he was and the ability God and confess that which he had received from God.  God has given us His written Word and He still speaks to us today.  When life is hard we must choose to focus on what God says to us and not on the host of circumstances that try to shake our foundation and move us off the solid Rock upon which we stand.

     4.  Focused on meeting the need of others.  In vs 31 he strengthened and gave warning to others who were in the same situation.  When life is hard for us we need to set about encouraging those who are getting weak, and warning those who are about to jump ship or have never come into the "ark of safety".  In verses 33 - 36 he set about meeting their physical needs.

Changing one's focus does not eliminate the circumstances but rather it takes the sting out of the circumstances.  The devils intention in attacking us is to make us take our eyes off God and lose hope.  Avoiding all trials and misfortunes in life is not possible.  However we can face the hardships of life successfully by keeping the proper focus.

WHEN LIFE IS HARD -------- FOCUS

For some of you this life that is often very hard, is the best that you have to look forward to.  You do not have the hope of living and reigning with Christ forever.  You do not know Him as your Lord and Savior and therefore have no relationship with Him.