Beauty for Ashes
My husband was telling me of a customer who was sad about losing her job, having been employed there over 30 years. "I was a good worker, but when I hurt my leg I was let go and replaced with someone else."
Life can be so meaningless sometimes. Just this morning, today's daily Bible reading selection, which began in the book of Ecclesiastes, started with Solomon saying the same thing. He had tried everything and found it meaningless. He was jaded on life and seemed to conclude chapter 3, verse 22, on a fatalistic note that life is all there is.
Paul in II Corinthians 6:1-2 had a much more optimistic view of life and eternity, holding out the promise of God's grace to us. The scripture there says, "We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (2) For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation I have succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." It is a time accepted, or a time of God's favor.
That is the way we must look a life. Disappointments and injustices will always come, but they are nothing in the light of God's salvation. Paul concludes verse 10 with words that refer to himself and God's servants "as having nothing, yet possessing all things."
The next scripture passage is Psalm 46:1-11. It is filled with reassurances that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, and that though the earth be removed and the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, there is a river, whose streams make glad the city of God; He is in the midst of it.
The Lord of Hosts is with us and the God of Jacob is our refuge. We are told to "Be still, and know that I am God," verse 10. That is the key to dealing with our frustrations and questions, no matter how we are treated by the world.
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