I don't know where you're at when you read this. It may be a really great season, it could be an average season or it could be a point in your life where everything seems bland and grey and you cant see a light at the end in the tunnel.
I'm currently writing this during the world epidemic of COVID19. Everyone in the country has been told by the government to stay in our home to help stop the spread of the virus and protect our healthcare service from crashing. We aren't allows to go out and see loved ones. Businesses are having to close and people are loosing their jobs left right and center. It's very bleak times. And not knowing how or when things are going to get better can cause such immense hopelessness.
You don't have to be in an epidemic to feel hopeless like this though. It could be a normal Tuesday where you feel so helplessly hopeless about your life. It's not easy to trust God in times of hopelessness. I've found many a time even in the last few days where I've been angry and frustrated at God, asking him why he has let this happen and why he's doing nothing about it. In the book of Job ( one of my favorites) we funnily enough see a guy called Job. Now Job is a really good guy. He loves God so much and therefore lives his life how God has told him was best. God had blessed him with loads of land and and sheep and lots of children and a lush home. Now in this allegory, we see an angel called 'The Satan' (meaning the 'adversary' in Hebrew ) pop up to God and question whether Job actually loves God or is only righteous because he knows God will give him a good life if he is. He wonders that, if God takes away all the good things in Jobs life, then they would see what Jobs is really like. So God allows the Satan to do this test. Job looses everything he loves; his land and animals and all his children die and Job is devastated. Yet for chapters 1-3 Job still praises God... for a bit. However we then see Jobs spiral in to a deep depression and he curses the day he was born. He goes on a roller coaster of emotions. One moment he's holding on to the promise that God is still good and then the next he's doubting this and accusing God of being untrustworthy. He then demands God to come to see him and explain himself which God does in the form of a storm. He takes Job on a visual journey; showing him how humongous and complicate the world is. He shows Job all the billions and billions or little details that make the universe function and tells him there is no way Job could run it all or even comprehend it. God then shows Job these two lethal beasts. Ones that could kill you instantly, however he tells Job they aren't actually evil, they are just a part of his creation as Job is. And then he leaves.
Now this seems unhelpful but ultimately he has shown that Job's perspective doesn't even scratch the surface of how God makes decisions with the complexity of the universe in mind. Job only see's what is going on from his eyes however God can know everything, every detail, every situation at once and all the events that have become and all the events that will come. Job never knew the conversation God had with the Satan or why he suffered but this left Job in a place of utter humility and, after remembering how wise and strong God is, he was able to be peaceful and patient during his suffering.
The book doesn't end with Job suffering forever though. It goes on to tell us how God restored everything Job had before TWOFOLD! This was not a reward for passing the test because Jobs suffering was not a punishment for sinning; Job had done no wrong in the first place. It finishes by saying Job could then go into any situation trusting God's goodness and wisdom in peace.
It's hard to remember that this is the truth, especially in times of hardship. But like Job, we also have such a limited perspective of how the world works and we don't know what's going on behind the scenes of our own lives, let alone the universe. Like on a plane, if the pilot is worried definitely worry but it the pilot is not worried, you trust that they will land the plane safely. God is not worried and has not lost control of the world because it is not in his nature to do so. It's okay to be angry and frustrated at God sometimes. He's a big guy. He can take it! All he asks of us is to push past the frustration of what we can see and trust that he's got what we cant see all taken care of.
What really helps me to trust in times of hopelessness is worship music. It's not for everyone but I find that worship lift my spirits and helps me pray when I don't want to.
So here's a Spotify playlist of songs to help you get up out of doubt and trust in God's goodness. This has helped me for more than 2 years now. ENJOY!
Written by Amy O'Sullivan