BY JACK WARD

Solomon surveyed the course of human existence 2,500 years ago and concluded that life is all vanity or emptiness. (Eccl. 2:18-23) He saw the righteous suffer and felt it was a form of injustice.

Job must have felt much this way during his time of trial.

Perhaps you, too, have gone through an extended trial and had questions and doubts about it.

Trials will come our way. We may not understand them all or appreciate them when they come, but we need to be prepared for them.

The Christian who thinks that just because they are saved that they are going to be shielded from trouble is in for a terribly rude awakening! Being saved is no hedge from trouble! Christians get sick. Christian marriages fall apart. Christian parents have trouble with their children. Christians have financial troubles. Christians walk through some pretty deep, dark valleys. Jesus said it as plainly as it could have been said in John 16:33: “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Remember that just because a trial came and took you by surprise and jerked the rug out from under your feet, it never took God by surprise! He knew about it before it happened and had already made a way to bring you out of that trial. He never changes and is still able to help you through. (Heb. 13:8) Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever!

When it is time to leave the nest, the mother eagle will literally throw the young eagle from the nest. As he plummets to earth, vainly attempting to fly, he fears sure and certain death. At the last moment, his mother swoops down from above and catches him and carries him back to the safety of the nest. This is repeated several times over the next few days. Finally, the little eaglet will spread his wings and soar upward. Eventually, he will be able to fly above all the storms below, but only because he endured the fear of falling.