BY REV. CARL A. TRAPANI
When things to go from bad to worse; just wait a bit
There are two portions of Scripture that came to my mind as I wrote this article. 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 1 Peter 4:12-19. They speak of temptations and trials that set upon those who follow the Lord. The Bible doesn’t shrink from the fact that “all that live godly shall suffer persecution.” Instead, it offers this consolation: For every child of God, the best is yet to come. Things are going to get better after a while.
For those who have become weary with their toil and are tired, there is a wonderful day of rest that is assured.
For those who have lost loved ones, there is a wonderful reunion day that awaits them, when they will forever enjoy the company of their dear departed, and the Lord Himself.
An explorer named Fridtjof Nansen was lost with one companion in the Arctic wastes. By miscalculation they ran out of all their supplies. They ate their dogs, the dog’s harnesses, and even drank the whale oil for their lamps. Nansen’s companion gave up and lay down to die. But Nansen did not give up. He told himself, “I can take one step more.” As he plodded heavily through the bitter cold, step after step,
suddenly across an ice hill he stumbled upon an American expedition that had been sent out to find him. He was saved!
God’s delivering grace is assured all those who will hold on to it, but each person must experience it themselves. We must be willing to keep on going. We must keep on keeping on. So I say, “Things are
gonna be better after a while.”
Noah’s Day was Bad. But Noah reassured himself with God’s promise that things were going to get better after a while. The world was bad. But God made a way out of the mess. What would you rather have – the
stink of the ark or the storm and the flood? Noah chose a stinky boat, but things got better after a while. He got to live in a brand-new earth.
Lot’s world was Bad. Sodom and Gomorah were corrupt. But Lot was blessed with a praying intercessor by the name of Abraham who asked God for Lot to be delivered. And he was. The wicked cities were destroyed
and things got better after a while.
Joseph spent 13 years living in the pits. But he never quit believing in his dreams. “Things are going to get better after a while.” Joseph never lost faith in a better future even when he was hated and ridiculed by his brothers. Even when they attacked him, threw him into a pit, and sold him into slavery. Even when he was lied about, imprisoned, and forgotten by those he had served. Joseph had the confidence that things were going to get better after a while. And they did.
The classic optimist of the Old Testament was Job. He underwent a horrible period of loss and rejection. Yet Job displayed his belief that things were going to get better after a while when he said “Tho’ he slay me, yet will I trust him.” (13:15) and “When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (23:10). Job never quit living for God. He always held on to a hope that the best was yet to come. And he was right. Job’s story ended with him being blessed with twice as much as had before his trial.
Just before my mother died of cancer she told me something that I have clung to. “See this old body? Well, one day soon, it won’t be old anymore, and it won’t hurt anymore, and it won’t ever be tired again.
Son, things are going to get better after a while.” I believed her. And I still do.
In my 57 years of living I have had my share of pain, hard times, and losses. But, I haven’t quit serving God. And I am not going to. Why? Because in all my trials I have firmly believed that if I just held on to the Lord – things would get better after a while. And I was right. He has always brought me through. Now I am convinced that The Best is Yet to Come!
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS PUBLISHED BY WISCONSIN DISTRICT NEWS, JULY/AUGUST 2000, PAGE 11. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
