Romans 12:12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying.
Of course, we have all gotten in trouble before. It just happens. Or we have all had trouble before and maybe you got troubles right now!! Troubles come and troubles go and in the midst of it all we are supposed to learn a lesson from it all. But.... Sometimes I have trouble with troubles. I like smooth sailing and calm living within the context of me running like a chicken with his head cut off. (Missouri saying). Life can get us scattered at times and we face one thing after the other and at times feel very alone in the moment. But we aren't..REALLY! No matter what troubles may come your way, there is gonna be a better day. In the above scripture Paul holds on to this very truth as he shares the way to real life in Jesus Christ. Real life in Christ is a life that is totally dependent on God and nothing else. Paul knew about this life and lived his calling by waking up every morning with the confident hope he wrote about in that verse 12. So, speaking from experience Paul gives us a truth about confidence in the midst of trouble.
I got troubles. You got troubles. Keep on praying he says. I do have a little trouble with troubles though. I forget to be patient and just want it to go away and thus stifle the whole plan God has in it. My impatience seems to thwart the "point" I should be getting out of it because I have become consumed by "me." So the trouble with troubles is based on my impression of why the troubles come. James put it this way in James 1:2 Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
So there is an end-game to troubles and that end-game is perfect and complete without need of anything. Amazingly that is the peace and calm I am looking for anyway, but might not get without the troubles. All of this can get a littel peculiar if we are not looking at it through a trusting heart, so do that!! You know. Have a trusting heart!! With a trusting heart our trouble with troubles seems to fade away and we trust God for details and I need that right now. You may notice that this is supposed to happen in troubles of any kind, per James 1:1.
Back to Romans 12:12 where Paul says to do three things as a basic teaching for our life in Christ. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. Do these three things and the trouble you might have with troubles will morph into a staying faith that will bring more peace, and more joy, and more confidence in the hope we live in. Psalm 50:15 Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”
The Pilgrimage Continues....
David Warren
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