Pastor’s Pen: Faith will help us stand fast in bad times

By Rev Mercia MalcolmThere is a common saying that troubles always come in threes. I certainly felt that the other week when I broke a tooth on the Sunday, found the cat had been sick overnight in several parts of the house on the Tuesday and had a fault develop in the washing machine on the Thursday that tripped all the electrics in the house.
Rev Mercia Malcolm.Rev Mercia Malcolm.
Rev Mercia Malcolm.

The tooth required extraction, the cat’s aliment resulted in an expensive trip to the vet and our church electrician verified that the only solution to the problem with the washing machine was a new machine. These were minor troubles perhaps, but it certainly made for an inconvenient and expensive week!

Of course many people endure much more serious traumas every week. Life does have a habit of throwing us curve balls and such crises do often seem to come in a run. Whether it is illness or bereavement, family or financial troubles, problems at work or school, or domestic crises or quarrels, we all know times of struggle and difficulty. When a number of crises hit us at once it can be easy to feel overwhelmed.

We can ‘keep calm and carry on’ in such times however if we allow our faith to shape our response to what life brings us. For faith assures us that God is still in charge, even if bad things happen.

Jesus didn’t promise his followers a trouble free existence. But he did promise us that he would always be with us in every circumstance. And he did show us through the cross and resurrection that God would always have the final word.

Jesus taught us that God cares even about the fall of a sparrow so no trouble is too small to bring to him or too great for his love to help us to carry.

We will find the faith to stand fast in the bad times when we stay close to God in the good. May we know the reality of God’s love each day so that we can stay secure in his peace even if turmoil comes.

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