August 27, 2023 - Finding Hope in Distressing Times - Pastor Paul Vallee

The Book of James How can a person maintain a right and godly attitude and find hope in seemingly hopeless situations?  Many people feel trapped by their current situation in life. I am not speaking of being trapped or imprisoned but of being trapped by life’s situations, commitments, and responsibilities. Others are trapped in unhealthy bodies suffering from a debilitating disease, like Job, who was trapped in a body enduring extreme suffering and surrounded by friends who falsely judged him. They told him his sickness was because he had sinned against God, which was untrue.  Over the years, I wonder how many people have told Joni Erickson Tada that God would heal her body while she lived with quadriplegia. I wonder how many have told her or thought it would happen if she only had enough faith. Joni is living out an incredible story of God’s grace despite less-than-desirable circumstances and knows that, ultimately, God will give her a new body. For all the people who have experienced God’s healing in their bodies, others have continued to suffer, who have prayed and prayed for God to answer their cry, but what they have received instead is God’s grace to sustain them. Questions can arise in their minds: Does God care?       For others, they are struggling with financial, psychological, and other life-related limitations.  Then, some feel trapped in difficult marriages, families, and jobs. The single mom cannot seem to scrape enough time and resources to keep body and soul together, with the demands of trying to be both parents and provide a meaningful life for themselves and their children. Most forget about themselves or, in the worst-case scenario, forget about their kid’s welfare. Some struggle with the bit of time they have for themselves, with little affirmation and encouragement from others. The cries of the hearts of those in distressing times are reflected by the Psalmist who prayed.             Psalm 55:6-8             I said, ‘Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest-             I would flee far away and stay in the desert;             I would hurry to my place of shelter, far from the tempest and storm.       So, what do we do when we feel trapped, when our circumstances seem to have us hemmed in, and we cannot see a way out? We are being tested. Paul had a moment when he cried out to God for deliverance from what he describes as a thorn in his flesh.             2 Corinthians 12:7-9a             because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.             I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me.             But he said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ God’s answer was grace greater than the pressure and challenges he was experiencing. The half-brother of Jesus wrote a pastoral letter directed toward Jewish believers scattered throughout the Mediterranean undergoing incredible difficulty and persecution. In that letter we know as the book of James, he shares some marvellous words of encouragement and direction for the difficulties they were facing, which will help us in our distressing moments.