What does God do for his people when they endure hardship? Of course, our attempts to answer that always fall short. We don't know God's plan exhaustively. We have no idea of the depths of his mercy and grace. And in this very complicated world with an incredible number of interactions among people and events we have no clue of all the implications of any one situation.
Here's something we do know from today's reading. We do know that the Lord uses hardship, among other things, to remind us of the Lord's promises and his compassion. When we face difficulties we can look to our Lord and see that he is the one who ultimately resolves all troubles. We can look at our situations and see how they are all ultimately related to the sinful condition of the world. We can look at Jesus Christ, who has redeemed the world to God. We know that we can look from our hardships to the life-giving Lord who has promised final deliverance.
So what does the Lord plan for us today? We don't know. But we do know that our Lord and Savior, in Matthew 19.14, says children may come to him for his blessing. We who look to him in faith can come to him this day as well. We can know that he is always with us, caring for us, and is the one who will bring us through all our trials.
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