Living in the Middle of Heartache

Looking at the Bible, we get the privilege of seeing the story in its entirety. 

We see the beginning, we see the subject living in the middle of heartache, and we get to see them experience their restoration. 

The problem with this is we see all three stages in a matter of minutes. When in reality they last years, many times even more than one lifetime. Some never saw all three stages in their lifetime; they simply lived in one season. 

Our lives are not much different. Except for one major thing: We actually live in years, not in minutes. 

Look at Job. You know, the guy who had it all and then lost it all, endured the hardest of realities? There is an entire book written about him. The whole book is laden with heartache upon heartache. Loss compounded on loss and hardship after hardship. 

It can become so easy for us to flip through his story, by merely just turning a few pages. To look for the final chapter where God restored to Job the things that had been stripped away from him.  The reality is, the book of Job transpired over the course of his life and we just skimmed it in a matter of minutes.

 Job lived with the same tensions we experience today: Living in the middle of heartache without the privilege of knowing when or how the story will finish.

So can I encourage us today, when we are faced with the challenge of living smack dab in the middle of heartache? Don’t lose heart. Hold it in tension. It won’t likely resolve as simply as turning a few pages.
Hang in there; you’re gonna make it.