I never promised you are rose garden

 This verse stuck out to me today:

“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.”

At first reading, this seems like a very good promise to hold onto. That is until you look at the context. This is Job 22:21 and is said by Eliphaz, one of Job’s friends who was trying to give Job godly advice but missed the mark. Eliphaz’s thought was that Job was being punished because of his sin. Thus, the remedy was to turn back to God so that God will life the suffering from Job’s life. One can see a hint of this thinking after the Israelites returned from exile in Ezra and Nehemiah and fully on display in the Pharisees of the New Testament.

This was contradicted by the first two chapters of the book of Job when it is revealed that Job’s suffering came because he was righteous (not perfect but a God-fearer). Continuing to the end of the book, God rebukes Job’s friends for this bad advice and sets them straight. In regards to the Pharisees, Jesus was very explicit with His frustration with them on this topic.

Looking back at these accounts, we may be tempted to scoff at the friends of Job and the Pharisees and their foolishness but fail to see this same thinking in our own lives. How many times do we get mad at God for not handling things the way we want or letting bad things happen to us? How many times do we pray and not get the answers we want and walk away grumbling? Who of us has not said that a good God would not allow this or that to happen?

This reminded me of a song I remember growing up by Lynn Anderson. The chorus is:

I beg your pardon,

I never promised you are rose garden.

Along with the sunshine

There’s got to be a little rain sometime.

While this is a song about human relationships, this same idea holds try about our relationship with God. One of the brothers in my small group said today, as he often quotes John 16:33:  

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Let’s be clear: God did promise us a life without pain, tears and sadness. However, that is in the new Heavens and the new Earth, not this one. That does not mean we are without hope for this life. He has provided the Holy Spirit to be with us in the midst of the storm that life is throwing our way.

Reading John 6, one sees that Jesus addressed this when his followers were seeking another miracle as they did with the feeding of the crowd. They were so enamored about the gifts that they received, they did not pay attention to the person giving the gifts. So, when the gifts stopped, they rejected the giver. This is true of us many times as well.

When things do not go the way we expect or want, we start grumbling and complaining. We question God and we throw a pity party for ourselves because of all the bad that God has given us. I say this from experience and I know others close to me that have experienced it more than I have. I am not saying that acknowledging the hardship we face is wrong. Nor is feeling exhausted in having to deal with it, especially if it have been a long battle. I am encouraging us to remember the good gifts that God has given us which should point us to the God who is good no matter what we are going through.

In these rough times, often, there are two responses. One is to point to the idea from Job’s friend and argue that God is not holding up His end of the bargain. We could complain and may even leave God behind. The other option is to recognize the idea in the song and John’s verse that we will have struggles but God is with us. Acknowledging our weakness and need of his strength is necessary and God understands when we are honest with Him about why we are struggling. David does this often in the Psalms but most of the time, he returns to praise God and look to Him for shelter and refuge.

May God be our fortress, which provides strength and comfort, in the midst of the circumstances we face in this life while we wait the glorious promised hope of a beautiful life to come for those who believe (John 6:47).