2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

How heavy is the burden which you are carrying today? Are you at the end of your rope? Good.  You cringed just now didn’t you? You think I’m making light of your situation. No, I’m not being insensitive. The fact is that trouble of every sort narrows our perspective to the point where all we can focus on is the problem while God wants us to focus on him and his faithfulness to those he loves and who love him.

I came to that point during the last few months of my husband’s life when I was feeling physically depleted because care-giving was taking its toll. Suddenly one day, while feeling sorry for myself, part of verse 17 of 2 Corinthians 4 popped into my head: your light affliction….. I thought: “Lord, are you serious? All I’ve been going through you call it light?” I had to go look up the verse and meditate on it for a while. I was encouraged and refreshed because the Holy Spirit was inspiring me to take a longer range view of the situation. If you read my book “Listening to God will transform you” you will understand what I mean.

You see my friend, God’s perspective is quite different from ours. Our burdens are heavy compared to what exactly?  “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so you can stand up under it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13). You are a soldier and a soldier has to endure hardship.  Consider the words of the psalmist David, a man who had more troubles than you or I will ever know:  “Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.” (Psalm 55:22).