The book of Job reveals the ordeals of a man who feared God yet endured the loss of everything he held dear. In an attempt to find a clue to Job’s travails, his friends accused him of some secret sins, since they believed that God does not allow his faithful ones to suffer unjustly. When Jesus’ disciples saw a man who was born blind, they wondered if he or his parents had sinned to merit such fate. It happened that neither of them had any sin to which the blindness could be attributed. These two examples show that to always associate problems and tough times with sin is an incomplete theology.

It was that unswerving allegiance that qualified them for the kingdom. In the same way, holding on to the Lord in unsettling and difficult times is the path to ultimately experience His deliverance.

Tough times do happen to believers too. This does not mean that they are no longer Christians. It only reveals the nature of the world in which we live. Tough times are a leveller. Jesus was emphatic when He told His disciples that they would have tribulation in the world.  In our previous meditation, we observed that the disciples of Jesus continued with Him even when they did not have complete understanding of everything. When Jesus raised the bar and taught that only those who agreed to eat His flesh and drink His blood would have life, many stopped following Him. The 12 disciples stayed. It was that unswerving allegiance that qualified them for the kingdom. In the same way, holding on to the Lord in unsettling and difficult times is the path to ultimately experience His deliverance.