Life has been compared to a journey with many paths. This sounds very inclusive, but it is not Biblical.  In the first Psalm, David tells us that it is just as easy to “walk in the counsel of the wicked…” as it is to walk in the way of the Lord. We set off on a journey armed with map, compass and book, only to become utterly lost by taking a wrong turn here or by not paying attention there. If we want to stay on the straight path, then we must delight…“in the law of the Lord and on his law meditate day and night.”

The right way is not always an easy way; we are called to exercise wakefulness and exert effort. The prophet Isaiah said that the wisdom of the Lord requires that we seek Him in everything we do: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near.” Otherwise, we will wander alone on a trackless path with no hope of ever finding our way back to where the Lord always intended us to be. Jesus told us that a journey may have many roads, but only one leads to the Lord, for “…narrow is the road that leads to life…”

There was a time when I believed, truly believed, that wisdom, insight and success came from…me.  And so, it is not surprising that eventually I would run off the road and end up in a ditch.

When you are blinded by self-regard, it is hard to steer a straight course. The really sad thing is that I was a typical example of my “boomer” generation. We were swerving all over the place when we thought we were plowing straight ahead.

Ironically, the experience of disaster eventually restored my sight and my sanity. And with the restoration came the realization that victory of any kind can never rest with the singular possessive.

Jeremiah the prophet once wrote, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth for in these I delight.’”

Who, at some point in life, has not experienced a bad thing? And who, if you probe deep enough, does not think of himself as a genuinely good person? So why should it be surprising when an afflicted person cries out against the injustice of God?

At first glance, Job would seem to fit this description perfectly, but throughout the time of his suffering, he never claims to be a man without sin. In fact, it is God who claims that Job is “…blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil” (v8). While terrible things come to afflict Job, including the deaths of his children, the loss of his wealth and the pain of disease, the core question is whether or not Job will lose patience with God, blame Him and forsake Him.

Loss of faith and betrayal are central facts in the Old and New Testaments and understanding Job’s crisis is crucial to understanding our own response to crisis. Will we remain faithful no matter what? Will we humble ourselves before God no matter what the circumstance? Or will we turn our backs on God, rejecting Him in anger because we have come to believe that He has not been faithful to us?

Who hasn’t experienced trouble? Who hasn’t been at the end of their tether?  “Man is born to trouble” but this truth runs contrary to our fond fantasy that life is an easy pathway to a series of peak experiences on the stairway to heaven.

When trouble did come my way, it broke over me in waves. I should have known better, but I assured myself that I could successfully navigate to a safe harbor. Yet the storm only intensified, and I was pounded by the waves and blown and tossed by the wind. Like Jonah, “The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me…and to the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth barred me in forever.”

In my own day of trouble, all the usual answers proved to be empty and dangerous. And so when all options were exhausted and all doors had closed, I finally abandoned self reliance and prayed to God for deliverance from this impossible danger and distress. My situation was desperate, truly unsustainable, but miraculously I was lifted out of that storm and placed on a safe and secure rock.

Twelve years later, I was reminded of that storm and the miracle that saved me. During a Christmas Eve service at a local church, a group of children handed out little candy canes with a handwritten verse from one of the psalms tied to it. I almost rejected the small gift, but at the last moment, I accepted it. The note was this: “‘Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.’” My eyes were suddenly opened, for I realized then and there why I had experienced that miracle so many years before. I also realized that I was being called to honor God with the life that had been saved. And at that moment, I experienced a new freedom that I had never known before.