Oftentimes when we’re in the midst of a hard time or struggle, we find it hard to focus on the character of God. In this video, author and worship leader, Lauren Chandler, explains how she finds herself drawn to Scripture in difficult times to remind her of the character of God and how He has a purpose in the suffering.
The video is above and the entire transcript is below.
When I’ve gone through a hardship, a struggle, just a hard time, being in God’s Word has helped shape my perspective on what’s happening.
In particular for me it was found in Psalm 107 where I saw people going through different kinds of distresses. I saw how God interacted with them. I saw the character of God.
Seeing the character of God—what He’s like, who He is, what He values—helped me in those hard seasons, helped me see that these hard seasons aren’t punishment, necessarily, or God just wanting to play with me or to tease me, but instead, He had a purpose in my suffering, He had a purpose in the hardship, and that I could trust His character.
But if it were left to me and I just supposed He just acted like humans do, like I would respond to a situation, then I would interpret it very differently. But reading God’s Word, seeing what He’s really like helps me shape and have the right perspective in the midst of a hard time.
Psalm 107 CSB
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his faithful love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe
and has gathered them from the lands —
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.
Some wandered in the desolate wilderness,
finding no way to a city where they could live.
They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits failed within them.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
he rescued them from their distress.
He led them by the right path
to go to a city where they could live.
Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
For he has satisfied the thirsty
and filled the hungry with good things.
Others sat in darkness and gloom —
prisoners in cruel chains —
because they rebelled against God’s commands
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
He broke their spirits with hard labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and gloom
and broke their chains apart.
Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
For he has broken down the bronze gates
and cut through the iron bars.
Fools suffered affliction
because of their rebellious ways and their iniquities.
They loathed all food
and came near the gates of death.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
he saved them from their distress.
He sent his word and healed them;
he rescued them from their traps.
Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices
and announce his works with shouts of joy.
Others went to sea in ships,
conducting trade on the vast water.
They saw the Lord’s works,
his wondrous works in the deep.
He spoke and raised a stormy wind
that stirred up the waves of the sea.
Rising up to the sky, sinking down to the depths,
their courage melting away in anguish,
they reeled and staggered like a drunkard,
and all their skill was useless.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
He stilled the storm to a whisper,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet.
Then he guided them to the harbor they longed for.
Let them give thanks to the Lord
for his faithful love
and his wondrous works for all humanity.
Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
and praise him in the council of the elders.
He turns rivers into desert,
springs into thirsty ground,
and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
He turns a desert into a pool,
dry land into springs.
He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.
They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
he does not let their livestock decrease.
When they are diminished and are humbled
by cruel oppression and sorrow,
he pours contempt on nobles
and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
But he lifts the needy out of their suffering
and makes their families multiply like flocks.
The upright see it and rejoice,
and all injustice shuts its mouth.
Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.
