Better Off Than Before

God holds our lives safely in his hands. He’s the one who keeps us. We’ve passed through fire and flood, yet in the end you always bring us out better than we were before, saturated with your goodness (Psalms 66:8-12 TPT).

Human nature loathes suffering. Endurance is a word commonly dreaded and by many hated. And yet the life of a saint requires strength that outweighs every impulse to do something because of fear or discouragement. Our Father did not deliver Jesus from His hour of suffering, but out of it.

Solomon declared that “The end of a thing is better than the beginning.” People know that phrase and quote it often. What many do not know is that Solomon qualified that statement by saying, “A patient spirit is better than a proud spirit.” Endings are better than beginnings if you can endure the hardship in the middle. Proud people have only themselves to rely on, and due to their choices, their endings are worse than their beginnings.

When life, as you know, it takes an unexpected turn, keep your eyes on Jesus. Trust Him to protect you to the end. Cast down the “what ifs” that frequent your mind and exchange them for “even ifs.” Even if you fall into times of gloom, the Lord is going to bring you through to a better place. What if you believed that in every trial and time of sorrow, you would emerge from it better off than you were before it? We frame our world by our faith. In what frame of mind are you?

Jesus said it best, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe.”