Job 3:25-26
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

As much as we might hate to admit it, much of what happens in our lives is out of our control. Things happen to us that we cannot prevent no matter how prepared we think we might be. We cannot control the actions of other people who may cause negative things to happen in our lives. And above all, God is dictating the circumstances of our lives, sometimes outside of what we might want or desire. Of course, no one asks for tragedy or bad things to befall them. And we don’t wish for calamity. And here, Job is finding that the thing he feared the most, what he so greatly worked to prevent, came into his life anyway, and he was forced to deal with it.

But we need to trust God even when our greatest fears are realized, when what we dread most in the world actually happens, when everything seems to come crashing down around us. Especially at those times, we realize how little control we actually have, how little of a say we have in what happens to us. We can work hard and serve God and pray and prepare just as Job did, but it could all be gone in a day. And often it will be our reaction in these hard times that will determine if we grow closer to God or pull away, whether we learn to trust Him more or rebel against Him. Yes, Job was troubled, discouraged, and mourning over his losses, and understandably so, but he never cursed God in the midst of it.

God always knows just what to put His finger on to get our attention. But it’s not like we have to live in fear of God taking away what He knows is precious to us. He doesn’t use our fears against us to punish us. But He does sometimes bring something into our lives so our hearts will be tender toward Him, so that we are free of distractions to see Him clearly, and maybe even to show us just where our loyalties lie. God opened up a dialogue with Job, even though it was Satan’s intention to turn Job away from God, that ultimately gave Job a greater understanding of his God.

Sometimes in life, our greatest fear will come to pass, maybe without us ever learning why. But in the midst of those circumstances, God still reigns. He is still in control, He is still good, and He still loves us even if it feels like He’s abandoned us or is punishing us. And if we can learn to trust Him more deeply in those darkest of moments, if we can learn powerful lessons about what kind of God we serve, then perhaps we would even say those trials were worth it in the end. Let’s stop fighting for control over every little thing in our lives and learn to simply trust God whatever may come our way.