When It Rains, It Pours

“I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.” (Job 3:26 AV)

Job thought the normal trials of life were sufficient.  He was not looking for a perfect life.  When Job fell into a deep depression, it wasn’t over the things of life anyone would expect.  He would expect attacks from enemies.  Just not a coordinated attack that saw all his wealth stolen and servants killed.  He would expect sleepless nights.  After all, he had ten children who seemed not to care all that much of the things of God. Job would regularly offer sacrifice for his children on the outside chance they sinned and failed to repent by offering sacrifice themselves.  In the course of life, there were probably more troubles and trials than someone of his means experienced.  He was the wealthiest man in the area and no doubt had many concerns as he tried to maintain such an enterprise.  Job experiences are what we all experience.  However, Satan was allowed to take everything, kill everyone, and afflict Job with disease.  His question is one we all ask.  Our lives are not perfect.  We have trouble on every side.  Isn’t it enough?  If the normal troubles of life are sufficient to guide us into Christlikeness, why more?  What would God allow hardship when we already experience it?

There’s an expression we use.  When it rains it pours.  It seems the origin of the phrase is British.  Some surmise that in the UK, when it rains, it rarely drizzles or rains steadily.  When it rains, quite literally, it pours.  The first appearance of this phrase in print is in the eighteenth century.  The phrase took off in America with the Morton Salt company’s use of it in ads.  To this day, on the front of their iconic blue packaging is a picture of a girl with an umbrella pouring salt as it rains.  The idea was Morton Salt will pour freely even in damp weather.  Apart from using it as Morton Salt Company used it, the idiom had the meaning that when something happens, good or bad, it usually happens in access.  When one bad thing happens, much will follow.  There is never a single isolated event.  I imagine that is how Job felt.  He had trouble on every side.  Yet more trouble came.

I do not fault Job for his remarks.  Even throughout the entire book.  Job is trying to process what happened.  He is sharing how he feels.  How he feels is not an accurate picture of reality.  He cannot see his situation from God’s perspective.  Had he been able to do so, he may have fared better through his trial.  The statement above is one common to all of us.  We are overburdened with the trials of life and think we have had enough.  Then comes more.  We think our struggles are sufficient for whatever it is the LORD wishes to teach us.  The presence of more trials would say otherwise.  We cannot control much of life.  It is out of our hands and in the hand of God.  We cannot control the weather.  We cannot control the actions of others.   We cannot control our failing health (at least for the most part).  We will all pass from this life to the next.  We cannot control the boss’s decisions, the government’s actions, or our neighbor’s opinions.  There is much out of our control.  It is all in God’s hands.  That means whatever we might be suffering, it is for our own good and God’s glory.  Again, I don’t fault Job.  I would have felt the same way.  And, I am sure I have in the past.  But we can learn from him.  We can learn that God knows what He is doing and that whatever we case is not beyond His attention.  Faith is the key.  We must believe that God loves us and cares for us and whatever it is He allows He has done so for a reason.  P.S. We can probably handle far more than we think we are capable of.

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