By: Pastor Jarren Rogers

“You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless. It won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime, don’t be foolish or naïve. But don’t despair either. With God’s help you will get through this.”

– Max Lucado

It’s when you’re going through a difficult season of life that it feels like it will never end. It seems as if the constant barrage of disappointment and discouragement is eternal. That your life is simply meant to be a misshapen ball of failure and tribulation.

Sometimes, I wish that life was like an easy math test. You can take it just one problem at a time. You begin one problem, you always come up with an answer, and then you’re able to take a deep breath, collect yourself, and move on to tackle the next problem.

But, so often, life’s problems don’t behave that way. Too many times, it’s as if we go to solve one problem but are forced to stop just two digits in and move onto another, then another, and yet another. Until a full page of fifty different calculus problems is staring us in the face and each one demands to be solved this moment.

It can be overwhelming, and it can seem to have no end. It may feel like your life is spinning out of control and eventually, you will hit the ground. I think that the psalmist understood this. I think that’s why, in Psalm 30, he had to pen a reminder to himself:

“Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

The Psalmist forced himself to remember that even though sorrow and pain may last for the night, there is an end. The stress and unknown of today will not carry into tomorrow. This is only a season, and seasons always end.

Not only is there an end, but the Psalmist says there is praise. God wants to do something new and powerful in the midst of your dark season. He wants to do something great. According to the Psalmist, we won’t just look back on our lives, wipe our brow and say, “Whew, glad I got through that…”

Instead, we will look back and praise God for His goodness and faithfulness. We will praise Him for seeing us through, for being with us, providing us. Joy and praise are on the way. Don’t give up!

If weeping in the night is what you’ve been doing a lot of lately, I want to speak directly to you. You will get through this, period. Though pain, sorrow, stress, anxiety, disappointment, and failure may be prevalent in your life right now. It will not last forever. It. Will. End. This is only a season.

If there is one thing I’ve noticed about theses seasons of our life, it’s that each one carries its own stresses and complications, but with each one there is growth, celebrations, and successes. And most of all, at the end of each season, there is a lot of praise.