This Too Shall Pass
Published February 11, 2012 | 
As the saying goes, before long the dense forest will become farmland, and the farmland will go back to forest. Isaiah 29:17
Isaiah was assuring the poor and suffering that oppression would not last forever. A time of happiness would come to the humble. Nothing on earth stays the same forever. Of course, some situations can’t change quickly enough. We say, “This too, shall pass,” to encourage others facing challenging times. The thought that everything is passing may indeed be comforting when those we love, or we ourselves, are struggling.
What about the other side of the coin? When things are going well, it’s human nature to want those times to last. It’s okay for the forest to become productive farmland, but we don’t want the farmland to deteriorate. That’s a limited perspective. It’s important for farmers to rotate their crops and allow the ground to lie fallow—that is, left unplanted—at times to restore the soil’s fertility.
We want life to continue problem-free, of course, but then we run the risk of complacency. We may take good things for granted or even become insensitive to the suffering of others. God can bring good out of anything, even our challenging times. Problems bring opportunities for growth, empathy, even hope. I know that impatience festered within me until age and health problems slowed me down. Now I’m acquiring an acceptance of others that I simply could not muster before I coped with my own physical challenges.
There is a time and a purpose for everything under God’s heaven.
Prayer: Lord, help me accept that this situation, like all situations, will also pass.
Reflection for sharing: Are you in a “farmland” situation today or in a “dense forest”? How does realizing that “this too shall pass” impact your approach to the situation?
I can’t speak for other “Christians” I can only speak for myself. Believing in Christ has changed my life and blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. I would never believe in a God that couldn’t take the absolutely awful person that I was and use it for something. . . anything. The Lord chose to use me not for just one thing, but for multiple things and for that I am eternally grateful. I believe that we are ALL sinners…and a sin is a sin no matter how big or how small! My job is to love the sinner hate the sin, and pray others do the same with me. The only reason I would choose to not be friends with someone because of their belief would be because it had a negative affect on MY relationship with God. If you made me doubt, wonder, or turn away from my Lord then I would cut the cord. If that isn’t a problem, we can be friends till the cows come home
. . and that is what Jesus would do!
Thanks for your comments.
The last comment made me think that faith is so frail it can be turned by others. The Bible says that faith is a gift – given by God. Therefore, how can we judge others for their lack of faith. There are circumstances in our life, like when I found out that I had cancer that can destroy or increase the gift of faith we have received. I always believe that God has given us the grace to survive anything. Cancer and the fear it produced made me grow closer to God. Freinds who struggle with faith or even reject it make me think. While faith is a gift, I do not have the faith I had as a child. As a child, I believed everything I was taught. That is not faith in God, but faith in parents, teachers, and adults. True adult faith does struggle and doubt. Like Jacob, we wrestle with the angel. It is in the struggle and doubt, grief and pain, lonliness and rejection that my faith grows. Yes, I have even been angry at God. He can take it. I don’t think a ‘pious, unquestioning’ faith is true. It is in the knowing that ‘ there is a God, and I’m not Him’ we find true faith. That is the faith no person or circumstance can weaken or remove.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience.