Hold the Cake

I am a cake-o-holic.  Bad day?  Let's get a cake.  Good day?  Cake time!  Your best friend's sister's co-worker had a baby?  Let's celebrate...I'll pick up a cake.  I love cake;  not just any cake though...the cheap grocery store kind.  That thick, sugary frosting that leaves a film in your mouth...oh yeah..that's the best. 
The problem with my cake addiction is that it's not good for my body;  I gain weight as soon as I open my mouth to let in a delicious fork full.  A moment on the lips, a lifetime on Amanda's love handles;  I pay a price for my indulgence, so I'm careful not to over-do it...at least not all the time...

I finished reading Job this morning, and while I had been taking it just two chapters at a time, I read the last eight in one sitting.  There was something about reading God's direct words that made it impossible for me to stop;  they are powerful and convicting.  When I was done,  I put my bible down,  got up to put my breakfast dishes in the sink, and for some reason this thought floated through my mind, "Life is not a piece of cake". 
Now, it could be that I haven't had cake in a while, or it could be that we are going to a friend's birthday party today...and there will be cake..., or it could be that somewhere along the way recently I heard someone say the overused phrase, "that's a piece of cake"...  Either way, I started thinking about it.  My adult life has in no way been a "piece of cake";  in fact, most adults I know haven't had the "piece of cake" life maybe they wish they could have had.

Well...time for some truth:  God didn't promise us life was going to be a "piece of cake".  In fact, in John 16:33 Jesus directly tell us, "In this world you will have trouble..."  Ugh.  Catch the last part of that verse though, "...But take heart!!  I have overcome the world."  Ahhh.  That's right, He's got it covered. 
Let's look at what Romans 5:3-5 says of trouble (or suffering), "...we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us."

Do you rejoice in your suffering?  Do you understand that the trouble you face builds perseverance in you?  And that from perseverance character and hope are formed?  When God holds back the cake, He gives you something that is worth so much more;  when we walk through trouble, though we may not understand the "whys" of it, we become stronger.  When we look to God, and when we ask Him for guidance, and continually thank Him in the midst of our pain, transformation happens, and suddenly character and hope spring forth.  When through the tears in your eyes you can glimpse God's beauty, and when through the pain in your heart you can feel His unfailing love, you begin to accept that the "whys" don't matter...it's the "where am I going to go from here", and the "what am I going to do with this", and the "how can I glorify God in the midst of this" questions that define you.  Step by step you make it through, and step by step God provides the strength...the perseverance...to carry on. 

Several months back I was in the middle of a pivotal point in my life;  I faced an incredibly difficult decision, and the pain in my heart was intense.  One day I found myself in a conversation with a stranger in an airport;  all I wanted was to be left alone, but this man kept pushing me to talk, and when I finally did, I realized it was a God moment.  After I finished telling him my story, he looked at me and asked me what I was afraid of.  He asked me if what I was facing was going to physically kill me.  "No," I said, "I'm just afraid of getting hurt."   The point he made to me that day was that life carries on, if what we face isn't going to kill us, we shouldn't fear...living in fear isn't living...that isn't faith.  If I got hurt again, he said, "you pick up and move on..."  We are called to persevere, and to follow God's leading. 

Life isn't a "piece of cake", but cake doesn't produce character or hope;  cake makes you over-weight and sluggish.  Cake weighs you down and makes you soft all over.  As Christians we are called to "run with perseverance the race marked out for us..." (Hebrews 12:1);  runners don't fill themselves with cake before a race. 
I'm not asking that God make my life terrible and painful each step of the way, nor am I looking at someone who has had a relatively easy life and saying, "you don't know anything about perseverance or character or hope"...I'm just saying that I don't mind that life hasn't been "cake" for me.  I am who I am because of my suffering, and I am thanking God that He allowed me to walk through that...and that He walked through it with me. 

Earlier in the book Job, he and his friends debated over why God was "punishing" him;  his friends insisted that Job must have had some sin that he would not acknowledge;  Job insisted that he was righteous and that God just abandoned him for some reason.  In the last chapters of Job, God speaks directly to Job and basically (this is totally my paraphrase) says this, "Even with all of your earthly knowledge, you can't begin to understand everything I do...I am Lord of everything and I set everything in motion...I know and see everything on this earth...nothing is unknown to Me...don't try to begin to understand My ways....JUST TRUST ME." 
My study bible says that God's view of suffering is this:  Suffering causes us to trust God for who He is, not what He does.

Can you thank God when there's no "cake" in your life?  When there's no cause for celebration, can you trust that He still sees you and still loves you?  When you don't have that sugary, yummy film in your mouth can you still sing praises to Him?  He is worthy.  Even when we can't understand, or begin to see what the purpose behind our suffering might be, we can still trust Him.  He never leaves us, or forsakes us (Deuteronomy 31:6);  you are precious to Him, and  He knows every fear and every hurt you feel.  Persevere, ask Him for strength as your character grows, and when you feel His hope you will not be disappointed. 

After everything Job went through, after all that he suffered, he humbled himself before God...He had no response when God questioned him because he was righteous and he understood that whatever earthly knowledge he had could not stand up to God's wisdom and knowledge.  When Job humbled himself, God blessed him.  Job 42:9 says, "the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before." 

Whatever His reason might be, sometimes God chooses to "hold the cake" for a while;  when He does, stay humble, stay thankful, and stay faithful to the One who sees everything.