To embrace something is to draw it to yourself. A synonym of embrace is to adopt. To adopt is defined as accepting something created by another or foreign to one’s nature. In life, there are many things that we have embraced or adopted, but if asked what you have embraced in life, for most, it would not include your struggles. We want to embrace things or people that make us feel good. We cling to the joys of life but want to forget the struggles that changed us and challenged us to be different.
A struggle is defined as something that requires great effort, possibly even violent effort, to break free from. It may be a problem where we struggle mentally to know how to proceed. It may be a habit we struggle to break free from. Whatever the struggle, it will be the opposite of what we would choose. We want things to be easy. Many, many people will not face their struggles, much less embrace them. They simply look for an easier route or change their desires.
We must also realize we are not facing anything others have not encountered. We are in good company. The Bible speaks of many who struggled as believers. The one who always seems to come to mind is Job. He suffered from the loss of all his children, his wealth, and his friends and endured great physical pain.
Job 1:20-22 “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this, Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”
God allows Satan to test Job. God knew Job’s heart. He describes Job in Job 1:1 and 2:3 as a perfect and upright man. He was a righteous man. A man who lived to please God. To be perfect means complete or mature. He was upright, meaning he had moral character and integrity. He feared God and abstained from all wrongdoing, even during his horrible struggles. This God-fearing righteous man lost everything, and his suffering was so great even his own wife told him to “curse God and die.” His friends come to sit with him and seek to comfort him. However, they can’t figure out why Job is going through so much. Finally, they believe he is suffering because of secret sins in his life, and they accuse him of such.
Job 1:1 “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.”
Job 22:5 “Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?”
Job stayed faithful to God. In Job 3:11, Job 3:26, and Job 10:1, we see Job crying out to God, and in Job 30:15-17, we see the summation of Job’s turmoil and struggle. He is in anguish, but he never stops trusting and loving God.
Job 30:15-17 “Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passed away as a cloud. And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.”
Job goes through more suffering than we can ever imagine. He even goes through a period of questioning God. It is not a question of “how dare you treat me this way,” but a question of understanding. In Job 7:20, he asks God why he has targeted him. He was not bitter against God like many become when faced with trial after trial. He was not angry with God. He did not act as if God had no right to put him through so much suffering. His struggles caused him to draw closer to God and seek to find out how to be completely right with God. God never left him alone. When Job needed answers, God was there. He didn’t tell him why he was going through the suffering, but He reassured Job that He was in control. In our words, He is telling Job that He is God, and He doesn’t have to justify His actions. God wants our love to be so strong for Him that our trust is complete. He is God and owes us nothing. For God’s dialogue with Job, read chapters 38 – 42. In the end, God restored more to Job than he lost, but only after he had gone through the struggles.
Job 7:20 “I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee so that I am a burden to myself?”
Job 42:12a “So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning:”
There is one thing for sure, we will never face a struggle alone if we are Christians. We must trust that God is in control, that He is looking at the big picture of life, and trying to mold us into the image of His Son. That will not come easy, but it will be what is best for us. However bad it may seem, we know God will never leave us. Over and over in scripture, God affirms His presence to His people. The declaration is the same in Hebrews 13:6, Joshua 1:5, and Deuteronomy 31:6. He will never leave us! You can embrace the struggles, knowing these truths.
Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
