In this world you will have trouble.

Moving into a newly constructed house is no picnic. Sure, there is the thrill of the new house smell and all the excitement of being the first to use a particular facility, but in a lot of cases, it also means bracing yourself for all the minute and not so minute construction defects that show up in the initial period of occupation.

As a rule of thumb, the first three months of occupying a newly constructed home is fraught with an unending litany of break downs that need immediate repair. From pipes bursting, toilet leaks and fuses that blow, it can seem like every material defect and construction mistake rears its inconvenient head. Couple that with the fact that most occupants of new construction are previous tenants and not used to the responsibilities of landlording, and you have a recipe for frustration no one wants to deal with.

This information was relayed to me courtesy a friend after I complimented him on moving into his own house. According to him, knowing the three-month rule beforehand went a long way in minimizing his frustrations  with the ‘things breaking’ season.

The issue recently came up again when I casually asked another friend who had recently moved into her house whether she was experiencing this phenomenon of things breaking down. My knowledge of what she was experiencing shocked her to the core since she hadn’t said anything about it to me.  Apparently, she had been so frustrated by the rate at which she had to call back plumbers, electricians and other contractors to fix problems and redo things that she was beginning to doubt the wisdom of having moved, despite the fact that one of her lifelong dreams had been to move into her own house.

Telling her that this season lasted approximately three months, triggered relief like she hadn’t experienced in a while. Not knowing what to expect, had irked her to no end and finding out that this season was just about over (she had just crossed the 3 – month mark) meant she could emotionally relax for the first time in a while.

My satisfaction lay in knowing that I had eased a friend’s burden – albeit by chance.

Turns out knowing what to expect in bad seasons helps with coping.

Jesus knew that.

He knew that what we don’t know can rob our peace, so He told us some things ahead of time.

Some things, our Lord considered so important that he didn’t relay through a prophet, a disciple or some other intermediary.

In this world you will have trouble.

These are the words of our Messiah.

I do wish there were exceptions to this rule.

Like, in this world you will have trouble except when you believe in Jesus; or in this world you will have trouble, except if you serve in the church or except if you write to encourage other people’s faith.

Most people can fill in the blank because regardless of how much faith we have, most of us wish we would somehow be the exception to the “trouble” rule.

In classic human fashion, when we can’t change something we don’t like, most people cope by hitting the denial button.

How do I know this?

Glad you asked.

Recently I’ve had trouble.

This trouble is in the area of health.

Do I like it? Absolutely not. Will it be over soon? I hope so. Can I tell for sure how this trouble ends? Nope.

My comfort has been the knowledge that God is with me even now and that’s not just faith speak.

In the midst of everything, I got a visit from some “well meaning” relatives who decided to come along with someone they considered to have ‘spiritual authority’.

In this part of my world, when you find yourself in trouble, there are a few acceptable causes, top of the list being an attack from an evil family member, someone with spiritual power that you’ve offended, or someone jealous of you who somehow is manipulating things against you.

And where is God in the middle of this?

He’s gone a bit deaf so the only way to get back his attention is go full mode baal prophet[i],  except the modern version of cutting yourself is by doing 50 hours of begging couched as prayer, donating a certain amount to “the ministry” or checking off a list of ‘good works’ as defined by the ‘spiritual authority’.

In a lot of ways, it makes sense that as humans we would ascribe reasons for trouble that makes sense to our minds even if we’re wrong.

In my case, the person in question did not disappoint. Apparently, I had things in my family that could only be changed by memorizing 30 scripture verses and following her ‘spiritual rules’.

Thank God that Jesus told us before hand that trouble was basically a function of living in this world and thank God that even in the middle of trouble, He has promised His presence.

Maybe this is your story. Maybe you’re in trouble and you’re being convinced that it’s because you’ve done something wrong or because God has forsaken you or because there is a power greater than the risen Christ manipulating your life.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

You can’t do anymore to earn his love no matter how hard you try, and the one who promised trouble also promised to be with you through the duration of it.

It’s one of the major tenants of our faith and it’s one you will need to believe in at one time or another.

Even if everyone else believes otherwise.

[i] 1Kings 18 v 28

Have you ever believed your life was being manipulated outside of God’s influence?

Let me know. Comment below.