Psalms 71:14

"But as for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more."


What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, or so the saying goes, but what do you do when the very thing that is killing you is life?  Life never gets any easier to live and burdens are just as burdensome.  The rain falls on both the righteous and the unrighteous.  What reason can you have for hope?

It turns out, God doesn't make you any stronger to bear hardship and endure struggles.  Every death is painful, every broken relationship hurts, and every persecution is insufferable.  These things are very real and do not disappear with faith.  So what reason can you have for hope?

It is because in our weakness God shows up.  He does not prevent pain's sting, but he bears it for us.  God becomes strength for us.  The weaker we are, the more God lifts us up and bears for our sake.  If we were to collapse under the weight, God would bear us up as well.  God's glory shines when our own glory diminishes so that everyone might say "The Lord has done it!"

So this is the reason for the hope that we have:  that God has come alongside us to deliver us from the weight we carry, not that he prevents us from carrying weight. And we will praise him more and more for what doesn't kill you only brings you closer to God, our strength.