Notes of Faith September 9, 2025

From Bad to Worse

My problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all!

Psalm 25:17, NLT

If you feel your problems are going from bad to worse, you have lots of company in the Bible. Joseph went from keeping his father’s sheep, to a cistern, to slavery, and on to an Egyptian prison (Genesis 37–39). In the book of Ruth, Naomi’s situation deteriorated until she called herself Mara, meaning “bitter” (Ruth 1:20). We all know how Job’s problems multiplied (Job 1–2). And the apostle Paul’s third missionary journey led to him being arrested in Jerusalem, stalled for two years in Caesarea, placed aboard a ship headed into a hurricane, shipwrecked, and bitten by a viper (Acts 26–28).

Trials and suffering are the common lot of all humanity, and sometimes things seem to go from bad to worse in our lives. But don’t give up! Look again at all the examples above. Joseph ended up as prime minister of Egypt, Naomi became a beloved grandmother, Job received twice what he had lost, and Paul’s troubles led to the writing of Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, and Philemon—the Prison Epistles.

Commit your troubles to the Lord. Trust Him. He will save you from them all.

We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.

Charles Swindoll

Ps 25:16-21

16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,

For I am lonely and afflicted.

17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;

Bring me out of my distresses.

18 Look upon my affliction and my trouble,

And forgive all my sins.

19 Look upon my enemies, for they are many,

And they hate me with violent hatred.

20 Guard my soul and deliver me;

Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You.

21 Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,

For I wait for You.

May we have the trust and faith of Job to wait for God to complete His work in, around, and through us. Though we may face difficult times, Jesus showed us the way to overcome the world…through Him!

Pastor Dale