How to Be Grateful When Life Is HardНамуна

Can you recall sorrowful songs in the night? Do you know what it’s like to walk through seasons of suffering, fear, worry, trouble, temptation, or depression?

Maybe you’ve experienced this at night. There are often things that hit you before bed or while you’re sleeping that feel urgent. Perhaps it’s fear, worry, discouragement, or hopelessness. It may feel like it will never be solved, get better, or go away.

But then, often (though not always), when you wake up, something has happened. Your perspective shifted. Circumstances didn’t change, but your worry is not as big, the anxiety isn’t out of control, the gripping fear has dissolved, and the discouragement and hopelessness lifted. It’s not that life is fixed or perfect, but you realize things are not as bad as they seemed.

David captures this in Psalm 30. The Psalm’s core theme is thanksgiving in light of God’s care for His people. David often found himself in the pit of despair or surrounded by enemies. The situation seemed bleak. And yet, David testifies that God has drawn him up from the pit, rescued him from impending death, and restored his life.

There were days David felt deep discouragement or bitter sorrow with no end in sight. But his trials were temporary. David knew the weight of life’s trials and yet also knew God’s faithfulness through each one.

How has God been faithful and powerful to deliver you through them?

Like David, we can all give thanks for the ways God has kept us through a dark night of the soul or a season of weeping. We can give thanks during the night because God is our God. He is more real and true than the fears, anxieties, and discouragements we face. The things we thought would overpower us don’t, and they don’t because God does not let them. Yes, things were, are, and will be hard. But we taste the goodness of God through these seasons where He proves Himself to us.

If you’re in a season of sorrow or struggle, don’t lose hope. God is with you and will be faithful, just like He has been time after time. Wait on Him. Trust in Him. Hope in Him. Give thanks for who He is, the things you know He has done, and the unseen things you trust He is doing. Your enemies will not win the battle against you. You have the Victor on your side, and He fights for you.

The night gives way to the morning. No day or season lasts forever, however dark the night or cold the winter. The sun will shine again. Hold on through trust and thanksgiving. When we make it through, having held on to our faith in God, we discover we were being held all along.