There is a famous Nigerian Novel written by Chinua Achebe titled ‘Things fall apart’. In the Novel we read of a famous warrior called Okonkwo who was like the head of his village, however things began to fall apart for him and he ended up committing suicide. At the end everything he wanted to prove failed because suicide is never the right solution to any problem.
There are times in life when things seem to fall apart for us, when we feel discouraged, helpless and hopeless. Another person who encountered this in the bible was Job, he was a very successful and rich man who had a wonderful family. Above all he was a righteous man. In the first chapter book of Job , Satan challenges God to a contest stating that Job only obeyed and feared God because God had made him to prosper and that if God removed his blessing and protection from Job, Job would curse God. So God accepted the challenge and asked Satan to take anything he wanted away from Job except his life.
So Satan went into action, he got all Job’s children killed, killed his servant, took away his wealth and afflicted Job with sores and diseases on his body. Yet Job did not curse God. He remained faithful.
Imagine you lose all your children in a car accident, then you lose your job, then you fall sick with cancer, diabetes or stroke all together. Imagine a situation where people went to bury their loved ones and on the way from the ceremony they had another accident and more family members died. Imagine you have no job or source of income, no family, no children, nothing.
There are times when life does not make sense and things really fall apart for us. However, like Job we need to ask God for grace to hold to God. Firstly because in 1 Corinthians 10:13 it talks about how the temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure. Secondly, in Romans 8:37-39 it says, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers. Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So Job trusted God despite the difficult time and God proved himself, in Job 42:12-13, the bible says,”The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys. And he also had seven sons and three daughters.” So Job was better off in the end than the beginning. It was very painful for Job to lose all his children, all his wealth and all his health. However Job never lost something, he never lost his faith in God. Knowing that we humans can fail, but God never fails. So whatever you lose, never lose your faith in God because He is faithful and sovereign. See what Habakkuk said in Habakkuk 3:17-18, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” So imagine if Habakkuk was a farmer, it would have meant everything would have gone wrong for him, yet he will rejoice, not because it is easy for him, but because he knows that God is faithful and at the end he will rejoice. So when things fall apart, let your faith be strong, because God will never leave you nor forsake you. Have a blessed day.
