Child of Woe

The Old Testament saint Job says, “man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward.” And he should know. Once his life was the picture of remarkable blessedness. Then trouble hit. He became a “child of woe.” 

We, by-and-large, live lives that are extremely blessed, interrupted by trouble. There are others who live lives of endless woe, rarely interrupted by blessing. For many of us, our woes are self-inflicted. We have at least contributed to the cause of our trouble, whether in the area of finances, or health, or relationships. We spent the money we did not have. We failed to follow general rules of health. We keep damaging relationships, thinking that the other person should change, not us.

Other woes seem to come naturally. Aging, whether it happen to your body, or to the septic system, happens. Nothing in this world lasts forever. And when it wears out, we have to go through the pain and expense of fixing or replacing it, if it is fixable at all.

And then there are woes that are unpredictable. Perhaps some would call them accidental. Believers, if consistent, would call them providential. You get blind-sided by another driver - his fault, not yours. A tornado takes out the house, or cancer, like lightning,  strikes close to home. And once again you fit the description: child of woe.

This is the case for everyone: religious/non-religious. No one escapes. But some interpret it differently than others.

Those who hold to orthodox Christianity understand that God, far and away bigger and wiser than mere man, sees the big picture, and allows woes for a variety of reasons, many of which do not have to do exclusively with me or how I feel about it. We are but bit players in a larger drama, and we seldom truly know “why?”. But we also understand and experience that we as ‘bit players’ are at the same time ‘blessed players.’ We are on personal terms with the central, heroic figure in the whole drama that spans not only continents, but the far reaches of both heaven and earth, as well as eternity past and future. We know him, and trust him, even when it hurts, and even when we are scared to death.

We used to sing this old song, “Take the name of Jesus with you, child of sorrow and of woe. It will joy and comfort give you. Take it everywhere you go.” And then a line from the chorus: “Precious name, … hope of earth and joy of heaven.”