Hardships and misery come, but we face life's problems with hope and strength that come from our Lord.

"Danger, falling rocks." warned the road sign. Sure enough, we saw scattered rocks and shattered glass here and there on the gravel shoulder.
We hardly need such a warning when it comes to the road of life. Experience quickly teaches us that rocks can fall anytime. The question isn't will they fall, but what to do when they do.

RECOGNIZE OUR OWN WEAKNESS

Aren't those whose faith is anchored on the Rock of ages safe? Yes, safe, but not immune from life's problems. Even though we know that a loving Father uses problems like calisthenics to exercise the muscles of faith, we don't always appreciate the pain. Even though we know a caring Father will lift the burden when faith's tired shoulders slump under the weight, we question.

The psalmist questioned too. In Psalm 42 he lamented, "My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God?' . . . I say to God my Rock, 'Why have you forgotten me?' " (vv. 3,9). We don't know what his problems were. They were serious enough to cause the unbelievers around him to taunt him. They were heavy enough to make him fear that the Lord had forgotten him. Jagged rocks—not small stones—were battering him on the road of life.

What size rocks are hitting your windshield? Is it, in our uncertain times, not being sure of holding on to a job or finding a new one? Youthful dreams that turn out to be no more than empty soap bubbles? Old age creeping up, bringing aches and pains with the promise of more to come? A home life filled with problems that never seem to go away? A health problem that lingers on and on? A world seemingly more and more awash with senseless homicides, malignant diseases, weapon rattling, and ineffectual diplomacy? Even worse, is it some temptation that daily seems to gain the upper hand? Or the loss of a loved one no longer at our side but out under a cemetery mound?

The world has some advice to offer us when the rocks fall. It slaps us on the back and urges, "Suck it up. Grin and bear it. Keep a stiff upper lip." Such advice views man as some Tarzan swinging on a jungle rope above the swamp of trouble. But what happens when that thin rope breaks? "You can handle it," the world assures us. But when human inventions and advances have gone as far as they can and the rocks are still there, then what? "Give it up," is its final advice. "Face the inevitable." But what comfort is there in wrapping our arms in defeat over our head as the rocks keep falling?