Hard Times

Americans are struggling with great earthly problems and hardship unlike anything in my lifetime of 75 years. My Dad was 9 years old when the Spanish flu struck infected 500 million worldwide with 50 million deaths of which 675,OOO were in the U.S. And yet I never heard my Dad mention it. But you know it must have brought great fear into people’s lives.  My parents moved to Oklahoma during the Great Depression of 1929-36 to work on the farm of my uncle since they had no work in Tenn. I heard Daddy speak more about their hard times during that period. This was followed soon by WWII where shortages and rationing developed but they didn’t have raids on toilet paper. They just used the out house and the Sears and Roebuck catalog. Store bought meat wasn’t available. Home-grown chicken and fresh caught fish served as the main dish. And yet we think we have it hard.

   I was born at the end of WWII and little has happened in my 75 years that has created fear in our lives. To some degree our society has been spoiled and do not know how to handle “hard times”.

   I can’t help but think of Abigail in I Samuel 25-29. She definitely endured “hard times”. She was trapped in a difficult marriage with a husband named Nabal (translated ‘fool’) His harsh and abrasive conduct showed that his name was appropriate. David had also suffered at the hands of Nabal and was on the way to attack Nabal and was intercepted by Abigail. She pled with David to not attack her worthless husband for it would do more harm to David than Nabal. She encouraged David in these “hard times” by saying, “If men rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, the life of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living in the care of the Lord your God.”  This message is very applicable to our hard times”. When the “ hard times” hit us we need to remember we still have a sure refuge and fortress being children of God. We are “bound in the bundle of life”, in the care of our eternal, ever-present Savior.