The present circumstances may be discouraging and make you doubt.

Theme Three (An excerpt from The Cracking of Monday Egg)

Think about it

A mother’s precious baby dies after two weeks of life. A 40-year-old man has a stroke and loses muscle control over the left side of his body. The rain does not come, so the farmer’s crops fail. A boy listens to his parents arguing and feels like his world is about to implode. A woman is robbed at gunpoint while walking to her car after work. A 30-year-old pastor is put in prison and brutally beaten for talking about Jesus Christ.

The world is littered with suffering like the garbage dump is littered with trash.

We cannot deny it. The most natural thing to do when experiencing hard times is to feel discouraged and doubt that the Maker is still in control. After all, if the Maker loved me, he wouldn’t allow suffering, right? Let’s find the truth on this hard subject. The Maker doesn’t promise to keep us from suffering. He promises many other things though, like a future and a hope. The Bible teaches that the Maker is our refuge in times of storm. If we put our hope in the Maker, he will never leave us nor forsake us. Even if the suffering continues.

I have found that the Maker walks with me in hard times, so I am never alone. I am never hopeless, no matter how I feel.

Put your hope in the Maker.

Job 4:5But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;it strikes you, and you are dismayed.(NIV)

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (NIV)

Psalm 43:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and may God. (NIV)

Discussion Questions

After Crow’s attack, Monday was very angry. He railed at the Maker about the injustice of the assault. Overwhelmed with discouragement, Monday declared, “It isn’t fair. It is… it is…just wrong.” Then the healing pain began. (Chapter 10)

• What circumstances make you feel discouraged?
• How can you find hope in the middle of a hopeless situation?
• Does God understand when you have doubts?
• Has there been a time when God reached out to you in your despair?
• Can anything good come out of your suffering?