Max Lucado - For The Tough Times: Reaching Toward Heaven for Hope

FOR THE TOUGH TIMES

Previously published as For These Tough Times

2006 by Max Lucado

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New Century Version (NCV), 1987, 1988, 1991 by Word Publishing, Nashville, TN 37214. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (MSG) are from The Message. by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. Scripture quotations marked (NASB) are from the New American Standard Bible 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are taken from The Living Bible, 1971 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (JB) are from The Jerusalem Bible. 1966, 1967, 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday. Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Most of the material for this book has been adapted from America Looks Up, The Great House of God, In the Grip of Grace, and When Christ Comes.

ISBN 978-0-8499-2144-5 (repackage)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier edition as follows:

Lucado, Max.
For these tough times : reaching toward heaven for hope and healing / Max Lucado.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-8499-0170-7
1. Consolation. 2. Spiritual lifeChristianity. 3. PrayerChristianity. I. Title.
BV4905.3.L84 2006 248.8'6dc22

006020559

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 WOR 5 4 3 2 1

For Doug Kostowski,

who cares

CONTENTS

When all that is good falls apart,
what can good people do?
The LORDis in his holy temple;
the LORDsits on his throne in heaven.

Psalm 11:34

Isnt Davids question ours? When all that is good falls apart, what can good people do? When illness invades, marriages fail, children suffer, and death strikes, what are we to do?

Curiously, David doesnt answer his question with an answer. He answers it with a declaration: The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD sits on his throne in heaven.

His point is unmistakable: God is unaltered by our storms. He is undeterred by our problems. He is unfrightened by these problems. He is in his holy temple. He is on his throne in heaven.

Buildings may fall, careers may crumble, but God does not. Wreckage and rubble have never discouraged him. God has always turned tragedy into triumph.

Did he not do so with Joseph? Look at Joseph in the Egyptian prison. His brothers have sold him out; Potiphars wife has turned him in. If ever a world has caved in, Josephs has.

Or consider Moses, watching flocks in the wilderness. Is this what he intended to do with his life? Hardly. His heart beats with Jewish blood. His passion is to lead the slaves, so why does God have him leading sheep?

And Daniel. What about Daniel? He was among the brightest and best young men of Israel, the equivalent of a West Point cadet or an Ivy Leaguer. But he and his entire generation are being marched out of Jerusalem. The city is destroyed. The Temple is in ruins.

Joseph in prison. Moses in the desert. Daniel in chains. These were dark moments. Who could have seen any good in them? Who could have known that Joseph the prisoner was just one promotion from becoming Joseph the prime minister? Who would have thought that God was giving Moses forty years of wilderness training in the very desert through which he would lead the people? And who could have imagined that Daniel the captive would soon be Daniel the kings counselor?

God does things like that. He did with Joseph, with Moses, with Daniel, and, most of all, he did with Jesus.

In our toughest times we may see what the followers of Christ saw on the cross. Innocence slaughtered. Goodness murdered. Heavens tower of strength pierced. Mothers wept, evil danced, and the apostles had to wonder, When all that is good fallsapart, what can good people do?

God answered their question with a declaration. With the rumble of the earth and the rolling of the rock, he reminded them, The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD sits on his throne in heaven.

And, today, we must remember: He still is. He is still in his temple, still on his throne, still in control. And he still makes princes out of prisoners, counselors out of captives, and Sundays out of Fridays. What he did then, he will do still.

It falls to us to ask him to do so.

In these pages well ask the questions that trouble us all during difficult times: Who is our God? Where is God in all of this? Can good come from evil? And prayeris God really listening? As we ponder these questions together, I pray that Gods peace and understanding will touch your heart and bring healing to your spirit.

MAX LUCADO

When tragedy strikes, whether personal, national, or global, people wonder how God could allow such things to happen. What can he be thinking? Is God really in control? Can we trust him to run the universe if he would allow this?

It is important to recognize that God dwells in a different realm. He occupies another dimension. My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Your ways are not like my ways. Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts (Isa. 55:89).

Make special note of the word like. Gods thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are they even like ours. We arent even in the same neighborhood. Were thinking, Preserve the body; hes thinking, Save the soul. We dream of a pay raise. He dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. Im going to live before I die, we resolve. Die so you can live, he instructs. We love what rusts. He loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes. He rejoices at our confessions. We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, Be like Mike. God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, Be like Christ.

Our thoughts are not like Gods thoughts. Our ways are not like his ways. He has a different agenda. He dwells in a different dimension. He lives on another plane.

The heavens tell the glory of God,

and the skies announce what his hands have made.

Day after day they tell the story;

night after night they tell it again.

They have no speech or words;

they have no voice to be heard.

But their message goes out through all the world;

their words go everywhere on earth. (Ps. 19:14)

Nature is Gods workshop. The sky is his rsum. The universe is his calling card. You want to know who God is? See what he has done. You want to know his power? Take a look at his creation. Curious about his strength? Pay a visit to his home address: 1 Billion Starry Sky Avenue. Want to know his size? Step out into the night and stare at starlight emitted one million years ago, and then read 2 Chronicles 2:6: No one can really build a house for our God. Not even the highest of heavens can hold him.