The gospel of Jesus Christ, however, meets the suffering and sorrow of the world with a message of hope. And it is a message of hope precisely because it is a message of help. The writer of Hebrews said, "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hb. 4:15,16).

Sin has alienated us from our God spiritually. But sin’s effects have also pervaded the temporal world God created so that hardship and heartache are never very far away. Theoretically, God could snap His fingers and put the world back the way it was. Like an indulgent parent, He could arbitrarily shield us from the earthly consequences of sin. We can be thankful, though, that He has not dealt so superficially with the symptoms of the problem. He has chosen, at the Cross, to deal radically with the problem itself.

Those who are willing to accept on God’s terms the solution He has worked out have the hope of a future life where all will be made right. Until then, we remain in a world ravaged by the mistakes that others, and we ourselves, continue to make. God has not promised that those who have been saved spiritually will have no further hardships temporally. He has made it possible, instead, for them to "find grace to help in time of need."

Paul wrote that he had learned an important truth concerning God’s grace. Concerning his "thorn in the flesh," he said that he had pleaded with the Lord three times for it to be taken away. But God’s answer was, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). My grace is sufficient for you! Do we really believe that? Have we come to terms with the fact that God’s grace can sustain us through the loss of anything else? Indeed, do we accept the truth that if we lost everything else, God’s goodness would be enough for us?

It may be, as has often been said, that we don’t learn God is all we need until God is all we have. The abundance of so many other blessings often deludes us into thinking that we have to have those things. But we do not. There is not one thing, other than God, that we cannot do without! When a Christian says, "I could not bear the loss of ________ ," he is making a foolish and faithless statement. God’s grace is sufficient. Anything else we can’t part with is an idol. In fact, anyone else we can’t part with is an idol (Mt. 10:37; Lk. 14:26). And if being stripped of lesser blessings is what it takes to teach us that God is all we need, then we ought to be thankful for such deprivations. "Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Cor. 12:9,10).

As recipients of God’s grace, we can surely be thankful for the sufficiency of God’s help. But it’s important to remember that it is in Christ that that help is available. Those unwilling to accept the gospel’s solution to the guilt of sin are ineligible to pray for help with the effects of sin, whether our own or the consequences of others’ sins. If, regarding redemption in Christ, we remain on the outside looking in, then we stand outside the realm where the only help is available that will mean anything in the long run.