It's A Hard Knock Life

When we are young, it is good to struggle hard and to sit silently alone,

if this is what the Lord intends. Being rubbed in the dirt can teach us a   lesson; we can also learn from insults and hard knocks. Lamentations 3:27-30

In 1998, rapper-turned-mogul Jay-Z released Volume 2...Hard Knock Life as the followup to the his classic debut album Reasonable Doubt, and the title track was called Hard Knock Life. It contained a sample from Annie - if you're scratching your head about who this precocious redheaded child is, perhaps you're too young - that goes like this:  It's a hard knock life for us, it's a hard knock life - for us. Instead of treated, we get tricked. Instead of kisses, we get kicked! It's a hard knock life. Regardless of who knocks us around - family, friends, co-workers, trolls, church folks - God does provide a plan to ease the burdens life bestows upon us. He also reminds us that this is only a season, so the temporal pain is not permanent contrary to popular belief.

In Lamentations, Isaiah the wailing prophet cries loudly not only for his own personal condition, but also that of Israel. His tears are akin to those shed upon receiving news of a death of a family member or close friend, reminding us that pain is a part of life we must endure. Is it fair that babies are stillborn when warmongers and rogue investors revel in one earthly victory after another? No. Nor is the expectation that once we all become Christians, life becomes Easy Street. In verses 27 and 28, the prophet indicates that it is good for young men to bear the yoke and take the lumps associated with life early so they can have something to look back on as a challenge met and subsequently conquered. There are times when it is better to remain silent about their travails - not everyone can understood the trouble in his eyes, much less empathize with him. For example, when a young couple breaks up, it is easy for one to trash the other person (trust me, I've done this) when he or she should look inward as they may have been the problem. Was she overbearing? Is he a mama's boy? Infidelity? Or did they simply drift apart? Any count, if the man does not heed the lesson, he may inevitably repeat it. It also means not eveything is for everybody. Don't let your valleys overshadow your peaks. 

Conversely, Isaiah finds a glimmer of hope through prayer (verse 29) and forgiveness (verse 30). When he is so down in his life, suicide is not seen as a viable escape, nor does he wallow in the pig sty of self-pity and destructive behavior. Instead, he prays! He's already been knocked down there, so why not pray? Having - or reestablishing - a relationship with God worth sustaining does not mean wail til he gets out of his situation and forget about Him; this is a series of conversations that evolve from ice breaker to a deep bond. Through prayer, he not only finds deliverance, but also a new best friend in God. 
Even in this life of hard knocks, we still learn to forgive. As the idea Dr. King once espoused of getting punched in the face and responding nonviolently by turning the other cheek shows a level of contempt toward his offender, the prophet implicitly censures his tormentor. For us, it could have been a fistfight of epic proportions. You can beat me, you can even kill me, but I forgive you. Although the American legal system is flawed against black men, history will one day prove that the antagonists will be revealed and paraded around a la Cersei Lannister in the end of Game of Thrones.

In times such as these, it is refreshing that God is just and fair despite the perception that no one cares as we are getting piled on. Trouble don't last always, no, no no.