When Life Gives You a Bag of Rocks

by Dr. Alan Hix

One of our family’s October traditions is to watch the classic Peanuts show “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” during Halloween week. As I was only six years old when it was first broadcast in 1966, I have literally grown up with this yearly visit with Charlie Brown and his friends as they navigate another Halloween. As the children go out trick-ortreating, they periodically stop and take stock of their “treats.” Each child celebrates the candy they received until we get to Charlie Brown. No matter how many houses they visit, poor Charlie Brown laments that all he got was a bag of rocks. For him, trick-or-treating was only a “trick.”

Have you had a time in your life where you felt like Charlie Brown—that all life has given you is a bag of rocks? How did that impact your faith? Did you ask God “why”? Did you find yourself questioning His goodness? Did you wonder if He understood the depth of your pain? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you are not alone.

To understand how we, as believers in Christ, should respond to these difficult times, we can look to the Psalms of lament. Here we can see how David and the other writers wrestled with the question: “Where is God in the midst of my pain?” In these psalms, we can find how to pose these questions through our faith.

The typical lament psalm begins with questions like, “Where are you God?” or “How could you let this happen to me?” Sound familiar? As we read through these cries of ancient Israelites, we follow them as they move from expressing their pain and feelings of being surrounded by enemies and feeling alone to a declaration of trust in God—on the basis of His character as loving, just, and compassionate. The psalmists can look past their pain and despair and cast themselves in the loving arms of a God who can sustain them through all of their travails.

Several years ago, I sat at my wife’s bedside in ICU, listening to the rhythm of the ventilator and wondering with some trepidation what the future might hold for us. Would there be future adventures that we would share, or would I carry on alone?

It was in these dark moments I found comfort and encouragement in Psalm 13. David begins this psalm by crying out, “How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?” This cry echoes the cry of all those who have found themselves wondering if God cared about their situation. David continues by pleading with God to respond to his anguish. The psalm then turns from a cry of despair to an expression of hope. “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.”

David helped me to see that our hope is not to be based on what God does, but on who God is. No circumstance, no matter how dark, can alter the character of God. That truth allowed me to trust my wife to God’s unfailing love. That understanding can turn our bag of rocks into a precious treasure.

About The Author Dr. Alan Hix is an Associate Professor of Christian Studies at Shorter University. In addition to being and educator, he has served churches as a pastor, been involved in mission trips to Africa, Canada, and Alaska, and participated in archaeological excavations in Israel for several years.