Friday 5th December 2025
Graeme Glover
“… the bread of adversity and the water of affliction…”
Isaiah 30:20
God is good
I remember the tweet (as such social media messages were called then) of a well-known comedian. He put a comment online in the aftermath of a disaster that, “If there is a God, and such a God allows such suffering to take place, then this is not a God that I want to know.”
The darkness of pain makes it hard for many of us to believe that God is both true and worth knowing.
Isaiah Chapter 30 tells us that it is God who gives us the “bread of adversity,” and the “water of affliction.” On the face of it, as the comedian suggested, this just seems cruel. However, counter-intuitively, we can take comfort from believing that the suffering of the world, comes from God. Why is this of comfort? Because, the rest of the Bible – and the evidence of our lives – can show us how good God is. Therefore, if we are able to believe – even without fully understanding why – that God allows us to suffer (Isaiah 30:19b), then we must also believe the second part (Isaiah 30:26) that God will ultimately bring us through the temporary darkness into never-ending light.
This is what verse 26 of Isaiah Chapter 30 celebrates, and it is beautiful: “The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.”
Shall we pray?:
Dear God, help all of us, including those who dismiss you during hard times, to come ever closer during this Advent. Help those us who are struggling to cling on. Help us to trust the promise you make in this passage. Lead us, Lord. Lead us through times of darkness, into your light. Amen.
Graeme Glover is minister of Galashiels Parish Church.
Thinking it through:
Can you think of ten things to give thanks for in your life? Tell these things to yourself, and to God. Remind yourself of his goodness in your life.
Do you have a favourite part of the Bible to read in times of darkness? Perhaps you can remind yourself of that passage today.
Re-read Isaiah 30:26 again. This is God’s promise to all who trust him.