Why It's Worth It

Let’s face it: Scrolling through Facebook and Instagram can be kind of depressing. Seeing all of your friends having fun, going to cool places, and living life to the fullest can cause us to wonder “what’s wrong with me? Why am I not happy? Why am I the only one going through a hard time?” It’s easy to get discouraged when we see others living life while we seem to be stuck and not sure how to move forward. Social media can paint a pretty picture, but the reality is that Life. Is. Hard. For everyone. We may see our friends’ highlights on Facebook, but we don’t see their low points, the nights where they cry themselves to sleep and the days that seem overwhelming. Even the most perfect-looking people face hard, heart-wrenching challenges at some point in life.

As a social work major, I feel like I’m constantly becoming more and more aware of the brokenness of this world. Social work is such a broad field and there are so many different career paths to take. As exciting as it is to think about all of the possibilities, I’m also faced with the reality that all of these paths will require working with broken people. People who are lonely, hurting, feeling hopeless, rejected, abandoned, sick, and so much more. Which is fine; that’s exactly why I chose social work. I want to help people. But if I’m honest, I sometimes get so very overwhelmed at the thought of facing so much heartache in this field. My life is going to be dedicated to walking with and lifting up the broken, advocating for the powerless, comforting the hurting, and trying to help people get to a better place in life. The most rewarding, fulfilling job I can think of. But like I said, sometimes, I get overwhelmed.

There are so many children in the foster care system. They need a loving home; a family who will take them in and love them and guide them through this time in their life. The world is full of human trafficking victims who need healing, restoration, and love. People of all ages are dying every day because of poverty. The elderly are placed in sometimes horrible facilities with no one to advocate for them or even come visit them. Think about all of the prisoners and the kids in the juvenile system. They need us, too! They need someone to tell them that they have potential and that their life can be better. They need help when they are released so that they can get a job and try to improve their life. Mentally ill people are looked down upon and treated unfairly because of an illness and struggle that no one can understand unless they’ve experienced it. People are getting up every day and going through the motions because they’ve lost their sense of purpose and they’re losing hope and their will to live. So many people are staying in abusive relationships because they’re afraid of what they’ll lose if they leave. It’s just too much! Social workers are wonderful. They do all they can every single day to fight for, build up, and come alongside these people. But there just aren’t enough of us to go around. For the past few weeks, I’ve thought about all of this and gotten so very discouraged. I’ve thought, “I’ll get a job and I’ll help people, but there are so many people out there that I won’t be able to help.” This doesn’t just apply to social work. I think a lot of us have moments in everyday life in which we think “is it really even worth it?” Whether it be family conflict, financial struggles, a strained marriage, or some other tragedy, it can be easy to want to stop fighting and just give in to the struggle. I was struggling to fight that mindset until last Sunday when my dad preached a sermon on this very issue.

In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus tells the people a story. He is trying to teach them not to lose heart.

                “And He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, ‘In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night? Will He delay long over them? I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily.’”

This judge wasn’t a good guy. He didn’t fear God and follow His ways and he didn’t even respect people in general. Still, he gave the woman justice because she kept coming to him over and over again.

Let’s think about our own Judge, our Heavenly Father. He’s righteous. He loves His people. So, if He’s that much better than the unrighteous judge, don’t you think He’ll bring justice to us even more so?

God is aware of this broken world. He loves and has compassion on His people. He sees when we are abandoned, treated unfairly, and hurting. He knows every single situation of every human being on this earth, even the ones that we as humans know nothing about.

The beginning of this passage says that we “ought always to pray and not lose heart.” There it is. Yes, life here on earth can be very overwhelming and heartbreaking. Still, we are not to lose heart. Jesus is with us. God is going to bring justice one day, in His timing. The reality is that we aren’t going to be able to bring about justice for everyone and we’re not going to be able to fix everyone’s situation. But we should ALWAYS pray. We should constantly be praying for that justice we know He is going to bring. And in the meantime, we should keep fighting, keep walking with the broken and speaking for the voiceless and lifting up the fallen. Keep rescuing the captives and fighting for our marriages and loving those around us through their times of heartache. Because even though it’s tough right now, there is a promise: God will give justice to us speedily. And in the end, it will be worth it. Because Jesus is worth it.