Multiplying Sorrows

¹“Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.” (Psalms 16:4). Temptations to abandon God rarely work when we are happy and content. But if we are truly suffering, and we are feeling such sorrow in spite of the fact that we are striving to put our trust in the Lord and keep His commandments, then we may make the mistake of assuming that following God led us to sorrow, therefore following something else will lead us back out. It makes sense. When we are in the frying pan it might get so unbearable that our only option is to jump out. But if we jump out of the frying pan, however much sorrow was contained therein, it will only be much, much worse in the heart of the fire. But that's what happens when we leave God behind. If our present situation is so unbearable, then any change is good change, right? Wrong. Multiplying our sorrows is a change, but it's not an improvement. Let us trust in God, even when He leads us into sorrow. We are guaranteed that however bad it is with Him, it is only ever many times worse without Him.