Cursing the Hard Times

The tough times are the growth times! I don't like them, you don't either, but without them we would be shallow people. So, you're saying "That's just fine with me. If I am shallow and don't know it, what's the harm in that?"  Do you really want to be a person who spends hours on his hair and the shine on his car, who looks at women as a collection of body parts, and who thinks the good life is getting drunk while watching sports on TV? Is that really all right with you?

Desperate times can free us from our preoccupation with sex, food, and stuff;  forcing us to reach out to actually love somebody, making us consider the claims of God on our lives. And, yes, I am convinced that hard times can wean us from our love of this present world, helping us to yearn for Heaven as our true home.

Here's the wisdom of a man who knew suffering well. "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer." (2 Corinthians 1:3-6, NLT)  Paul wrote that after enduring terrible persecution for preaching the Gospel. It was so bad he reported that "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life." (2 Corinthians 1:8, NIV) 

Suffering does not always ennoble a person! Those who do not receive it with faith, who will not allow the Spirit of God to work in them with grace, turn into mean, miserable people. The difference is hope. Suffering that is tempered with hope is transformational. When met with despair, suffering destroys the human spirit. In the middle of the deadly persecution, Paul said that he made a decision to truth the Lord. "Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us." (2 Corinthians 1:9-10, NKJV) 

Are you going through something hard?  Rejection, illness, misunderstanding, journeying in a dry desert spiritually, financial struggles, feelings of worthlessness - are common human experiences. How will you meet this moment? Will you rail at the darkness, curse God for not doing what you think He ought to do? Or, will you pray for faith and wait patiently on God? It will not be easy, it will not be without pain, it will not produce instant results. But, from hopeful faith a deeper, more beautiful, tender life is born, one that looks like Jesus.

Here's a word from the Word. Pray it! "Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do." (1 Peter 1:13-15, NIV)

_____________

I'm trading my sorrows.
I'm trading my shame.
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord.
I'm trading my sickness.
I'm trading my pain.
I'm laying them down
For the joy of the Lord.
Yes, Lord, yes, Lord,
Yes, yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord, yes, Lord,
Yes, yes, Lord.
Yes, Lord, yes, Lord,
Yes, yes, Lord, amen.

I am pressed but not crushed,
Persecuted, not abandoned,
Struck down but not destroyed.
I am blessed beyond the curse
For His promise will endure,
That His joy's gonna be my strength.

Though the sorrow
May last for the night,
His joy comes
With the morning.

Trading My Sorrows

Evans, Darrell
© 1998 Integrity's Hosanna! Music (c/o Integrity Music, Inc.)
CCLI License No. 810055