God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride (Psalm 46:1-3 NASB).
We know the value of receiving and knowing the love of God.
We know the Holy Spirit indwells us to empower us and guide our ways.
We know we’ve been raised up with Christ and given an eternal orientation.
We know God alone is our Highest Joy.
We know loving like Jesus fills our lives with joy.
We’re learning to build our lives around these and other spiritual fundamentals. However, when things get hard we can lose sight.
What keeps us courageous during life’s gut punches?
The Gut Punch
Really hard circumstances can feel like a gut punch. These severe trials, which send us staggering for stable footing, make us feel as if we’ve been swept onto an avalanche of shifting sand.
The death of a loved one, a severed relationship, acute health issue, financial collapse, etc. breed emotional turmoil. These heart breaks threaten our ability to cope with new realities and life’s never ending demands.
Following are a couple of rock-solid truths which hold no matter what. They bring us courage, during even the hardest of times.
Rocks of Stability
Abiding Nearness
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me (Psalm 23:4a NASB).
When I think of the shadow of death, a scene from Return of the King, comes to mind. As the brave trio approached the Haunted Mountain, Tolkien writes, “A dread fell on them, even as they passed between the lines of ancient stones and so came to the Dimholt. There under the gloom of black trees that not even Legolas could long endure they found a hollow place opening at the mountain’s root, and right in their path stood a single mighty stone like a finger of doom.” [1]
This scene drips with fear, but David assures us in the above Psalm that we can choose not to fear, no matter how thick the darkness. Why? Because God is with us. He is our ever present help, especially in times of trouble. [2]
God is always available to provide abundant comfort in all our afflictions. [3]
Jesus tells us not to be surprised by troubles. They will come. But in Him, we find peace and the courage to endure. These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world (John 16:33 NASB)
For You have been a refuge for me, A tower of strength against the enemy (Psalm 61:3 NASB).
Amid our toughest times, we receive courage because God will never leave or forsake us.
Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9b NASB).
God is our source of strength, especially in our pain.
The Greater Story
In our pain, we must understand God’s greater purposes.
Jesus tells us He came to give us abundant life. [4] But is abundant life the same thing as happy, smooth circumstances? Or is it the abundance of Christ’s nearness, like Rivers of Living Water welling up from within?
God wants more for us than a better life. When Paul tells us God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes, he’s referring to something better than good circumstances. God’s purposes for us are to give us the freedom and joy of being conformed us into the image of Christ. [5]
There are profoundly sanctifying forces at work when we cling to Jesus in the midst of our pain. In our trials, our grip on lesser loves is loosened, freeing us to fully enjoy our Jesus.
See what James, Paul and Peter wrote about the redeeming qualities of our afflictions and trials:
Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4 NASB).
Trials bring us joy because they develop endurance which leads us to being complete, lacking nothing.
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction which occurred in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead (II Corinthians 1:8-9 NASB).
Hardships, especially the severe kinds, can cause us to stop trusting in ourselves and put our faith in God who raises the dead.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls (I Peter 1:3-9 NASB).
As we rejoice in the eternal realities of our living hope, our unfading inheritance and the fact that we’re protected by the power of God, Peter tells us we may be distressed by various trials. He says these trials are necessary to prove our faith, as gold purified by fire. He says they result in inexpressible joy for us and praise and honor to God.
The truths concerning God’s greater purposes in our lives can help give us firm footing when life gets really hard. God is at work in our pain, even if we don’t see it.
Story:
A couple of years ago, I lost my little sister. Even though we saw the signs mounting, her accelerated death caught us all by surprise. She literally worked the same week she died.
Her loss has been harder for me than the death of my parents ten years earlier.
Even though she was my only sister, I would kid her by saying she was my favorite. Truly she was the best sister anyone could ask for. I can’t think of an argument we ever had during her entire life. Being the two oldest, we were foxhole buddies during the divorce of our parents. She was always there.
Her death is allowing me to access unshed tears from years gone by. For the first time, I’m learning to grieve.
Days after her death I cried out to the Lord in my journal, not knowing how to process my concern for her eternal state and the huge, gapping hole in my heart. I asked Him if He wanted to say anything to me.
In my spirit, I sensed Him say, “I am enough.”
No matter how sad I am and how much I grieve, God is enough. He is with me. To the extent I call to Him, especially in my pain, He is and will be my El Shaddai, my All Sufficient One.
Since then, as I travel this path of grief, I’m beginning to know God in a deeper way. It seems the greater my pain the greater His sufficiency.
Conclusion
Life is hard. We face troubles. What’s important is how we respond.
Do we keep on going, striving best we can, ignoring what we’re going through?
Do we dedicate ourselves to all manner of false affections which temporarily numb the pain?
Do we curl up in a fetal position and shut life out?
Or, do we recognize that what we’re going through is no surprise to God. Our God of all comfort is an ever-present help in our affliction. He is near to our broken heart. God can use our pain in marvelous ways we would have never perceived. Like a master surgeon, God is at work to free us to fully enjoy Him.
Prayer
Lord, I don’t grieve well. I don’t know how. I’m sorry for the many times I’ve minimized my pain because I didn’t know what to do with it. But You’re showing my that living with You in my pain gives me an opportunity to know You in uniquely deeper ways.
Please guide my grief of my sister. I miss her so much. Thank You that You are enough, even now.
Amen.
Personal Study
Highlight II Corinthians 1:3-10
Explain it in your own words
Apply it to your life
Respond to God in prayer
[1] The Return of the King, Houghton Mifflin 1956, p. 49
[2] Psalm 46:1-3
[3] II Corinthians 1:3-5
[4] John 10:10
[5] Romans 8:28-29
Previous posts in the UP series:
.Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.
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