A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
If you’re going through a difficult time, let Paul’s words encourage you. ‘We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We do not know what to do, but we do not give up the hope of living. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed’ (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). Who was Paul talking to? Followers of Christ who were having a rough time. Here is what he said: ‘For all [these] things are for your sake…Therefore we do not become discouraged [spiritless, disappointed, or afraid]. Though our outer self is [progressively] wasting away, yet our inner self is being [progressively] renewed day after day…For our momentary, light distress [this passing trouble] is…producing…an eternal weight of glory’ (2 Corinthians 4:15-17).
When you’re under pressure, your faith grows – and God knows exactly how much pressure to apply! He will let you get to: (1) a place where you’re out of answers and your resources seem depleted, (2) a place where you’re tired of Satan stealing what you know God promised you, or (3) a place where you’re no longer willing to let other people’s opinions control you. (Remember, with God there are no hopeless situations, just people who have grown hopeless about them.)
It’s when there is nothing more you can do that you start trusting God to do the impossible. The crisis you’re experiencing, as Paul says, a ‘momentary, light distress (2 Corinthians 4:17), may be a blessing in disguise; an opportunity to experience God’s ‘unfolding grace’ and a greater degree of his power at work in your life.