2 Corinthians 4:8-9
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
The Greatest Victories Come from the Hardest Battles
The greatest victories come from the hardest battles.
Whatever challenges God allows us to face, it is not to break us but to stretch us.
It is not to destroy us but to develop us.
God will allow us to go through different trials in life to bring out something within us that we did not even know we had.
Pressure often produces power.
We would never know how strong we are unless faced with opposition.
We would never know how strong we really are unless faced with a trial.
Job: A Model of Faithfulness in Adversity
Job is a prime example of what it means to remain faithful in adversity.
He lost basically everything he had and was stricken with afflictions, yet it did not change his relationship with God or his service to God.
In fact, they grew stronger.
Job’s adversities were so horrendous that his friends accused him of sinning against God, and his wife wanted him to curse God and die.
Job was not a bad person.
The Bible refers to him as being a perfect and upright man.
His friends and family could not understand why Job was going through what he was experiencing.
The Importance of Guarding Our Ears During Trials
We must be careful of the voices we allow in our ears during adversity.
The people closest to Job were no help during his difficult season.
They left Job feeling worse in an already challenging time.
What are our “friends” saying?
Are they giving us words of life and hope, or words of death and agony?
Job’s wife and friends did not even offer to pray for him, share a scripture verse, or encourage him.
They left him hanging, wallowing in their words of despair.
Trusting God’s Purpose Amid Trials
In all of this, Job realized that God knows everything—no matter where we go or what we are going through.
What he endured did not make much sense to him in the moment, but after he chose to stick it out with God, he could see the fruitfulness of his faithfulness.
He was blessed beyond measure for what he endured.
This reminds us of Romans 8:28 (KJV):
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
We must realize that ALL things—victories, defeats, failures, and life encounters—will work together for our good.
God is putting the pieces of the puzzle together, and when we choose to back away from what He’s called us to, it causes the puzzle to remain incomplete.
We do not always understand the pieces, but each plays an integral part in the outcome: a beautiful masterpiece.
Amid our adversity, God promises to give beauty for ashes.
Our present troubles are only a small piece of the puzzle, but we must get through them to see the end result.
God cannot take us to level two if we cannot endure level one.
Remaining Faithful Through the Fire
The devil will try to discourage and distract us from what God has called us to do, but we must choose to remain faithful.
Like Job, when God is finished taking us through the adversities, we will come forth as pure gold.
And like the three Hebrew boys thrown into the blazing fiery furnace, we will not be burnt or even smell like smoke when we come out of the fire.
When we come out of “this,” whatever our “this” is, no one can tell or see that we have been through anything.
There will be glory after “this” if we remain as
1 Corinthians 15:57 (KJV) says,
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
Raphael R. Roker 