The common person avoids difficult situations. Some say, “Life is too short, let problems deal with themselves.” This isn’t the Bible’s response to adversities.
Positive results can come from experiencing, dealing with, and going through adversity.
I attend a weekly men’s small group. During one of our studies in Jerry Bridges book Trusting God, the question arose, “What painful lesson have you learned from going through adversity?” Here are some of their responses.
- Money is fleeting so don’t trust you will always have plenty of it.
- Marriage is a sacred thing so don’t take it for granted it will be a good one without effort.
- Having a relationship with Jesus is enough to get you through the most difficult of circumstances.
- Learn to accept people with addictions or extreme problems rather than rushing to judgments because next time it might be you who needs help.
- Dependency on God is vital when circumstances overwhelm us.
- Unforeseen circumstances are not unforeseen to God–he’s bigger than any problem we might face.
I’m sure you could add to this list of wise sayings. Each response illustrates men who have learned to cry out to God in times of trouble. David the Psalmist, in the context of adversity, encourages us to cry to the Lord for he hears and saves us out of all our troubles (Ps 34:6). But there’s a caveat. When we feel distressed the Lord promises to hear the prayers of those who are brokenhearted, aware of their spiritual poverty, and who believes only the Lord can heal a crushed spirit (vs 17).
How to pray during adversity
King David wrote Psalm 34 out of his experience with hardships. He learned to bless God and keep praise in his mouth even in the midst of adversities. Additionally, he learned that it was the prayers of a man who saw himself as poor, humble, and in need of deliverance who received answers to his prayers for relief.
David’s heart needed divine cultivation and care if he was to see God’s goodness while facing danger (vs 8). He learned through trials to taste, take refuge, fear, and seek the Lord (vs. 9-10). These are things David did to cultivate a heart that turns to God in times of need rather than one that depends on its own ingenuity and strength. Our hearts are no different from David’s. We too need the Lord to cultivate our hearts so that its inclination is to look to him during good times and bad.
Sweet fruit from adversity
On a recent family trip to Florida to see my brother, he showed us an orange tree behind his property. The whole area where he lives was once a thriving citrus grove. After years of neglect, developers improved the property into a beautiful community–except for a back parcel that joined his yard. As we walked through the overgrown brush and dense trees, we found one of the original orange trees. On its tallest branches were hanging ripe fruit. However, my brother warned us that the oranges were no longer worth picking because they had lost their sweetness. They had reverted back to their original rootstock. Regardless, I asked my son to climb up the branches and pick some oranges.
Florida orange trees are commonly grafted onto a sour orange rootstock because of its resilience against fungus. Whatever citrus is grafted onto a sour stock will thrive under the humid Florida climate. But, if left unattended, over time the uncultivated orange tree returns to its original sour state. That’s what we found in this deserted orange grove. The oranges we picked were as sour as lemons.
Similarly, without God cultivating our hearts, our spiritual lives will begin to produce sour (sinful) fruit. The Lord uses adversity as a means to cultivate our hearts so our lives are again fruitful for his purposes. He changes what would otherwise be sour fruit into the sweet character of Jesus Christ.
Moreover, adversities can open our ears to hear God’s voice, lure us away from disastrous consequences, and lead us into a place where we don’t sin against God (Job 36:15-16). This passage in Job links God’s promises with the person who goes through adversities. The one who trusts the Lord to save him will, in the end, enjoy a feast that otherwise would have been missed. God delivers us from divinely ordained afflictions and afterward, we and others enjoy the fruit of faithful obedience.
4 positive results from adversity
For believers, adversity is a time when at least four positive results can take place. Without going through tribulations it’s likely these effects will take much longer to develop. It’s important that we are aware of the benefits associated with adversities so we can reap positive benefits from going through them.
1. Learn deeper life lessons
The first benefit of going through adversity is that we learn deeper life lessons than what we learn without adversity. Above is a list of what godly men learned through adversity. Through troubles, we focus on what is really important. While doing this, the Spirit of God leads us to abandon immoral behavior and impure desires (Gal 5:18-24). Our hearts change, sometimes drastically, when we experience hard times. The things of this world lose their appeal. Thoughts of eternity and God grab our attention. We stop feeding fleshy inappropriate desires and seek to produce fruit in keeping with God’s will, such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
2. Provides an eternal perspective
Adversity provides us with a perspective on life that there’s more to life than what we physically experience. Eternal things begin to dominate our thoughts as we contemplate how short life really is and how grand eternal life is. We realize more clearly that life is good but eternal life is better. Our energies are diverted to running an eternal race and not one that is temporal (Heb 12:1-2).
The world seems like a weight needing to be shed if we are to endure and win the prize of eternal life. Considering eternity puts into perspective that afflictions are temporary. Additionally, the Spirit uses hard times to perfect our faith and deepen our joy in knowing Jesus (vs 2). As faith grows, afflictions are seen as momentary compared to the glory we will experience in heaven (2 Cor 4:17-18). Moving from transient to eternal goals is powerfully motivating. This aids our endurance as we go through trials. It’s amazing how being able to see what is invisible (spiritual matters) puts into a healthy perspective what we would otherwise think is most important (material things).
3. Develops spiritual muscles
Just as we have physical muscles so we have what can be considered “spiritual muscles.” Spiritual muscles are intangible things such as faith, hope, love, commitment, and other aspects of our soul that we exercise when we trust God. Adversity causes us to flex these spiritual muscles and as we work them, they become stronger. When we exercise, we do it for relatively short, but intense, periods of time. Exercise strengthens our cardiovascular and muscular systems.
The Prophet Jeremiah taught that like physical exercise is but for a brief period of time, so afflictions don’t last forever. Though the Lord causes adversities, he remains a compassionate God who steadfastly loves us. He limits adverse conditions so we are strengthened but not disheartened. Moreover, he doesn’t willingly afflict us or cause us grief as a punishment (Lam 3:31-33). His purposes are bigger than a reprimand. The Lord tests and examines our ways so we will return to him (vs 40). He wants faith and dependence on him to grow. Adversities help develop faith and that gives God pleasure (Heb 10:38). He takes pleasure in those who hope in his steadfast love (Ps 147:11). Faith is so important to God that he is constantly looking to see if he can find it (Lk 7:9; 18:8).
4. Realize God is bigger than any problem
A fourth positive result from adversity is that we realize just how big God is. He is bigger than our troubles. In the middle of adversity, we might think our problems are great but they are not greater than Jesus.
The Lord is great and his greatness is unsearchable (Ps 145:3). He always remains in control of our circumstances and that becomes more evident as we humble ourselves and realize we don’t have the power to eliminate adversity from our lives. Furthermore, God wants his greatness and holiness to be evident to the nations. He wants them to know that he is the one and only God who saves (Ez 38:23). God accomplishes this by leading his people through troubles.
Power to rejoice in suffering
We commonly think that enduring adversity is the point of a trial. But God wants more. He wants to grow our faith to the point of being able to rejoice in our sufferings. Why? It’s not because he or we like to suffer. We don’t rejoice in the suffering but in what it brings. We are able to rejoice in the Lord while suffering because we know what it will eventually produce in our lives. Rejoicing in suffering is possible if we know who’s in charge of our struggles and that he has a purpose for our suffering.
The ability to rejoice in the face of a trial is possible only when we’re convinced there is a divine purpose to difficulties. Paul stated that when we know suffering produces endurance, character, and hope then it’s possible to rejoice. When we realize that the Lord has found us worthy of suffering, suddenly pain and hardship become meaningful (Rom 5:3-5). The brother of Jesus, James, taught to count it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds (Jm 1:2-4). Why? Because God has found us worthy of having our faith tested. He’s building in us steadfast convictions.
Because God controls all of our circumstances, including adversity, we can trust him regardless of the length or degree to which we encounter hardships. Even if we never learn (like Job) why we are facing misfortune, there is always value and meaning in adversity. The saying is true for believers that “all pain has meaning; all adversity is profitable.”
