Adversity and Its Value (one of three articles)

One thing we all have in common is we face adverse situations. Sometimes these trying times appear to never end.

Adversities come like waves on the shoreline. There are times of peace and contentment and then there are times of trials and tribulations. The point being—life is full of adversities.

Consider the following statement: “All pain has meaning; all adversity is profitable.” Do you agree or disagree with this statement and why did you answer the way that you did? This quote comes from Jerry Bridges book Trusting God (page 194).

Your answer to this question depends on your view of how involved God is in your life. To answer this question, your first consideration is that if adversities actually have any purpose at all, then on what basis can we find meaning in painful experiences? The answer is found in Jesus Christ who is Lord over our situations–both the good ones and the bad ones.

Life is full of adversity

When did you realize that life will always have troubles? When I was in high school, my life appeared to be under control and I thought I was invincible. But some time during college it struck me, adverse situations kept confronting me. It was impossible to avoid difficulties. Either my car broke down, or I was stressed over class deadlines and expectations. After I was married life didn’t get any easier. There were more things that wore out or needed repairs. And, when children arrived, well, stress, expectations, and problems multiplied. Let’s face it, adversity is part of life and it’s here to stay.

However, after becoming a Christian, I realized something new. Even though adversity was still part of my life, God was in control of adverse situations. That meant he allowed (may I say planned?) adversity into my life. The difference between not knowing God and having a personal relationship with God through Jesus meant adversities took on a whole new meaning. Adversities had a purpose.

As a believer, we can discover at least seven reasons why God ordains difficulties in a Christian’s life. Adversities are used by God for the purpose of teaching us to:

let go of things and to deepen our dependence on God,
uproot the causes of sin in our lives to the point that we no longer desire to sin,
value the Lord’s grace and to find strength in depending on God for resilience,
run the race of life well and to finish life in a God-honoring manner,
find comfort in God’s providence and to learn to encourage others in their struggles,
remain close to others, have compassion for those in pain, and to break down social barriers, and
deepen our trust in Jesus Christ and to find joy in suffering as it brings us closer to him.

Let’s deal with each of these seven purposes separately as we consider why we face adversities.

Pruning

Jesus mentioned that Christians are like branches on a fruit-bearing plant (Jn 15:2). He is the vine, his Father is the vinedresser, and we are the branches. The Father prunes the branches for two specific reasons: (1) to cut away the dead unproductive wood and (2) to increase the harvest of fruit. The fruits God wants in our lives are actions that give him glory. This has a side benefit for us in that bearing fruit assures us that we are his disciples (vs 7).

In this parable, the pruning of dead wood relates to removing worldly behavior and desires. These include our sins of disobedience and rebellious acts and our immoral character. None of these brings life to us or honors God. That’s the negative side of pruning. The positive aspect of pruning is that the sap within the vine can now eventually generate fruit (the sap represents the Holy Spirit living within us) and we become a God-glorifying vine once the dead wood is removed.

I recently pruned my blueberry bushes to get them ready for the spring. They had become gangly and out of control. It was hard for me to prune them into condense bushes because I thought the longer the vines the more fruit they would produce. But pruning is done to keep them healthy and forces the vine to generate budding, which will, in the end, produce the most fruit.

God treats his followers in a similar manner to my care of the blueberry bushes. We must let go of those things that deaden our faith in him and learn to trust the Lord. This prepares us for when adversity strikes. Once his spiritual pruning takes effect, we can let go of unwanted behavior and are given the desire to make him the source of our lives.

Holiness

The goal in adversity is to grow in holiness (Heb 12:10). God uses adversity as a form of discipline. However, God’s discipline isn’t punishment through adversity. No, not at all. Rather, he uses trials and difficulties as training tools in order for us to become more like Jesus.

Adversities are usually for short periods of time. But whether or not the hard times are short or last a lifetime, the Lord’s discipline is always for our good. He is a good God and intends for us to deal with difficulties for our good. The end result of adversities is that we grow in holiness. Adversities are designed by God to yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness even though “For the moment discipline seems painful rather than pleasant.” Hardships, then, are training sessions in holiness (vs 11).

Dependence

We naturally rebel against anyone trying to control us. So, it isn’t natural to prize God’s sovereignty over our lives. Yet, God wants to teach us the value of his grace and the importance of dependence upon his strength. After the Apostle Paul was converted, he devoted the latter part of his life to serving Jesus as Lord and Savior. During this mission, he experienced severe afflictions that broke him (2 Cor 1:8-10). God brought him to the point of facing unbearable and deadly circumstances. Humanly speaking, Paul was at the end of his rope. God asked him to do something impossible.

We too will face tribulations that are more than we can bear. But we can most clearly see and experience God’s grace and strength within adversity. When afflictions confronted Paul, he wasn’t running from God. He was running the race of faith. It was while Paul was serving the Lord that afflictions, beyond his ability to endure, confronted him. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself doing God’s will and at the same time stretched beyond your own strength. God’s grace and strength are adequate. They will take you through any valley of death (Ps 23:4). And he will remain with you so that your ability to trust and depend on him will increase.

Perseverance

Just as a runner needs to increase their endurance to finish a marathon, so believers need to increase their spiritual endurance to fulfill God’s will (Heb 10:36-39). Spiritual endurance comes from living under the lordship of Jesus. It’s one thing to accept Jesus as your Savior; it’s quite another to live with Jesus as your Lord. Some people get this backward. They think Jesus is an escape hatch from hell, so they only accept him as Savior. But Jesus isn’t a Savior until he is Lord. To become a Christian is to accept Jesus as Lord. The benefit of following him as the master is that as Lord, he is also your Savior. To finish the Christian life well requires spiritual endurance that only develops as our loyalty to Jesus as Lord is tested. Facing adversities is a primary way that God grows our trust in his lordship.

Learning to consistently live by faith is a life-skill the Spirit of God teaches through adversities. We call this perseverance (vs. 38). As we follow God’s commands, see him as Lord and not simply as a savior who helps us avoid eternal damnation, perseverance grows. Finishing a faithful life well means Jesus is truly our Lord. It’s living a Spirit-controlled lifestyle that aligns with the moral expectations of Jesus as Lord (Rom 10:9; 1 Cor 12:3).

Service

It may sound odd, but sometimes we faced troubles for someone else’s benefit. When a Christian undergoes an affliction, along with that difficulty they also experience the mercies and comforts of a personal God (2 Cor 1:3-6). However, God doesn’t comfort us as an end in itself. He takes us through trials for a higher purpose. We experience God’s mercies and comfort so we may be able to comfort another who faces affliction (vs 4).

Amazingly, God distributes his mercies and comforts through us to another in trouble. Our testimony is one tool we can use to comfort another. Our testimony is not about how we picked ourselves up by our bootstraps and suffered through a difficult situation. Not at all. It’s about how God saw us through our afflictions. There’s a lot of comfort in knowing we are not alone in our adversities. If God can help you get through a problem then he can also use you to help another get through a similar situation.

Fellowship

Proverbs 17:7 states that “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” When you need him, a true friend is there. A true friend doesn’t have to be a blood relative to become a trusted brother. When Solomon mentions that a brother is born for adversity, he is referring to someone who God provides that can be very close to you in the midst of adversity. He will speak the truth to you in a way you can receive it and in a manner that is for your benefit.

Adversities often bring people together and break down social barriers in a manner no other way can. Everyone will face the loss of a loved one, or lose money, or be attacked in some fashion. We all face adversities. Like taxes, adversities are part of life. God can use this connection to bring together an affluent believer with a Christian living in poverty. We can understand one another because we have a uniting bond in Jesus Christ. And it’s Jesus who allows adversities so that we can care for one another, understand one another, be sympathetic toward one another, and pray for each other.

Relationship with God

Finally, the Lord is always there to mend our broken hearts, our crushed spirits, and when we face afflictions, the Lord is always there to deliver us. The Bible recognizes that whether you’re a believer or an unbeliever, all will face afflictions (Ps 34:18-22). But God promises that for the one who faces adversities with Jesus as Lord, he will be near and deliver them. God promises to keep us and redeem our lives. He will see us through our adversities.

And he promises that our afflictions are not a sign that we are condemned because we have sinned. There is no condemnation for those in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:1). Adversities are designed to make us more like our Lord Jesus. There is a purpose in our afflictions and we can find meaning in hard times. Why? Because God is in charge of all that happens to us–both the good and what we consider bad (Lam 3:38; Isa 45:7).