12/16/2023
Although We Often Encounter Hardships, Take Heart in Knowing That God’s Intentions Are Always Good
Let’s face it. Life is not always as beautiful as we imagine. Undesirable things are a regular fact in life, such as pressure in life, setbacks in work, and the torment of illness. In times of suffering, we feel sad; we don’t understand and are confused: God is love, so why does He allow hardships to befall us?
Actually, there is God’s will hidden within the hardships we encounter. God says, “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on My name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is My people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (Zechariah 13:9). 1 Peter 5:10 says, “But the God of all grace, who has called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.” These scriptures make us understand: God’s allowing hardships is to perfect our faith in God or submission to Him. The people who were praised by God throughout the ages also experienced a lot of difficult times. For example, Moses experienced the hard times in the wilderness for 40 years, during which his naturalness and hot-bloodedness were removed and He developed genuine faith and obedience to God. In the end, he undertook God’s commission and successfully led the Israelites out of Egypt. There is another example: Job. His wealth was all taken away; his children came to unfortunate ends; Job himself was covered in boils. In great pain, He could still accept this hardship from his heart and seek God’s will. Finally, relying on his faith, reverence and obedience to God, he stood testimony to God and shamed Satan. Henceforth, Job would never again be accused by Satan. It can be seen that God’s good intentions are hidden behind hardships.
In the face of hard times, how should we experience in order to satisfy God? God says, “When you face suffering, you must be able to lay aside concern for the flesh and to not make complaints against God. When God hides Himself from you, you must be able to have the faith to follow Him, to maintain your previous love without allowing it to falter or dissipate. No matter what God does, you must submit to His design and be prepared to curse your own flesh rather than make complaints against Him. When you are faced with trials, you must satisfy God, though you may weep bitterly or feel reluctant to part with some beloved object. Only this is true love and faith. No matter what your actual stature is, you must first possess both the will to suffer hardship and true faith, and you must also have the will to forsake the flesh. You should be willing to endure personal hardships and suffer losses to your personal interests in order to satisfy God’s will. You must also be capable of feeling regret about yourself in your heart: In the past, you were unable to satisfy God, and now, you can regret yourself. You must not be lacking in any of these regards—it is through these things that God will perfect you. If you cannot meet these criteria, then you cannot be perfected.”
God’s words make it clear: Faced with hardships, we should accept and obey God’s work, and seek His will and requirements. No matter how great pain we endure, we don’t blame God, moreover, we maintain steadfast in our faith in God and follow Him till the end. If we experience this way, we will be able to understand more truth and God’s intentions, satisfy Him and gain His praise.
Friends, do you now understand God’s will hidden behind hardships? If you’d like to learn in detail about the truth to enter into during difficult times, please contact us on Messenger.
