Tough Times

Wouldn’t you agree that we’re facing some tough times? The economic tsunami that has swept across our world is going to change things – but even the experts don’t know what those changes are going look like. What we do know is this: all of us are going to be affected.

Historian Martin Marty once remarked that Americans have always done better during times of adversity than times of prosperity. We’re going to find out if that is still true. It is in sync with the Bible’s viewpoint that difficulty can be desirable: “We rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hears by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Rom. 5:3-4, NIV).

I will never forget when Larry Brown, who was dying of a brain tumor at the time, came forward during our Time of Commitment. With tears streaming down his face, he said: “Norm, I wouldn’t change anything even if I could.” I was incredulous: “What do you mean, Larry? You wouldn’t change the cancer?” He nodded affirmatively. “Why, Larry? Why wouldn’t you change it?” “Because I’ve come so much closer to God this last year. The pain has been worth it, and I wouldn’t give up this closeness to the Lord for anything.”

Wow. I am still amazed at what he said to me that morning, but I believe he meant it. Larry was never someone who sugarcoated things.

We sometimes say, “Tough times never last, but tough people do.” I’m not sure that’s true, though. It would be more accurate to say, “Tough times never last, but people connected to God do!”

The Advantage of Trouble

One of the books I'm currently reading is Gary Thomas' Seeking the Face of God. In today's section, he talked about five things that make the Christian life difficult:

1. physical disabilities and limitations (Rom. 8:18-25);
2. social pain (I Thes. 2:2);
3. the tendency to sin (Rom. 7:14-20);
4. the Tempter (I Peter 5:8); and
5. the deceitfulness of our hearts (Jer. 17:9).

When I read this kind of list, it's easy to become discouraged. However, Thomas' desire is to remind followers of Christ that life in this world is not supposed to be easy, that a comfortable and pain-free existence must not be our primary pursuit. Indeed, "we need difficulty because without it we become proud, self-centered, and uncaring monsters who are full of ourselves." "If we deny our own pain, we must also blind ourselves to the pain of others." And isn't that one of life's great temptations--to insulate ourselves to the suffering of others? To rationalize their pain by blaming them? "Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind" (John 9:2)?

Thomas says: "difficulty is not to be feared or denied; it is to be used." Have you ever heard someone say, "Once I became a success--or, once I made my first million--then my life became meaningful and everything made sense to me." However, many times I have heard someone say, "This difficulty (illness or unemployment, for example) has taught me so much. I learned to trust God, because, to tell you the truth, I had nowhere else to turn."

Here is Thomas' concluding paragraph concerning trouble: "The Christian life will not be easy, but there is glory up ahead. The Christian life is not simple, but it is profound. It is not full of ease, but it is more than worth the effort. For when the love of Christ grips our hears, there is nothing we will not suffer for His sake, no difficulty we will not endure, no trial so long that we refuse to persevere."