Tribulation

“Why is this happening to me?”

It is a question often asked out of frustration. A person’s real meaning of the question can usually be exchanged with a different question: “What did I do to deserve this?”

Everyone goes through miserable times. Health issues, financial woes, and relationship difficulties are only a few of the things people suffer. Also, the time between natural disasters is not all that long. We all watch as someone standing near a pile of rubble that used to be their home is interviewed by the press. Thousands suffer the loss of all their material goods because of a tornado, an earthquake, a fire, a volcano, a tsunami, or whatever may come along. The “why” question is present in many lives for various reasons.

For Christians, should asking God “why” come from a woe-is-me attitude or a heart of anticipation? No one would blame someone for not singing and dancing around the pile of rubble left by a tornado. The Bible does tell us there is “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). But, the Bible also tells us God’s intended result of tribulation in our hearts and lives. Romans 5:2-5, “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

The tribulations we go through are allowed by God to give us patience; that patience brings experience, and that experience brings hope. That hope will keep us from being ashamed of God.

God is always working. With the Christian, He is either working in you, through you, or both. On our part, the key is those two little words in Romans 5:2: “by faith.”

When tribulation comes, we must apply faith. From the Scripture, we know nothing will happen to a Christian that God does not allow (Job 1-2). Therefore, when tribulation comes, we have time to mourn, but we must have faith that God is in control.

We are not to have faith that God gives us our desired result but faith that His desired result is the best possible outcome. Romans 8:28, “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.”

When we apply Biblical faith to tribulation, we develop the patience to wait for God’s intended result.

That patience brings experience. As things happen, from daily irritants like losing the car keys to life-changing, catastrophic events, we can get through them with less stress and more peace because we’ve witnessed God work in these events time and time again.

An example from the Bible is David’s defeat of Goliath. How could a teenage boy kill a nine-foot-tall seasoned soldier in battle? God was with David, and David knew it.

Where did David get his faith to kill Goliath? From his past experiences and Scripture. Scripture told David that God would defeat Israel’s enemies. Also, as a young teenage boy, on separate occasions, David killed a bear and a lion that wanted a lamb for lunch.

Those life experiences handled by faith bring hope. Because we’ve lived through God working, because we’ve seen God’s desired outcome work out better than what we were hoping for, we can now start the next tribulation with an outlook of hope. By faith, we know God is going to turn whatever the problem is into something for His glory.

Now we reach the last step of the process: “and hope maketh not ashamed.”

Not many Christians would say they are ashamed of God, but even Peter used foul language to get the point across that he was not a follower of Jesus (Matthew 26:69-75). Have you ever thought, “I should say something about Jesus,” and didn’t because it would be embarrassing, or because you thought no one within earshot would agree with you, or because you believed someone might argue the point? There are more situations than this, but I am sure you get the point. Every Christian has acted ashamed of Christ at one time or another. However, our tribulations are the first step in a process that makes us not ashamed of Him.

My prayer for all Christians, including myself, is that we handle tribulation by faith so we can gain the patience to endure the experiences that will give us the hope we need to never be ashamed of our Savior.