Are you having a hard time? A bad time?
Have you had a huge disappointment? An earth-shaking loss?
I wish it were otherwise.
If I were God, you and I would have easy, satisfying, fun lives, without hardship or scarcity.
But I’m not God (duh), and my choices would not be good ones.
Among other things, life would be so easy we wouldn’t grow.
What to do first
Look at your situation.
Is there a problem to address? Then you need to work to solve it.
Are you in a spot where you have to wait and the outcome is uncertain? See How to Wait.
But you may be in a painful situation you cannot change and must bear.
Here are some things to think about when you have to endure something unchangeable:
- Remember who God is.
Review what you know about Him.
Remember that God loves you.
Remember God’s faithfulness to you in the past.
Remember God knows everything about your hard time. He sees how you’re suffering. He knows why it is happening. He knows the future.
Remember God is in control. He could have prevented your situation. For reasons of His own, He didn’t. But He promises to bring good out of it.
Settle this in your mind. Review and repeat often. Determine to believe.
- Remember who you are to Him.
You are God’s child, a member of His family (if you believe and have received Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior). (See Becoming a Child of God.)
You are Christ’s (1 Corinthians 3:23).
God is your Father (Matthew 6:9).
God promises:
To bring good out of your hard time (Romans 8:28).
To make you into the image of His beloved Son (Romans 8:29).
To refine you, using your trial to develop your endurance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-4).
Remind yourself that God keeps His promises.
Remind yourself of your eternal future.
- Decide to trust Him.
Decide to trust Him, even though you don’t understand, even though you are miserable.
“I don’t understand, but I know You are righteous, wise, and sovereign, and that You never make a mistake.”
He has promised to never leave you or forsake you. He is there, with you, in your hard time (Hebrews 13:5).
“Trust in Him at all times … Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us” (Psalm 62:8).
- Pray about what to do.
What are your goals in getting through this? What is success in this hard spot?
One goal is to endure to the end. Be faithful.
Check your attitude. Your loss or other big problem is not the only thing going on in your life. Don’t focus just on what you don’t have, but on what you do have. (See 2 Corinthians 4:18).
Don’t dwell on the bad, repeating it over and over, making it foremost in your mind. Don’t make it worse with worry. Today’s trouble is enough.
At the same time, don’t deny your sorrow, your suffering, your feelings. God does not tell us to deny reality. Be realistic. Instead, we are to rejoice in our suffering. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Determine to praise Him anyway. Praise Him for His faithfulness, His sovereignty, His righteousness, His love. Habakkuk rehearsed in his mind how bad things were going to be and planned to praise Him. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
Determine to glorify Him in your hard time. You have an opportunity to show others by your words and actions that you trust Him. Don’t waste the opportunity.
You can
You are God’s child. He is with you. He is for you. You can get through it, honoring Him on the way.
Press on.
Have you had bad times?
What has worked for you in getting through it?
