It’s incredibly interesting how christians have been viewed through the years as people that shouldn’t struggle. If they do face challenges, then whispers of gossip begin and blame the christian. I’ve heard many people say things like…
“If they are christian, why are they going through that?”
“I thought christians believed in a God that wouldn’t let them get sick.”
“God must be punishing them for that tragedy to happen to them.”
“Just look at who they are talking to; I thought they were a christian?”
The judgements goes on and on. It’s as though christians are to be immune from life challenges. Therefore, if a horrible sickness falls upon a christian then it’s the christians fault for not having enough faith. The truth of the matter is; Jesus who is the Son of God himself said…. we will face challenges.
John 16:33 (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Throughout scripture, there are countless challenges a believer in God had to endure and still do to this day. Just because he or she chose to say yes to God doesn’t mean they get a get out of jail free card on tribulations. Take Noah for example; God chose Him to basically help Him end the world because it was so full of evil (Gen 7).
The first challenge I see was that Noah was over 500 years old! He had to build an arc by hand to house every living creature. He had to secure food for each animal and his family members not knowing how long he would be in the arc. He had to search for specific materials in order to build it exactly the way God intended the arc to be. Can you imagine the ridicule he endured from everyone around him?
By the time the floods came, Noah was a ripe old age of 600 years. It rained continuously for 40 days and nights. Scripture says that the water was on the earth for one hundred and fifty days (Gen 7:24). Imagine building an arc and having faith in following Gods specific instruction so this big boat wouldn’t sink with everything and everyone in it. Talk about faith!
Then you have another guy by the name Joseph. Scripture tells us that his father Isreal favored Joseph over his other sons because he was born to him at an old age (Gen 27:3). Unfortunately, Joseph’s brothers took notice of their fathers love and favor and they became jealous. They also didn’t like the dreams Joseph was sharing which basically told them he would rule over them some day.
So what did they do? They decided to sell their brother and he was eventually taken to Egypt. The brothers turned around and lied to their father and told him he was killed. Talk about having a bad day when your own family sells you off out of jelously and claims you’re dead!
Then there’s Moses; a guy who didn’t want a platform of speaking publicly let alone challenge a Pharaoh. However, he like Noah chose to obey God and did things the way God wanted him to in order to accomplish His plan. He did it afraid and knew how powerful his God was and still is.
We can’t forget about King David. The guy sneaked his way on stealing someone else’s wife and made sure her husband was put away. He was king, he could have had anyone but he chose this route and tried to cover it up. To this day, scripture identifies him a man after Gods heart. He obviously had some challenging lust issues he had to get passed.
Others such as Daniel, who was placed in a lions den to be a hot lunch. Then you have Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were placed in a human furnace just for not bowing down to an arrogant king. All these men mentioned were God followers. Those that chose to worship the creator of the universe and yet they faced some serious challenges.
There are many others throughout scripture that faced their fair share of messes. Therefore, It makes no sense to me when people make silly comments about christian as though we are supposed to be exempt from tribulations. In fact, having faith in a God you don’t see can be challenging at times. Humans in nature want something tangible. They want to control and see the answer coming at them.
However, true christians have to chose to refuse their fleshly desires and ask God for help. They choose to believe that no matter what the circumstances are, God is in control. Even though they may see everything spiraling in the natural, they know God is still in control. They choose to place their burdens and fears in God and believe what His words says about the situation.
We also have to make a choice on giving up those so called pleasures of life that are not lined up with His word. Making a daily decision to turn away from habits that we viewed as fun knowing we shouldn’t be doing. We sometimes have to cut off people that contribute to our lives a negative way, which can be particularly challenging.
Yes, being a christians is not a walk in the park. We do get sick; we do have financial problems; we have debt; we sometimes experience failure. We have many challenges in this life with one major difference; we serve a God that has given us unlimited wisdom. All we have to do is apply His wisdom to our lives consistently so that we know we are headed in the right direction.
We must choose His direction .. DAILY. I have experience many times throughout my life that the world can be falling apart and walked in peace knowing that God is in control. He is our protector; our guidance, and our Savior. He gave us his Holy Spirit to speak to us in His still small voice. His scripture reminds us not to be anxious for anything but in everything we should pray and when we do, He gives the greatest gift of all… PEACE (Phil 4).
There is nothing like having sound guidance in your life that can prevent you from having to go around that same mountain of mistakes year after year. Think about that… people that keep dating the wrong person over and over and keep ending up with the same heart aches. People that keep hiking up credit card debt just to be a slave every month. People that want to keep up with the Jones when they don’t have the means too. Get away from that mountain and follow Gods word!
Jesus made that path for us to be able to talk to the Father and we have His word that give guidance for EVERY SINGLE challenge we can encounter. Therefore, we already know we will have trials and tribulations in this life, why try to figure it out ourselves if we already have the answer in His word?
I would rather face challenges in this life and not rely on myself and know that my success rate will increase in all areas of my life. Keep looking up and know God does have all the answers!