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Life has its seasons. The weather around us has its seasons. Depending on which part of the earth you inhabit, the weather could be cool or bitingly cold; there could be warmth or extreme heat; the clouds could pour down just enough rain or there could be floods. These extreme swings in conditions do not only occur in the weather; human existence also experiences times of rest and times of stress. The writer of Ecclesiastes says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, … a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, … a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 2, 4, 8).

The test the Doctor recommended confirms your worst fears – you have a terrible disease; you suffer academic failures and setbacks while your colleagues make progress; a loved one dies after so much expenditure in money, faith and prayer; an unexpected job loss comes with all the economic consequences; a business fails and you suffer financial losses plunging you into debt; a loved one betrays your trust and a marriage or other relationship fails; the attempts to end childlessness seems futile and time is running out; a child becomes wayward, drops out of school after years of lying and collecting school fees that were never paid, becomes involved in cultism and drugs, departs from the Lord or gets themselves or someone else pregnant; a boss or colleague at work is a thorn in your flesh; the list is long and varied. It feels like at every turn, there is trouble lurking somewhere.

We have no complaints with the times of peace and laughter; it is the painful seasons that wear us down. The experience of good or bad times does not discriminate based on the anointing of God on a life. Sometimes, it feels as though the sword is particularly sharpened for the righteous. Ask Job. If we could cherry-pick what seasons would come to us, then this article might not be needed, but we can’t.

The experience of good or bad times does not discriminate based on the anointing of God on a life.

One of the common effects of trying times is weakness. Trials test the strength of our faith in God and not a few believers break under the weight of trials. Job’s wife told him to curse God and die (Job 2:9); he himself, though he wouldn’t go as far as his wife suggested, cursed the day of his birth (Job 3:1-10). Jeremiah did likewise (Jeremiah 20:14).

Trials test the strength of our faith in God and not a few believers break under the weight of trials.

The Certainty of Trying Times

We have not been promised a trouble-free existence. In fact, quite the opposite is true. The Psalmist David said, “May the LORD answer you when you are in distress” (Psalm 20:1, my emphasis). When, not if. “Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward” says Job 5:7. Jesus told his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). The fallen state of this world means that trying times are part and parcel of our human experience.

Dealing With Trying Times

“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10). To our modern ears, saying this may come across as mockery, but that isn’t what it means. To say that someone who faints in times of trouble is weak is not an insult, but it is a blunt warning. Like we’ve previously acknowledged, adversity is a given during earthly life. To be forewarned is to be forearmed. The Passion Translation renders that verse this way: “If you faint when under pressure, you have need of courage.” We all have need of courage since we all face various adversities. Is it possible that instead of wilting during adverse conditions, we instead grow strength?

Abraham spent long years trusting God for a child. He waited for the promise until his wife had passed the age of childbearing. How testing. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed God” (Romans 4:18). Romans also says “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God” (Romans 4:20). Instead of being weakened by the tough circumstances he lived with, the opposite happened – Abraham was strengthened in his faith. If he could gain strength in trying times, then so can we. We too can afford to not faint in the day of adversity. Our physical bodies bear testimony to this. To strengthen your muscles, you have to put them under the stress of exercise. Weightlifters know that the heavier the weight over time, the stronger and bigger the muscles become. What are the ways that God can and does use to make Abraham’s and our muscles’ experience of gaining strength under adversity become ours?

Know that Tough Times will Come: It bears repeating – to be forewarned is to be forearmed. There are those who preach that suffering and difficulty do not belong in the experience of God’s children. The earlier you dispense that lie, the better for you. We have already quoted Jesus’ words, “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33). But he says to “take heart” because he has “overcome the world”. Paul told Timothy to “mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days” (2 Timothy 3:1). Knowing in advance what is coming helps with maintaining your poise when difficulty comes. The storm comes to the house built on the rock as well as the one founded on sand; there is no discrimination. The surprise element is sometimes what trips us up. Peter says, “do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). The last part of that verse is very important: what is happening to you is not strange. Never you think that you have been singled out to suffer. Peter reminds believers in difficulty that “your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of suffering” (1 Peter 5:9).

Remind Yourself of God’s Promises: What was the secret of Abraham’s strength in difficult times? “He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God” (Romans 4:20). What has God promised you as his child? He has promised to never leave you nor forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6); he has promised to be with you when you pass through waters, rivers and fire (Isaiah 43:1-2). That you are passing through adversity doesn’t mean God has abandoned you; he is right there with you in that adversity. He keeps his word. Prepare for adversity by arming yourself in advance with God’s promises. They help you to look beyond the pain of the moment and hold on to God’s faithfulness through his promises. You will find strength for difficult times in the promises. Many times everything might look bleak; the only thread you have to hold on to is what God has said. If in the moment of trial, you don’t have them handy, pick up your Bible, search for them and trust God to bring them to fulfilment. Recite them out loud to your own hearing until you firmly believe them and all your doubts disappear. Have an attitude that says, “If God has said it, then I believe it. That settles it.”

Prepare for adversity by arming yourself in advance with God’s promises.

Pray: One of the things that many Christians experience during trying times is an inability or unwillingness to pray. And how prayer is needed during such times. In the run up to Jesus’ crucifixion, he took his disciples to the Mount of Olives to pray. While he himself moved away and spent the time praying, he returned to find his ‘prayer partners’ – the disciples – “asleep, exhausted from sorrow” (Luke 22:45). They couldn’t keep watch with the Master for an hour, in the moment that he most needed their prayers. How did Christ conduct himself in this trying moment? How did he gain strength for the battle that lay ahead of him? “And being in anguish” Luke says, “he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground” (Luke 22:44, my italics). He prayed so intensely that his physical body felt it. “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him” (Luke 22:43). The place of prayer is the place of divine strength during trying times (and all times). When you feel your resources depleted, the place to replenish them is in the secret place of prayer. Note also that even though Jesus was the Son of God, he sought for prayers from the believers around him. God has also blessed you with a Christian family – solicit for prayers in such times. But beyond that, they used to pray together before now; it wasn’t only at this difficult moment that he quickly put together a team of prayer contractors. No, he fell back to those who were previously his partners in prayer. Do same.

The place of prayer is the place of divine strength during trying times (and all times). When you feel your resources depleted, the place to replenish them is in the secret place of prayer.

Seek for the Treasure of Darkness: God never wastes our difficult experiences. When the Israelites travelled for many years in the wilderness and later fought to take the promised land, God used that difficult experience to teach them “that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3); “to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience” (Judges 3:2); so that “the land would not become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (Exodus 23:29-30). Paul says in Romans 5:3-4 that “suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character; and character, hope.” The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus: “although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8). The point is this: the place of darkness can be the place of deep blessings. Isaiah 45:3 says, “I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places.” Beloved, there are certain treasures that can only be found in darkness hence their name. The darkness that you have faced or are currently facing, what treasures can you mine from it? Selwyn Hughes says this of the Apostle Paul’s detention in prison:

“The curtailment of his personal liberty was hard, but it was harder still to be shut off from the opportunity of telling men and women about his Saviour. What could compensate for that? But in the darkness he found a treasure. Paul’s letters, mostly written from prison, have enriched Christians down the centuries and will continue to do so, until Jesus comes again. They could not have been written except in the darkness of a prison experience. Paul dipped his pen in the blood of his sufferings and wrote words that are deathless. In long days and nights of pondering upon Jesus, his thoughts crystallised into immortal phrases through which men and women have looked into the heart of a redeeming God.”

Difficult times will come to us all at different points in our lives. The man was born blind not because he or his parents sinned, but that the power of God might be displayed in his life. When yours comes, will your strength fail or will you rise on the wings of the eagle? There is strength to be found in God’s promises and the place of prayer. That place of darkness can be a place where you take hold of God’s grace to mine the treasures of darkness. Humanity can be blessed by the lessons you learn from your God-controlled trials. You can conquer because in Christ you are more than a conqueror. Don’t faint, but like the eagle, align your wings with the storm and soar above it.