Facing Adversity

On Thanksgiving Day, I shared with you about my depression and how homesick I was. I shared that I was battling and I was wanting to give up. But I found hope in God’s Word and through a study I’m going through entitled “Keep Pressing Ahead” by Chip Ingram.

I want to share the second part of that first lesson with you that hit home with me. I am going to break it into two parts so this won’t be a novel. If you didn’t read my last post, that will help you get in the frame of mind of where I might be going with this. So I encourage you to take 10-15 minutes to read my Thanksgiving Depression post (I’m sorry, it was a long post!). 

Adversity sometimes feels like a brick wall. No matter how hard we hit it, it is still there, challenging us to hit it again. But instead of pounding against the wall, we have to give up outselves to the only One who can take the wall down.

Chip talks about when we face adversity, we have to remember the basics, as he calls them, which are:

I cannot; Christ can.

Believe God wants to save me.

Admit I need His help.

Cry out to Him.

Knowing these things is great encouragement. But Chip goes on to talk about adversity. He has a whole section entitled, “Stop believing the lies about adversity.” There are five lies that we always think about when going through any type of  struggle, whether its depression, internal conflict, outside conflict, or whatever.

The first lie that we need to stop believing is that adversity is totally and utterly out of this world. Chip points out that adversity is normal. It’s completely and utterly normal! Isn’t that great? You’re not a odd ball for going through what you’re dealing with, you’re perfectly normal! Satan wants you to believe you’re alone in your struggle and that there is something wrong with you.

Jesus says in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” 

My interpretation: You live, you will face adversity. IT’S NORMAL. Jesus says so! 

2 Timothy 3:12, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

My interpretation: If you live AND follow Jesus, you will suffer persecution or adversity. Because Satan is trying to bring you down harder than ever. You are his next challenge and he’s going to make sure that he hits you with everything he got to make you doubt Jesus’s victory. Jesus says back in John that He has overcome the world. We still have to go through persecution, suffering, adversity, but we can have victory through Jesus who has overcome our struggles. 

Second lie we love to believe: we didn’t see it coming! We didn’t expect it! Why did it happen?! Chip says, adversity is expected. 1 Peter 4:12, “Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you.” Peter is saying that fiery trials are normal and it is to be expected!

Why are we so surprise when it comes? Why do we scream at God when it comes to us like it slapped us in the face? Mostly because it hits home way too close for our comfort zones. And I believe that is where Satan wants to attacks us. 

Why haven’t I not seen this verse before? Probably because I thought that this was talking about another person’s fiery trial, because I would see my own fiery trial coming, shouldn’t I? 

Let me make this clear: I believe what Chip and Peter are saying here is that we should expect trials, fiery trials, to come our way. It never says anything about when it will come or how it will come. It doesn’t even say that we should understand it when it comes. Adversity is coming our way; there’s no way to prepare for it besides knowing God’s faithfulness in the last trial and hanging onto His promises through this one.

The third lie we love to believe: there’s no purpose. There’s always a purpose when we go through trials. 

Romans 5:1-5 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

The purpose of going through trials is that it will produce perseverance: translation: endurance. After perseverance has been made, it will produce character. A better us, a better me, a better internal life, a life more reflected on Christ. Then it will create hope; hope never disappoints. You know why my friend? In verse 5, it says that hope is God’s love poured out in us by His Holy Spirit. How AMAZING is that?!

God is creating a better, more enduring, hopeful, loving human being when we go through adversity. Now, who would have thunk? 

Whatever fiery trial you’re facing today, hold onto the first 4 steps of Chips’s sermon because they are invaluable truths:

You cannot do it, but Christ can.

Believe that God wants to save you.

Admit that you need His help.

Cry out to the One who wants to save you.

Then stop believing the lies that Satan throws at you about adversity. Remember that Jesus says adversity is normal. Peter says it’s to be expected. Paul says it’s purposeful, creating a new you; a gift from God Himself.

Go back to God’s Word to see what He has to say about your trial. Yes, you may not find the trial you’re going through in His Word, but the truths of how much He loves you and wants you to be more like Him are in there. Rely on those truths.

In the next week, I’ll write the second part and discuss the last two lies that we like to believe about adversity. Until then, God bless.