“Why Hardship? What Good Can Come Out Of Going Through Different Types of Hardship?”

Author: Lisa Groen

People have often said, “It should never be God’s will for a Christian to go through hardship!”. And “Hardship is from the devil, it’s not from God! You have to resist hardship with the promises of God!”

Does hardship require spiritual warfare to ‘get the victory’ for the Christian?

Or, is hardship a normal part of Christian life? Can we pray to be released from hardship but still trust the Lord to be the one who deals with reversing the hardships that are too big for us to change rather that we ourselves trying to resist any and every kind of hardship we must face?

These are smaller parts of the bigger question “Why does God allow suffering, even for his own people?”

Is there a bigger purpose for it?

We can know that with God’s personality which we see in scripture, we are told in Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Because of this, we can be assured that when God allows certain things in our lives, that he may have a thought about it that is higher than yours, and a reason for it that is nothing like what you could have imagined.

The following is not an exhaustive list, but some examples of why people suffer affliction may be because:

–We live in a fallen world (The original sin affects “all of creation”, therefore the results of that today are sin has still affected all of creation. Creation reaped hardship, sickness, and brokenness from the sin of people who lived before us.)

–God allows us to go through suffering to test our faith.

–To purge us and refine us.

–To remind us that we need a Savior

–To humble us

–Or to build our character, and to rub off the rough edges in our personalities.

If you have been a Christian for a while, you might have felt there were days in your Christian walk in which you were going through the ‘furnace of affliction’ as the Bible describes it. Maybe you have wondered if you were at fault, or if you somehow ‘messed up the plan of God’ that you imagined entitled you to a “trouble free existence”. Some of us have been taught things along these lines in our Christianity.

In considering these things we come with the understanding that salvation is a gift. Are good people entitled to anything good? A famous question brought up from the book “Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?” by Harold Kushner, might be better stated as, “Why do good things happen to bad people?” To keep it in perspective, we must remember that our salvation is a free gift. And we didn’t earn our salvation, so it is not possible to “earn” life or any of the blessings we see, because of the word “blessing” and the infused meaning it holds. A short definition of the word “blessing” is “God’s favor and protection”. Therefore, life itself and all the good things that come with it, is a gift.

From the Psalms we can read that God uses hardship and affliction to draw people to himself. Whether a person is unsaved, or if a Christian should ever backslide, God can use hardship, suffering or trials to draw people to himself. And even in the life of a believer who may not overtly be involved in any particular or habitual disobedience, the Lord may use some types of hardship for simply the purpose of causing them to grow closer to Him in their walk with Him.

Biblical reasons why God might allow people to be afflicted, taken from the New International Version Bible:

Psalm 107:17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.

Psalm 119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

Psalm 119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.

Psalm 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.

Psalm 119:75 I know, Lord, that your laws are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Many kinds of good news are also listed for those who have been afflicted as seen in scripture, from the NIV:

Isaiah 14:32 What answer shall be given to the envoys of that nation? “The Lord has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

Isaiah 49:13 Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.

Isaiah 51:21-23 Therefore hear this, you afflicted one, made drunk, but not with wine. This is what your Sovereign Lord says, your God, who defends his people: “See, I have taken out of your hand the cup that made you stagger; from that cup, the goblet of my wrath, you will never drink again. I will put it into the hands of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on.”

And Isaiah 54:11-17“Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. ¹² I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. ¹³ All your children will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their peace. ¹⁴ In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. ¹⁵ If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. ¹⁶ “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc; ¹⁷ no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the Lord.

And Psalm 10:17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

And Psalm 22:24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

With these great and marvelous promises, Christ followers don’t need to worry, fret, or be hopeless, because the Lord who marvelously holds us in his righteous right hand, is doing a wonderful work. He is committed to that work being fully expressed and brought to a full mature fruit in our lives to bring Him glory. We can know he will do wonderful things with our broken pieces and with our challenges and suffering, and as well for the same kind of needs of those we see around us. God can turn your suffering into a true blessing.

Keep growing in the Word! LG