-Strength for Today- "What Do You Do When You’re Faced with Hard Times?" - 1 Thessalonians 3:1-8.

We’ve all had times which appeared as if “our world was caving in.” We “pray,” and we “meditate on God’s Word.” So, what else can we do to “keep our faith strong?” I’ve learned over the years that when “faced with “hard times,” that there’re only two decision we must make:  

    1. Be a “student of faith,” and  

    2. Not be a “victim of your circumstances.” 

  Because going through life as “professional victims,” that is always talking about being “mistreated,” is a “never ending victimhood” which is “void of faith.”  And the very presence of a “doomed” life of “self-centered misery.”  A “victim” of “hard times,” blames other people for “their problems.”  Whereas a “student” of “hard times,” says, “What can I learn from this?”  

A victim begs God to “remove the problems of life,” for the sake of “happiness.” A “student” learns “through their problems of life” that God alone is the “only source of all true happiness.” The storms of “hard times” often come to believers to make them able to “stand firm,” rather than to “blow them away.” 

Now that’s the “true Christian position.”  From 1 Thessalonians 3:1-8 we learn much from the “sovereignty of God” that when “hard times come,” we know that God is at work “for our good” and “His glory.” Therefore, no one is exempt from “hard times.” Why? Because most of the time we don’t have a choice about the “hard things that happens to us.” But we can “control” how we respond whether in “faith or unbelief,” “humility or arrogance,” “forgiveness or bitterness, or in “hope” or in “despair.” 

James 1:2 reminds us to, “Count it all joy” when you encounter various trials.”  However, that’s not possible as long as you’re focusing on the trial itself. But if you “shift your focus to God’s Word,” you’ll find joy even in the “devastating valleys of death.” Because “God makes no mistakes. Therefore “hard times” or “trials” are “productive. Paul says, “But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you” -v. 6. Here Paul plainly says that “we can overcome our trials by faith.” What kind of faith does he have in mind? 

• Faith in God’s Character, that He’s good and makes no mistake. 
• Faith in God’s Word, that it’s true no matter what happens to us. 
• Faith in God’s Purpose, that He’s conforming us to the image of Jesus Christ. 
• Faith in God’s Promise, that he will never leave us or forsake us. 
• Faith in God’s Presence, that he is with us in the darkest moments of life. 
• Faith in God’s Power, that He can deliver us from every temptation. 

 There’s one other kind of faith that’ll help us in hard times. That is the shared faith of God’s people. So many believers struggle because they try to handle their problems alone.  But God never intended that you should walk through the lonely valley by yourself. 

  Verses 7-8 reveal another way in which our trials are productive: “Therefore, brothers, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith. For now, we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.” Here’s the final truth about hard times, in that? “We never suffer alone.”  Job said, “He knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I will come forth as You can have an easy life, or you can have a deep faith. You can’t have both. There’s no gold without the fiery furnace. Our hard times are “designed to bring us closer to God.” “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Let us therefore endure our trials with “grace” and “courage,” knowing that in the end “the clouds will part” and “the sun will shine again.” 

 Author: Plez Lovelady, Jr., PhD