In the Midst of Adversity

SPEAKER 01 : 0:01

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, November 26th. Running from difficulty isn’t always an option. Today, learn healthier ways to respond to the challenges that inevitably come your way.

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Adversity is not really a choice. If it were, we’d all say, no, thank you. We’d just take it some other way. It’s not a choice, but it is a reality because we live in a fallen world. And because there is sin and disobedience and wickedness, wherever you turn, there’s going to be adversity. So we’ve all been there. We’ve all experienced adversity in one way or the other. And we would all like to avoid it if at all possible. But it’s not possible to avoid it because we said we live in a fallen world. Now, if you avoid all adversity, all possibilities of adversity, you may miss some of the best things in life. So, we would have to say that all adversity is not bad. It depends upon how we respond to it. So, whatever you’re going through today, Wherever you are in some realm of adversity in your family, among your children, financially, at your job, whatever it might be, whatever it may be, it could be that it is a part of one of God’s greatest blessings in your life. So, it depends upon how we respond to it. So, I want you to turn to Second Corinthians, a chapter I want to keep turning to in the twelfth chapter, because it’s such a perfect example of the Apostle Paul. And you think about all the adversities he went through, which he lists them in chapter eleven. And in spite of his prayers and asking God to take away all of this, listen to what he says about himself in verse seven of chapter twelve. Because of, that is, look at it, because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself. That is, awesome things he went through to keep him from exalting himself. There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, whatever it may have been, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Not make me feel bad. Torment me to keep me from exalting myself. Concerning this, I implored. I didn’t just talk to the Lord. I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And he said to me, Listen to this. My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. It’s easier to read that than to live by it. Amen? He says, this grace of God is sufficient for me, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses. Could we say that? Well content with weaknesses, with insults, distresses, persecutions, prisons, and so forth. With difficulties for Christ’s sake. Well, here’s, he says, what I’ve discovered. When I am weak, then am I strong. So, what I want us to think about, we respond to adversity in two ways. One way is the fact that… Some people just, even though we’re talking about believers now, some people, when they go through adversity, their response is, just walk away from God. I’ve trusted Him as my Savior. I’ve believed Him. I’ve read the Bible. I’ve prayed. I’ve done all these things. But I want you to look what’s happened to me. So, their choice is to walk away. And what they begin to think is they begin to doubt the reality of God. If God is really who He says He is, what the Bible says is He wouldn’t dare let this happen. So, they walk away. They doubt Him. A second response they have is they want to blame God for not preventing it from happening. In other words, if God really loved me, He would not allow this to happen to my family, to my finances, to my job, to my future, to my reputation, whatever it might be. If He’s really who He says He is, He wouldn’t allow that to happen, so it’s God’s fault. And sometimes when a person can’t blame their husband or wife or blame someone else, they want to blame God. And so, they want to walk away because if God was who He says He is, He wouldn’t allow this. And so, they want to point their finger at God. Then, some people just turn their back on God permanently. And I’ve met a few people over the years, things have happened in their life. And I remember one young man, he had a beautiful family and his son, a young lad, he must have been about, only about seven years of age, was the joy of his life. And he died suddenly. In spite of all of our prayers, all of our talking about how God had been good to him, how God had given him a great family, he never could accept the fact that God took his son. He grew very, very bitter about it. You can’t hide bitterness. You may hide some hurt in your life or things that have gone on in your life, but bitterness is like poisoning the bloodstream in your body. It affects every single thing about you. It affects your ability to smile. It affects your ability to love, to accept. It affects every aspect of your life. Bitterness because of some adversity that happened to you in life, and you grow bitter. And then the worst thing is that people who grow bitter like this, let adversity get the best of them, they waste their life. They walk away from God, close the Word of God, they’re not interested in this and that and the other. And whatever God may have planned for them, in that good, awesome plan was this act of adversity that God allowed to either purge something out of them that shouldn’t have been there, grow them up, mature them, teach them something. Instead of responding correctly, they decide no, and they walk away, and they absolutely waste their life. Adversity is not all bad if you respond correctly. So, I would simply ask you today, because I’m sure somebody here is going through adversity of some sort. It may be something physical, something emotional, something mental, something in your work. something in your relationships, but they’re there. But if people respond incorrectly, then what happens is they in some fashion walk away from God. Now, they may not walk away from their family or walk away from their job, but quietly they will walk away from God, walk away from the church because in their minds God didn’t do what He promised to do. God always keeps His promise. But sometimes we interpret His promise in a way that fits our plan. And the promises of God fit His plan. If I’m willing to yield to His plan, I’m going to watch the promises of God come to reality. If it’s got to be according to my plan, which is usually off base, then it’s not going to work. So we have two major responses. One of them is to walk away from God. And the second response is this. In the midst of that adversity, people oftentimes grow into a deeper relationship with God. So all of us fall into one of these two categories. And this first category is walking away from God. Or secondly, we walk into a deeper relationship with God. And what happens? Well, here’s what happens. We develop unshakable faith. Because in that adversity, God proves Himself to us over and over and over again that He’s still there. He’s still trustworthy. We can believe that He’ll keep His promises. And what happens is the adversity tests our faith. And so people who decided in spite of what I’m going through, I’m going to trust God. I’m going to persevere. I’m going to keep moving no matter what. And so when we allow adversity to drive us into a relationship with God, a deeper relationship, that’s one thing. A second thing is this. It enables us to have unwearied patience. That is, we don’t get impatient. In other words, if I know that this is of God and I’m trusting Him, He will give us the patience to endure whatever we are facing. And I think probably one of the greatest tests of our trust in God and our patience is the fact that no matter what’s going on and how painful it may be and how we like to separate it and get rid of it, we patiently wait for God to change it. And that’s a very, very important point because patience is not easy. It wasn’t easy for the Apostle Paul. He said three times he prayed. And that doesn’t mean he just got on his knees and prayed three short prayers. But these, no doubt, were long, prolonged periods of agonizing before God. A third thing that happens is this. Walking into a deeper relationship with God, something happens to our courage. If we didn’t have any adversity, we wouldn’t know what we could do. It’s adversity that builds courage. I’m going to trust Him. I’m going to wait for Him. I’m going to believe Him. And I’m claiming the victory no matter what I may be hurting at the moment. I may not like what’s going on, but I know in my heart that God’s not going to let me down. So, we say you have two choices now. You can walk away from God or you can walk into a deeper relationship with God, which is going to affect your patience, your faith, and your courage. And, of course, it always makes us purer in heart. That is, something happens to our relationship to the Lord, and holiness becomes more than a word. And if somebody asks you, are you living a holy life, more than likely you would say, well, I’m not, I don’t say that I’m holy. Well, why not? Listen, God has forgiven you of your sin. The Spirit of God is living within you. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. He is your Savior, your Lord, your Master, your Helper, your Encourager. Why can’t you live a holy life? It’s a choice we make. And one of God’s objectives in allowing difficulty, hardship, and pain is to drive us to Him. And the closer you get to Him and the more you understand Him, the less you want anything in your life that doesn’t match Him. Anything. Now, if I should ask you, how many of you believe you could live five minutes without sinning? Raise your hand. Now, see, to me, that’s ridiculous. Do you know why you didn’t raise your hand? Because it’s been drilled into you. I’m a sinner, I’m a sinner, I’m a sinner. And you can say, I’m a sinner saved by grace, I’m a sinner saved by grace. What about being a saint saved by grace? That’s what you really are. And a saint is not a sinless person. A saint is a person that has given themselves totally to the Lord Jesus Christ and is living in the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t mean that you will never sin. And we’ve made sin like our bloodstream. It’s just in us. No, it’s a choice you make. And God uses adversity to do what? To point out sin in our life. If there’s a sense of unforgiveness, bitterness, hostility, anger, prejudice, or whatever it might be, then He wants to get rid of all that. And so, He allows adversity in our heart to teach us how to live a godly life, a holy life. Because the truth is, here’s what you are. Since God has saved you from your sins by His precious blood, written your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life, has a place for you in heaven, I would say that you’re rather precious in God’s sight. And do you know what the word saint means? It means you’re holy. Holy. And so God uses adversity and hardship and pain in our lives to get us to thinking right. I’m a child of God. I’m to live a godly life. In other words, living a godly life, listen, that’s the natural way for a believer to live. And so if I’m going to live a godly life, I have to give up sin. And somebody says, well, how long can you live without sin? You want to know the answer to that? Say amen. As long as you choose to. As long as you choose to. You don’t have to sin. Or you say, well, but you know, I saw something that made me lustful. Well, don’t look. If you think that’s going to make, don’t look. If you see something that you think that you could pick that up and nobody would ever see it, walk away. In other words, watch this. Sin is a choice. It’s a bad choice. It’s a choice that separates us in our fellowship from God and in His work and will and purpose and plan for our life. He has the best for us. And adversity is one of God’s ways of doing what? Molding us into His own likeness, holiness, righteousness. That’s a part of living the Christian life. And so when somebody says, well, you just think you’re a saint. I say, well, thank you very much, I am. I am. And God’s people need to think about who we really are. You are an eternal child of the living God who has salvation that cannot be lost, a Savior that will never turn His back upon you, who answers your prayers, who has prepared a place for you in heaven. He says, I’m going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I’ll come again to receive you. unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. What a promise. And that’s to every single saint, every single child of God, every single person who’s ever received Christ as their Savior. So, we’re not talking about living a sinless life, but as sinless as it can be. And that’s a choice that we make. And so, when adversity comes, what does it do? It makes us examine ourselves to say, is there anything in my life, have I brought this on? Have I said or done something or acted in a way to bring this on that God’s working on me? And it may be something that you didn’t do at all. So, all adversity isn’t because of what we’ve done. Adversity sometimes is the result of something someone else has done. But if I respond in the right way, what will He do? He will turn it for my good. And so, what happens? When I have the right response, I’m going to get in the Word of God. When adversity comes, the first thing I’m going to do is open this book and say, Lord, what are you trying to say to me? And one of the things I love, my personal devotional book is the Living Bible Translation because it’s simple to understand, but it’s just written in a little different way. And for me personally, I jot down on the edge of my Bible things I think the Lord has said. And sometimes when I need a certain word of encouragement, I know exactly where to turn. And sometimes I’ll look at a verse that I have six dates down by. That means I needed it five, six times before. And so, there’s something about living with the Word of God. I don’t know what you call precious in your possessions, but I can tell you that’s the most precious thing you own. It’s the only guidebook there is to get you to heaven. Here’s the voice of God in human print. This is the way to live. This is the way to conquer. This is the way to look every single adversity in the face and say, yes, because I’m going to do it God’s way. I’m going to follow Him. And whatever He wants to do in my life, the answer is, yes, God, I want you to have your way because whatever your goal is for my life, That’s my goal. If it takes pain, suffering, and heartache, whatever it might be, according to Your Word, here’s what You said, and that’s what I’m going with. We’re going to face adversity. There’s nobody who is beyond it. So, knowing that it’s going to happen, just make a wise choice today. Lord, I want You to turn the adversities that You’re allowing my life to making me a real saint. I want to be a godly person. I want to be somebody that you can use. I want to be somebody that looks a little bit like your son Jesus, who acts like Him, who responds like He did. I want to make the right decision about adversity. You made Paul an awesome saint, and he’s blessed us for these thousands of years. And God, I want you to make me that kind of saint. Not that I would write as he wrote, but I would just be the kind of child of God that would attract other people to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my Savior in my life.

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Thank you for listening to In the Midst of Adversity. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.