Life is tough and it might not get any easier. In fact, John Wayne added a bit of wit to this truth by saying, “Life is tough — it’s even tougher if you’re stupid!”
We all have difficulties, problems, and concerns. Some of them are even related to the failures God has forgiven us for the consequences of our sins. Forgiveness doesn’t necessarily negate the consequences of our past actions.
I think our biggest problem is what we do with our problems! Very typically we try to solve them in our own strength. God wants us to stop trying and start trusting Him with our difficulties. Although we can’t always control our circumstances, we can control how we respond to them. Attitude is everything.
You might be saying,
“But Chuck, you have no idea what I’m going through. I am really struggling.”
If this is you, let me encourage you to take your focus off your problems and focus on God’s promises. Consider with me Paul’s question in Romans 8:35: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?”
Are you troubled? experiencing hardship? being hassled? in danger? Are these too much for God? Paul answers this question in verse 37:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
Make note of that word “conqueror.” A conqueror is a person who overcomes by gaining control; by getting the upper hand. Paul says we are more than conquerors.
You see, through Christ-in-us we can have overwhelming victory in every area of our lives. By putting our lives in God’s hands, walking in obedience to God’s plans, relying on the same power that rose Jesus from the dead, nothing on this planet can devastate us, swallow us up, or destroy us.
That’s the message of the Resurrection — and the heart of the Good News. To put our lives in God’s hands is to live as though the problem, circumstance, and trial are already resolved which it will be. No matter how dark the situation may be, God can turn it around. No matter how hopeless life seems, God brings hope. The same power that enabled Jesus Christ to rise from the dead will allow you, in God’s time, to rise above your circumstances.