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How should Christians respond to hardships? Learning how to respond to hardships biblically is essential because every believer will eventually face seasons of pain, disappointment, loss, or uncertainty. Jesus and the apostles were not exempt from suffering, and neither are we.
Yet not every hardship has the same cause. Sometimes we experience the consequences of our own choices. At other times, God allows trials that test our faith and produce endurance. That is why we need biblical discernment when difficulties come.
How we respond to hardships matters. Scripture shows us two important responses: repentance when God is correcting us, and faithful endurance when our faith is being tested.
1. Respond to God’s Discipline With Repentance
Have you forgotten the warning addressed to you as sons? “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of Adonai or lose heart when you are corrected by Him, because Adonai disciplines the one He loves and punishes every son He accepts.” It is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons—for what son does a father not discipline? But if you are without discipline—something all have come to share—then you are illegitimate and not sons.
As vs. five says, many of us have forgotten the truth that God is chastising His children. Much of our life difficulties can be found in the words: have you forgotten..? God is not the author of evil. However, we have the option to choose right or wrong, and though we do not like to talk about consequences, every decision we take had consequences.
God’s chastising should not be taken as a sign of His rejection but of His love to us. He is chastising us for our good. And it is good when He does discipline us because He is doing it in His love.
Therefore, the Bible is teaching us to not take lightly His discipline or to not despise it. God’s chastising is a sign that you are His beloved son or daughter. It is His loving tool to keep us on the right track. And always remember that His discipline is not to make us pay for our sins as only the sacrifice of Jesus is able to do that and not our sufferings. So always remember that your response to hardships because of God’s chastising should be repentance.
2. Respond to Trials With Faith and Endurance
Whenever I think of a person who was tested by God, Job is the first who comes into my mind. He was tested by God big time. He lost all of his fortunes and all his seven sons and three daughters. In one day he lost everything and had to make ten coffins for his children. However, what was Job’s response? Job 1:21-22 (TLV)
Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. Adonai gave and Adonai has taken away; blessed be the Name of Adonai.” Through all this, Job did not sin nor did he cast reproach on God.
And if that was not enough God also allowed Satan to test him through sickness (Job 2:4-7). By the way, his illness did not come from the Lord. Moreover, even his wife was against him and gave him
He said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Should we accept the good from God and not accept the bad?” Through all this Job did not sin with his lips.
My hope is that you see the wisdom in Job’s words. Job understand that the Lord does not owe us good but He gives good to us as a gift that we should accept. Likewise, when adversity comes we should have the wisdom to see that there may be a ‘gift’ in it that we should accept.
How to Respond to Hardships in Your Life
Probably you find yourself in a difficult situation too. Maybe you even have many questions
I know for many mistakes I did I had to accept the consequences. Indeed, it was hard. However, my difficult problems were not because of God but because of my sins and mistakes. One of the things I have learned was that even if I am a child of God it doesn’t mean God will deliver me instantly from my problems. But He will give me the grace to be forgiven if I repent. Often I think how would it be my life facing hardships without His grace? It is hard to go through hardships having access to His grace but how it would be without His grace?
Therefore, if you face a difficult situation remember that your response to hardships matters. If you are in a difficult situation because of your sin, then your answer should be repentance. However, if you are facing hardships because God is testing you then ask for the grace to endure to the end. As someone said God is not always changing our circumstances, but He always wants to change us.
The Bible teaches us how to respond to hardships with discernment. If God is correcting us, our response should be repentance. If our faith is being tested, we should ask for grace to endure faithfully.
Spend time with God and ask for wisdom and light over your life situation. Then discern what your response to hardships should be. Don’t adopt the wrong attitude and response to your life situation.
Do you agree?
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I am a blogger, writer, pastor, Director of Zion Romania Bible School, husband to Olguta, a father and, most importantly, a child of God. I also completed my studies at the King’s University where I earned a B.A. in Theology with a concentration in Messianic Jewish Studies. I love Israel and I love the ‘Jewishness’ of the Bible.
[…] Learning how to respond to hardships is part of learning to abide in Jesus when life becomes difficult. […]