What’s a difficult time?
A difficult time is a complicated period to go through, a complex time when we find it hard to control life’s circumstances. Difficult times sometimes produce bitterness, sleep disorders, anxiety, depression and inexplicable embarrassment. Sometimes these difficult times can even drive us to suicide. Everyone on this earth, old and young alike, has faced difficult times in their lives.
These difficult times can affect many aspects of our lives: our studies, our marriage, our finances, our family life, our professional life… These difficult times can end in suicide.
However, let’s not regard some difficult times as negative or the work of the devil. All the difficult times we go through are intended to build a new character in us.
Why the difficult times?
Sometimes God allows us to go through a desert because we have reached a point where we have stopped relying on Him. But also because God wants us to show him that we depend solely on him. The example of a Christian’s behaviour is that of Job in difficult times.
In chapter 1 of the book of Job, God sees Job’s heart and testifies to the devil that Job is a man of integrity. The devil tells the Lord that Job’s integrity is based on his possessions and wants to convince himself that if everything he had (his possessions, his children) were taken away from him, he would deny God. The Lord allowed this to happen. Job lost all his sons in a fire on the same day, but he never denied the Lord. Satan again told the Lord that if any form of bodily harm were inflicted on him, he would turn away from your presence. God allowed it, but Job stood firm in his faith. So, what we learn from this book is that our behaviour is crucial during difficult times. The things we can do during difficult times are:
Always keep a relationship with God.
We know that life’s difficulties can make us doubt his existence, but even in the storm, let us always keep our eyes fixed on God (Psalms 28:7, Psalms 37:3).
Keeping your mouth shut
We know that the power of death and life lies at the tip of our tongue. When we are going through difficult times, let’s avoid saying hurtful words. Let’s avoid being hard on God and the people around us. The difficult times will pass, but these words can have an effect on our lives or those around us. So let us ask God to watch over our mouths (Psalms 141:3). Let us renounce animosity and malice in our mouths (Colossians 3:8).
Avoid shortcuts
Very often we look for human ways to solve our problems. We have already drawn up plans in our heads: how to borrow money here, how to lie to save face, how to set up a scam to make money or even use an unorthodox means to obtain what will improve our situation… Yet Proverbs 3:5 recommends that we trust only in the Lord. By taking shortcuts, we think we’re solving the problem. But this is only an illusion and the consequences will be to our disadvantage later on.
In 2 Timothy 3:5, we see that times will become difficult in the latter days. But if we only look to our Creator. We will handle these times better and always come out a changed man. We will evolve to a higher level with God.
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