Biblical Answer

The Purpose of Difficult Times

God allows us to go through difficult times to ensure that we learn to hold Him fast. This is a process of growth and spiritual development. As we face trials and hardships, we are forced to rely on God and His strength, rather than our own. The Bible commends God's self-restraint and the outworkings of His justice through the long processes of history. God's purpose in allowing suffering is to bring about spiritual growth and perseverance in us.

Understanding God's Sovereignty

God's sovereignty is not to be questioned or understood by us. We are not to figure out the reason for the difficulty, but only to present the truth of God so that the Spirit of God will reveal what is wrong. God's ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). We are to trust in God's goodness and love, even when we do not understand His ways. The incarnation of God as man was a necessary element in the biblical epic, and God's commitment to bring about a return to Eden to accomplish His rule on earth through humans was a key factor in this.

The Upside of Suffering

The inevitable hard times come, and the upside is that such tough experiences teach us to trust in God. Trials and persecution provide opportunities for the Christian to respond as Jesus would. Suffering that appears pointless within our limited framework may be seen to have been justly permitted by God within His wider framework. Through suffering, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives. We are to present the truth of God and trust in His goodness, even when we do not understand His ways. By doing so, we will find that we can do what God commands, and that we will be able to hold Him fast in times of difficulty.