Troubles

" 'Here on Earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.' "
-John 16:33

Many Christians talk about Christianity as if it will make your life easier. But Jesus clearly made known that the cost of following Him is great, and being a Christian invites persecution, from our fellow man and from the spiritual realm. Jesus promised that His followers would have troubles. He also promised, though, that our troubles won't defeat us, and that we have an everlasting hope that can't be taken from us.

" 'Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.' "
-Mark 13:13

Jesus welcomed into His close circle only those who were willing to give up everything to follow Him:

"Then a teacher of the law came to him and said, 'Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.' Jesus replied, 'Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' Another disciple said to him, 'Lord, first let me go and bury my father.' But Jesus told him, 'Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.' "
-Matthew 8:19-22

I have a couple of friends who have faced trial after trial in their lives, and it just seems like they can't catch a break. I struggle with the fact that God would allow them so much sorrow and difficulty, especially when they are faithful followers of His. And yet my friends themselves encourage me when I am at a loss for how to encourage them, saying that they know God has the power to make things right but that they are going to trust Him no matter what. (For a biblical example of this same attitude, see Daniel 3:17-18.)

It's easy to become offended by God and wonder how He could allow so many bad things to happen to good people. I just read today in The Bait of Satan how John the Baptist was tempted to be offended. He was the first to recognize Jesus as the Christ, but after a long time of languishing in jail for following God's will, with no rescue in sight, he began to wonder. Most of his disciples had left him to follow Jesus, and Jesus' lifestyle was nothing like his own commitment to self-denial. He sent some of his remaining disciples to ask Jesus if He was really the awaited Messiah.

Jesus' response: "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."
-Matthew 11:4-6

Jesus was warning John to not allow the truth that was revealed to him to be distorted by disappointment. Not to focus on the areas where Jesus didn't live up to his expectations (God is never going to fit inside the boxes we make for Him), but to be convinced of Jesus' divinity and goodness by the undeniable evidence.

What truth has God revealed to you about Him? Through nature and the circumstances of our lives, let alone the Bible, there is overwhelming evidence to support that God is good. Yes, life is full of disappointments and sorrows, but, as I have to keep reminding myself, God is the only one whose perspective is eternal, who can see the beginning and end and work it all together for good. Faith is trusting that God is good, no matter whether He saves us from the storm we're in or allows us to go through it, as many faithful believers including Jesus Himself have had to do (i.e. - Hebrews 11).

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
-Hebrews 12:1-2