Seek Shelter

Meteorologically speaking, “times of trouble” in the summer months usually involve thunderstorms or tornadoes. When the conditions are right, the National Weather Service issues a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning that encourages people to seek shelter.

Spiritually speaking, “times of trouble” may include anything from a scary medical diagnosis to a financial setback. For me, as a boy, it was “Charlene’s Wild Ride,” as I called it. Charlene is my mother, an alcoholic who married and divorced seven times and kept numerous boyfriends in between. Some treated me like a son; others abused both my mother and me. But chaos reigned. My times of trouble lasted years.

Whatever the situation, the recommendation is the same: seek shelter. And that shelter is God. The more intense the hardship, the closer we must draw to Him.

One of the best ways to draw close to God is through prayer. But how should we pray? There’s nothing wrong with asking God to remove a hardship. Jesus did. Just before He was arrested, Jesus prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Matthew 26:39 NLT).

The apostle Paul did. According to 2 Corinthians 12:5–10, Paul suffered from what he called “a thorn in [his] flesh” (NLT). Three times Paul prayed, begging the Lord to take away the thorn.

God didn’t deliver Jesus from His hardship. Nor did He deliver Paul. Instead, God reminded them that He was accomplishing something important through their hardship. He reassured them that His will was being done. He made His presence felt in a profound way during their hardship, but He didn’t deliver them.

If we pray for deliverance from our hardship, God may grant our request. He may show His power by removing the hardship in a dramatic and unmistakable way. But what if He doesn’t? What if He allows us to experience hardship for a season as part of His bigger plan, as He did with Jesus and Paul? What should we pray for then?

We can pray for perseverance, the ability to endure our hardship with a trusting and faithful spirit. Paul explained it this way: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation” (Romans 5:3–4 NLT). What’s more, the ability to survive and thrive in the face of difficult circumstances leaves a powerful impression on others, whether we realize it or not. People who see a spiritual strength and resilience in us that’s missing in their lives may be moved to ask us about the hope that’s in us.

We can also pray for perspective—the wisdom to recognize what God is accomplishing through our hardship. For example, hardship can turn sympathy into empathy. Instead of feeling sorry for others who are struggling, we can come alongside them as fellow strugglers. We can commiserate. We can ask the questions and say the things we wish people had asked and said to us. We can make a difference in the lives of others.

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