The Importance of Hardship

Very few people have ever been given a vision of Heaven. Imagine the impact such a vision would have on someone. It isn’t hard to envision a scenario in which such a privilege caused someone to become a little arrogant.

Imagine sitting around with a group of people who were talking about where they went for vacation. “We went to Hawaii.” “We went to Tahiti.” “We went to Italy.”

Can you picture the apostle Paul, sitting back, just waiting for the perfect opportunity to trump them all? “I went to Heaven.”

“Heaven? Are you talking about Heavenly Valley, that ski resort near Tahoe?”

“No, I’m talking about Heaven—the place of eternal reward.”

“Uh huh. And what was it like?”

“I can’t really explain it. But it was better than where you went.”

But Paul didn’t get arrogant about his experience because God initiated a plan to keep him from being filled with pride. Paul described it this way: “So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud” (2 Corinthians 12:7 NLT). He doesn’t say what the thorn in his flesh was. All we know is that it was troublesome enough for Paul to pray to be rid of it.

“Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8–10 NLT).

Often, we imagine that we’re at our best when we operate from a position of strength—bold, confident, unshakable, and impervious to trials and tribulations. We convince ourselves that we’re most effective after we’ve cleared the obstacles from our path and overcome our infirmities.

God sees it a different way. He prefers that we operate from a position of weakness so that His strength is unmistakable. He wants us to rely on Him so that others can see us rely on Him so that they will rely on Him, too.

That’s why He allowed hardship in Paul’s life. And that’s why He allows hardship in our lives. Hardship makes people usable in God’s kingdom, if we recognize that hardship for what it is.

Reflection question: How can you respond to a current hardship in your life in a way that makes you usable in God’s kingdom? Discuss this with believers like you on Harvest Discipleship!

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