ADVERSITY

By pilgrim 27 November, 2022 BRUISED REEDS 1 Comment

While life brings out the person, adversity reveals who you really are. How can we respond well to adversity? Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 12 are worth studying,

“To keep from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness’. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (v7-10)

Often, the purpose of adversity is to keep us humble. This is important because pride is at the heart of rebellion against God, and more than anything else will take one away from God. Being humble and submissive to God goes against the very sinful nature of man and should therefore be a prized possession for every disciple. The more of God’s power one begins to yield, the greater the risk of becoming proud and often becomes the reason why those who have accomplished great things for God drift away from God in their essence while continuing to do things ‘for God’.

Taking measures to relieve oneself of the adversity including asking God in prayer is a natural response to adversity. Often the adversity is short term and life is back to what it was. At other times, adversity persists as per the will of God and there needs to be grace to accept that. It is here that one transitions from focussing on getting rid of adversity to learning to receive God’s grace to coexist with adversity. Once that happens, Paul teaches us to make a jump to saying what seems contradictory, “God’s power is made perfect in weakness”. This is a state where the weakness in the body or the soul drives one to wield the spiritual weapons of faith, hope and prayer, resulting in spiritual power in greater measure than would have been possible without the weakness.

The conclusion then becomes one of praise not only for the good things but also for adversity in its various forms. This is truly the highest man can reach in this world- not becoming the greatest or the wisest or the most powerful; not being able to do great acts of service (none of these being wrong); rather being able to coexist with and delight in adversity and in Christ translate one’s adversity to power. in Paul’s words, “For when I am weak, then I am strong”.