Hardship
If we go to the Word of God in the book of Acts:
“Strengthening the souls of the disciples exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying, we must through many tribulations enter the Kingdom of God.”
Many tribulations and the year 2020 has really tested many of us. We have been tested through many different things: Through isolation, one from another, which is not of God - God never created us to be lone rangers, individuals living by ourselves, no. We have been called, by God, to live in families and to live together in harmony. Remember Psalm 133 ‘Where there is unity God commands a blessing.’
There have been some severe droughts in our nation that we’ve had to deal with and God has been very gracious. There has been unprecedented violence on farms and in townships and we firmly believe it is of the devil himself.
There has been sickness: COVID-19, of which my wife and myself were at the forefront right at the beginning, self-isolated for sixty-seven days. We were tested five times before finally receiving a negative result, one might say ‘Lord where are You?’ Well the Lord says: “I’ve been with you always, especially in the storm.”
You see, nowhere in the Bible does it say: 'Come to Jesus and all your tribulations will be over.' That is not the truth and any person preaching that is not preaching God's Word. The Lord will never take you and me out of the fire, but what He does, He walks with us through the fire and that makes a way out for us. In fact, Paul says in Romans 5:3-4 NKJV "Not only that but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produce perseverance and perseverance character and character, hope." I have never yet met a man worth his salt, who has not been through fiery trials.
“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
I‘ve experienced it in my own life, not once, but many times. Remember every drought always ends with rain. So as Christians we are not exempt from trouble, but the good news is that the Lord says He will never leave us nor forsake us. It is a wonderful opportunity and season in our lives to be good witnesses for the Lord. We need to be different and we need to always put in front of every complaint, 'but God, but God'. So it doesn’t matter what you are going through at the moment, but God, He will see you through.
God bless you,
Angus and Jill Buchan