Rejoicing in Trouble

Do you find it hard to rejoice and be thankful when you are going through major troubles? I sure do! That is still something I am learning gradually. It takes time to develop this “attitude of gratitude” in the middle of a crisis. How I long to be like Job, who, even though he lost his children, house, health and means of survival (livestock), he was STILL able to say, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Wow.

All I know is that when I have been thankful and able to praise the Lord even when going through a hard time, something powerful happens. An overwhelming peace sweeps over you and you almost feel as if you are lifted up over your troubles, or at least your perspective changes and you have a deep feeling that everything is going work out in the end. God has blessed me with amazing peace in the middle of some very difficult, chaotic times when I have been determined to push past all of the hurt, fear and feeling of little hope (in that situation) and praise him anyway. This is something very difficult to do on our own, however.

While things are going well, we need to continuously pray that when those times come that God will give us the determination and ability to push past all of the mess and praise him anyway (and remain thankful for all we do have). Once you try that, I guarantee the results will make it easier to do with the next difficulty or crisis you face until it gradually becomes something you do without even having to think about it.

It doesn’t have to be a long, fancy, drawn out prayer to be effective. All it takes is genuinely being able to say (or sing) from the bottom of your heart, “I love you Lord, and I am going to praise you through this! Thank you for everything you are going to do in this situation. Blessed be your name; you are worthy to be praised!” It will probably take everything within you to muster up the courage to do this, but the results are well worth the effort!

There are many promises to us in the Bible…promises that God will never leave us or forsake us, He will take care of our needs, He cares for us, He will give us strength, He will heal us and on and on and on. I challenge you to write out a few of these encouraging promises and post them up when going through a particularly difficult time that you can meditate on and claim during those times. Use scriptures that describe where you want to be and who you want to be through those times and determine that you are going to take the steps necessary to live that scripture out in spite of the mess you are facing.

One of the particular passages I used when I was going through the most difficult year of my life was Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV), “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the Olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Obviously you would apply this to your current situation).

As I said, this is something I am still learning. I have been through far more than my fair share of very, very difficult times. Sometimes, life is very tiring from going through all of these things all the time. However, I live day by day and week by week, trusting God to give me the strength I need to face the next difficulty, and He always does! Usually in my case, it’s more like “hold on for dear life and ask God to give me the strength to survive through the trial intact and help me learn what God is teaching me in the process.” However, I am asking for God to refine this in me so that I can say with full confidence and certainty every single time, “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”