How Should Christian Respond to Hardships?

I read a story one day. An ore is being refined by burning fire, and its pain is unendurable, and it then resents the fire that almost melts it. The fire urges the ore and says that it would only be an iron ore forever without being refined by fire. In the end, the ore is turned into steel after retirement. At that time, the ore offers great thanks to the fire for making it useful.

This story tells us: The ore suffered the refinements when it was burned by fire, but impurities would not be removed from the sourced iron ore without this process, and in that case, it would never be made into steel, and it would never become more valuable and useful.

This story makes me think of us humans who also need all kinds of refinements. Without hardships, we will be like flowers in the greenhouse, particularly vulnerable and incapable of withstanding wind and rain. We are inclined to greedily enjoy the flesh in a comfortable environment, and don’t take the initiative to depend on God and get close to Him. In this case, our spiritual life will stop growing, and we won’t be able to stand firm in the face of failures and frustrations, but will easily feel weak and negative, because we don’t have God’s words as a foundation. In serious cases, we will complain, deny and betray God. Therefore, refinements and hardships are necessary for life growth. What’s more, we need to learn to rely on and look up to God in adversity, and build a normal relationship with God, and seek God’s will. Experiencing this way constantly, we will become calm, resilient, perseverant and our life will grow gradually. Clearly, only hardships and retirements can benefit our life growth. It is true that we believe in the Lord, but most of us only desire for joy and comfort, unwilling to suffer from hardships God arranges. As a result, we live in the midst of an abundance of grace in our lifetime, but have no real knowledge of the Lord, and haven’t gained life.

It is recorded in the Bible, “And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God” (Zechariah 13:9). Hardships and retirements are precious wealth God grants us, and we must experience them if we want to gain life. They can enable us to see clearly our true stature, our deficiencies and inadequacies, and moreover, they can allow us to understand God’s will behind the misfortunes and know more about God. Only by experiencing suffering and retirements, can the impurities in our belief in God be removed, can our faith in God be increased. This is the only way for us to be perfected by God and become people who obey God and love Him. The saints of ages past all underwent several hardships and refinements so that they gained true faith and obedience to God and received God’s approval. For example, Moses experienced a tough time in the wilderness for 40 years. The suffering tempered his hot-bloodedness, increased his patience and perseverance, strengthened his faith in God, and eventually, he became fit for God for use, shouldered the heavy responsibility of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. He completed the task God entrusted him with. Another example is Job, who also underwent trials and hardships. His property had been stolen, and calamities befell his children, and sore boils broke out across his body, but Job didn’t sin verbally, and he believed that Jehovah gave, and Jehovah had taken away; no matter what God did, Job always praised His name. Job’s faith, obedience and fear all were perfected in tough situations. God blessed him and allowed him to hear God’s voice personally, and blessed him more.

In a word, when we are confronted with hardships and refinements, we should face and accept them instead of avoiding them. Besides, we should pay attention to seeking God’s will. In this way, we will grow in our life, and gain more faith, love God more, and obtain more knowledge of God. Consequently, we will achieve true reverence and admiration to God, receive God’s approval, become utensils that can bring God joy. It is just like the original ore that was refined by fire and reborn as a useful steel.