Allowing Adversity to Change Your Perspectiveናሙና

Adversity

Life is full of adversity. We lose loved ones, get fired from jobs, suffer miscarriages, experience rejection, and even persecution. The story of Job is famous in part because of the extremity of the main character’s adversity. It’s this very thing that makes him so relatable! But what truly makes his story inspirational is not the amount of pain he went through but his response to it.

Adversities are a constant ingredient of life. We would all prefer to live in easy situations, perfect settings, and good circumstances; to live in a world where everyone is happy. But humanity’s fall from grace in Eden makes our existence, in some way or another, like Job’s.

At times, it seems we experience only adversity. We can’t win. We feel stuck in an endless loop of losses and lamentation. We complain. We want to scream. Life is tough. Being human is not for the faint of heart, but just as we relate to Job’s situation, we have an opportunity to replicate his response.

According to his flesh, Job was right to complain and curse God for what he was going through. That response is precisely what Satan desired. He wanted Job to sin so that Satan could win. The accuser gave Job all the possible reasons that would “justify” complaining and cursing God. Nevertheless, Job chose not to sin with his lips.

Job “accepts” adversity as an opportunity to trust God. He did not go looking for adversity, but he acknowledges the reality of it and the choice he has in its midst. And he chose to live righteously (Job 23:10).

Nothing about adversity is easy. We cannot altogether avoid it. We cannot control it. But what we can do is follow Job’s example and not let adversity define us nor allow it to lead us into sin. We can change our focus and see adversity as an opportunity for worship. A chance to trust. An invitation to be an example. A catalyst to know God by faith.

Lord, open my eyes to see the opportunity behind my problems. Like Job, let me worship and trust You in everything.