Bible Questions Answered: Christian - Hardships

Bible Questions Answered:
Why do Christian people, have to go through hard times of sickness, poverty, and other trouble?
Toby/ Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Bible Answers:
How many times has a tearful parent, looking down at a dead child, a wife receiving news of a fallen husband in combat, parents, who've received a report from the police, yes, there's been an accident, has the question been asked from broken hearts,"Why, of God, why?"

Scriptures give us the answers, and the spiritual balm, that is needed in such times of sorrow.

Isaiah 55:8,9 KJV
[8] For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD.
[9] For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 46:9,10 KJV
[9] ...for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me,
[10] Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure:

Romans 11:33-36 NLT
33 Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!
34 For who can know the LORD's thoughts? Who knows enough to give Him advice?
35 And who has given Him so much that He needs to pay it back?
36 For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.

God alone, knows His reasons.
Do bad things happen to good people?
There are some, erroneous, spurious,teachers,"with itching ears.

II Timothy 4:3-5 KJV
[3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
[4] And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
[5] But watch thou in all things.."

There are teachers today, who teach that the righteous, will never suffer any hardship.
They teach this false gospel, for filthy lucre.
They teach what some want to hear, and seek their reward for doing so.

How contrary to the True Word of God.

Romans 3:4 KJV "God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar..."

The Word of God:

Psalms 34:19 KJV "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."

Isaiah 43:1-3 KJV
[1] But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel (true for the church of Jesus Christ as well!), Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.
[2] When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
[3] For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:

Matthew 5:45 KJV "That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust."

John 16:33 KJV "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Acts 14:22 KJV "... we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God."


Calamities, will come, but the most important thing, our Saviour said, is to be prepared, our selves, our loved ones, and as many as we can witness to!

Luke 13:1-5 NLT
1 About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple.
2 "Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?" Jesus asked. "Is that why they suffered?
3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.
4 And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem?
5 No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too."


When hardships come and they will, what great and wonderful promises we find in the Word of God!

Hebrew 13:5 KJV "...He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."

Psalms 18:1-3 KJV
[1] I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
[2] The LORD is my Rock, and my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God, my Strength, in whom I will trust; my Buckler, and the Horn of my Salvation, and my High Tower.
[3] I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

Psalms 27:14 KJV "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD."

Psalms 37:23,24,39 KJV
[23] The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and He delighteth in his way.
[24] Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with His hand.
[39] But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: He is their strength in the time of trouble.

Psalms 46:1-3 KJV
[1] God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
[2] Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
[3] Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
Selah.

Psalms 55:22 KJV "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved."

Matthew 11:28 KJV "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Nahum 1:7 KJV "The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him."


Remember that faithfulness in trials, leads to reward!

James 1:2-4 NLT
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

I Peter 1:3-9 NLT
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,
4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
9 The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls.


Psalms 66:10 KJV "For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried."

Isaiah 48:10 KJV "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

Zechariah 13:9 KJV "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."


Malachi 3:3 KJV "And He shall sit as a refiner and purifer of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness."

I Corinthians 3:11-15 KJV
[11] For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
[12] Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
[13] Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
[14] If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
[15] If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Job 23:10 KJV "But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."

II Corinthians 4:17,18 KJV "
[17] For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
[18] While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Hebrews 10:35-39 KJV
[35] Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.
[36] For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
[37] For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
[38] Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.
[39] But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.


Isaiah 63:9 KJV "In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old."

I Corinthians 10:13 KJV
For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not [b]adjusted and [c]adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear].
But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to [d]a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.

Hebrews 4:14-16 NLT
14 So then, since we have a Great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe.
15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin.
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.


Always remember:
Psalms 145:17 KJV " The LORD is Righteous in all His ways, and Holy in all His works."

I Peter 4:12,13 KJV
[12] Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
[13] But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.