When the going gets tough, the tough...

           ...take a nap? ...drink a toddy and wait for it to pass? ...go shopping? ...pull up themselves up by their bootstraps?  My first reaction to lots of pressure is to take a bath.  It gives me time to get by myself where my kids won't bother me so I can think...or just relax before I try to think.  But seriously,  the going does get tough, and as a believer in the Living God I just have to be ready for that.  "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,"  James 1:1-3.  The apostle Paul didn't say "if you face trials;" he intended for us to know we would indeed face difficulties.  But what's this about joy in trials?  Why should I rejoice about my crises? Paul answers that question over and over, but here's a favorite of mine:


1 Peter 1:6-7
 ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

          Wow!  The end result is refining of my faith so that God will be glorified!  When God is glorified, others are drawn to the Father.  I can live with that knowing my suffering is only momentary in light of eternity.

           Back to the original question: What do I do--what should believers do-- when the going gets tough?  Paul also tells us that he sends other believers to encourage us and build us up in our faith so that we will be ready for the rough stretches.  

 

1 Thessalonians 3:2-4

² We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith, ³ so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. For you know quite well that we are destined for them. ⁴ In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.

          Since I am destined for trials, it would seem then that during the smooth, easy times I need to be soaking myself in God's Word, talking and listening to my Heavenly Father, breaking bread with the saints on earth.  All this builds and strengthens faith to prepare us for the trials that are sure to come.  Just as the believers in Paul's day could look to Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham in faith, we have our modern day cloud of witnesses and martyrs who have pressed on through incredible odds to bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus: 

    

Hebrews 12:1-2 

 ¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

           So there is even a reward--sitting at the right hand of God!  As His child who shares in Christ's sufferings I also share in His riches:
     
Romans 8:17
¹⁷ Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

           When the going gets tough, the tough aren't tough at all but in humility are made strong by the power of the cross through faith in the One and Only Son of God with a view to eternity.