4 Strategies for Navigating Hardships
“What we see is a frowning providence. But there's a smile behind it, because His purposes are so much greater and better than ours.”
Below is a snippet of a conversation with Sally Michael, co-founder of Truth78, a ministry dedicated to equipping the next generation to know, honor and treasure God. During our conversation, she shared four strategies for navigating hardships. If you prefer listening, you can listen to the full conversation on Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube.
Katharine: What is one of the most important lessons the Lord has taught you over the years?
Sally: I think one of the greatest things when you're going through difficulties is to understand the doctrine of God's sovereignty. That God controls everything in this world. Nothing is outside of His sovereign plans for us. Everything that happens to us comes from the hand of our loving Father. So understanding God's providence in suffering makes all the difference in how you're going to navigate that suffering.
I wrote a curriculum for children in sixth grade on God's providence. And what I taught them is God has the right, power, wisdom, and goodness to rule this world well.
And I explained God's providence as God's eye is watching over the world and His hand is working to sustain and rule the world, to work out all of His plans for His glory and for the good of His children.
So I have four strategies for navigating painful providences:
1. Cling to the Promises of God
The first one is cling to His promises because all His promises are ”Yes and amen” in Jesus Christ.
[For instance, here are some scriptures Sally referenced]:
“Weeping endures for the night but joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.” Psalm 34:19-22
“But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:21-24
“The Lord is my portion says my soul, therefore I will hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation the Lord.” Lamentations 3:24-26
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
“Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore.” Psalm 125:1-2
So I would say, one: memorize the Word so it's on the tip of your tongue and it burrows into your heart. Because when the day of suffering comes, you need to have that ammunition ready. Because those attacks can come at any moment, temptations toward discouragement, fear, unbelief. And you can't always go running and find your Bible and to write them. You've got to have it right there as soon as that temptation comes, as that discouragement comes, as soon as that fear comes, that you remember a verse. And so when it's memorized, it's an ever-present help to you.
2. Talk to Your Soul
And then, at one point in my life, I read a wonderful book, Martyn Lloyd Jones' book, Spiritual Depression. And he said, and I think of the verse, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:11).
And what Martyn Lloyd-Jones says is that we need to not listen to our emotions, but we need to speak to our souls: “Soul, why are you cast down? Why are you in turmoil?” This is what the psalmist is going through. And then he speaks to his soul:
“Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, my Savior and my God.” So I think that practice of I’m not going to listen to my emotions, I'm going speak to myself: “Soul, this is what you need to be believing.” And I think it's a matter of a victory or absolute depression.
3. Look Toward Eternity
Another verse that I love in times of suffering, points us to another strategy, and that's 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient; they're here today and gone tomorrow. But the things that are unseen are eternal.”
And believe me, it never feels light or momentary, but in light of eternity, it is. And so I think you persevere by looking ahead to the bigger things, to eternity.
And Hebrews says they were looking for a better country: “But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland” (Hebrews 11:16). So, you're looking to the eternal and you're saying, “I'm living in the minute. This is my life right now…and you know what? This is just the moment. This is just the moment and forever is ahead of me.” So that's a good way to think of it, I think.
And then I don't know if many young people nowadays know William Cooper's hymn, “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” but that hymn has held me and held me and held me because of the words. And he was a man who suffered with depression. Actually, he was in state asylum and God met him.
Here are the words to the hymn:
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm
Deep in unsearchable mines
Of never-failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will
And ye fearful saints, fresh courage take
The clouds you so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings, yeah, in blessings
And in blessings on your head
On your head
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense
But trust Him for His grace
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face
His purposes will ripen fast
Unfolding every hour
The bud may have a bitter taste
But sweet will be the flower
Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain
For God is His own interpreter
And He will make it plain
God always knows what He’s doing. What we see is a frowning providence. But there's a smile behind it, because His purposes are so much greater and better than ours.
4. Practice Gratitude
And so, that leads me to the fourth strategy, which is to focus on gratitude. Focus on the mercies of God. They are new every morning. Every morning, you wake up and you have breath in your lungs. You know, they're new every morning. And so focus on the good things.
Suffering is a part of the human condition. Just assume it's going to happen in every person's life. There's going to be suffering. But the blessings that God brings are so undeserved and they're poured on us every single day.
Many, many years ago, when we lived in Minneapolis, we worked for a church and the pastor when he was in his 90s went into the nursing home and he started a blog in his 90s(!)
And I was reading his blog one day and he said, “I wake up every morning with a song…‘This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it’” and he says, “I just go through my failing body and I say ‘these are the eyes the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. This is the tongue the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. These are the fingers the Lord, fingers that are hardly working, I will rejoice and be glad in it.’" He says, “By the time I get to my toes, I can't help but thank the Lord and rejoice.” It's just a wonderful example of how we should be living our lives.
Listen to the full conversation on Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube.
Thank you for being here,
Katharine
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