God´s Goals in Our Difficulty

Job, who had his Ph.D. in trouble from the School of Hard Knocks said, “Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.”  Lately, it seems that all of us around Panama City have had to deal with great loads of difficulty resulting first from Hurricane Michael and now from the spread of the Coronavirus. 

The first question I asked about this situation was “Why?”  We looked to the Scriptures for an answer, and that was the subject of the first eight blogs.  
Now we change questions.  Now we ask “What?” “What are God´s goals in the midst of our difficulty?”

The first one that I think of spoken in God´s Word is that God desires to give us victory in the spiritual battle.  The Holy Spirit tells us that the real underlying battle is spiritual.

Ephesians 6:10-12 NKJV   10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

We often see things only from a surface point of view.  God says there is a spiritual battle underneath the physical battles that torment us day by day.  God wants us to win this spiritual battle against Satan and all of his demonic host and have victory!  God wants us to win this battle sufficiently to move Him to give us weapons for this spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 6:13-17 NKJV   13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

All of these weapons are defensive weapons to protect us from the devil´s attacks.  The Lord gives us a single offensive weapon: Prayer!

Ephesians 6:18 NKJV   praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints--

Difficulty is often the visible evidence of invisible spiritual warfare.

• It should motivate us to put on the armor!
• It should move us to our knees in prayer!

With these things, our glorious God gives us the victory!