What To Do During Difficult Times Series

Ravi was born in 1953 in India into a family of wealth as they were in the second-highest caste, lower only than the priests. Destined for comfort and great opportunities, he was a devout Hindu. The village rejoiced with the family at his birth, especially since male children were seen as a treasure by the Indian culture. But at the age of three, Ravi was stricken with polio. His parents were devastated. They spent a fortune giving Ravi the best of medical treatment. At one point, the young boy spent nine months in a total body cast. But his condition did not improve. Abandoning medical solutions, his parents turned to the village gods. His father had two expensive temples built for the gods. Yet, Ravi did not improve. Ravi's parents began to see him as a burden. He had to have two people to look after his needs, including one person who was responsible for carrying him wherever he needed to go. None of the Hindu gods heard the prayers of Ravi and his parents. His condition worsened, and he became completely disabled. After all of the work, sacrifices, and money spent on their son, his parents concluded that Ravi would not walk the rest of his life because he had bad karma in a previous life.

Karma is a Hindu fatalistic concept that necessitates reincarnation. The conditions of each successive life are determined by one's bad or good deeds in past lives. It is a kind of a universal law of cause and effect that determines fate or destiny. Each person must suffer for his own deeds of the past life.

Ravi suffered as a young boy and was crippled because of the bad deeds he had committed in a previous life. Ravi spoke of the difficulties of his childhood: "I saw how much my parents enjoyed my brothers and sisters, but they did not want to be around me. They would tell our housekeeper to carry me away from the rest of the family on special events. I was driven almost to the point of a nervous breakdown."

Balance is defined as "mental steadiness or emotional stability; habit of calm behavior, judgment."

Today's Scripture

"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (James 1:1-4).

There are two truths you need to know to better equip you to handle difficulties.

1. Trouble is Unavoidable

"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds…" (James 1:2).

A gentleman was on his way home in a subway. He was prone to motion sickness, to begin with. He had a big lunch and worked that afternoon with a bit of an upset stomach. He was jammed onto the subway as the last person able to get on. The door automatically opened and closed with the motion of the starting and stopping of the subway. So there he was, standing at the glass doorway, watching outward as things were flashing by at 90 mph. The longer he stood, the sicker he got until it came up to the stop where it wasn't his place to get off, but another fellow was waiting on the platform in order to get on the subway. The door opened, and out came this man's lunch all over the man. He "threw up" all over a random stranger. The door closed, and the thing went right on. The fellow standing on the platform was suddenly standing with another man's lunch all over his body. He turned around to the man behind and asked, "Why me?"

Trials are inevitable. If the door doesn't open on you this time, it will the next time. The word "various" in verse two can also be translated as "multicolored." Some trials are family-related, while others are job-related. So be ready.

"Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you" (1 Peter 4:12).

Indeed the better Christian, the more severe the trials he may have to encounter. For example, the Bible says that Job was a blameless and upright man who feared God and turned away from evil. Yet in one day, Job went bankrupt from family to finances. He lost his sheep, his servants, his oxen, his donkeys, his sons, and his daughters all in one day. I think about Daniel, who prayed three times a day to the Lord. Probably three times as much as the average Christian prays, and all he got for his praying was a free trip to the lion's den. I think about Joseph, a man of unquestioned integrity and decency, loyalty, and purity who was thrown into prison for something he didn't even do. And then I thought about the Apostle Paul, the greatest Christian in the New Testament next to the Lord Jesus Himself. Listen to how Paul described some of the things he went through as a lover of Jesus: