From Bruce and Stan, their book ‘God is in the Small Stuff and It All Matters;’
Adversity is at once the greatest blessing of the human race. It started in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, who had no choice but to punish His newly created beings. God didn’t curse Adam and Eve. They did that to themselves. Instead, God cursed the “ground.” From that day forward, human kind has struggled to scratch a living from the earth while trying to overcome its adversity.
Oh, We’re much more sophisticated these days, but despite our technological advancements, we still fight what comes out of the ground. Whether it’s big stuff like wars and weather, or small stuff like disease and crime, the earth and all that’s in it always seems to be against us.
Of course, we humans have learned to adapt to adverse conditions fairly well. Through personal experience, each of us knows that pain and suffering are a part of life. You can’t stop adversity so you might as well deal with it. We admire people who experience extreme or continued adversity. In fact, it seems that the only path to success runs through adversity.
We certainly won’t disagree with those who value adversity. But when we say, “embrace adversity,” we’re implying something quite different from what you might expect. Here’s what I mean. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned and God cursed the ground, the only real blessings we have enjoyed have come from God. Even the so-called “good life” offers temporary satisfaction at best. Eventually the weeds grow in the best of gardens, and even the healthiest bodies eventually break down. In the end adversity will get the best of us.
The only person who completely defeated adversity once and for all was Jesus, and He didn’t just do it for Himself. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice by giving His own life for ours. And when we embrace what Jesus did, we are saying that only Jesus is capable and worthy of defeating our ultimate adversity —sin and death.
Go ahead and gain strength through your pain. Grow through your grief, as long as you recognize that your ability to overcome adversity is a blessing from God. As you exercise your courage, exercise your faith as well. Accept the fact that Jesus overcame adversity and now offers you rest from your own adversity and burdens.
In the Small Stuff
- Convert your failures into successes by learning from them.
- Resist the natural inclination to hold adversity at arms length. Embrace it willingly.
- Even if the situation seems to be at its worst, give it two more weeks.
- You will learn more from adversity than from prosperity.
- Let your difficulties be opportunities for God’s control.
- God will either protect you from hardships or give you strength to go through them. You win either way.
- A thick skin and a short memory are the best weapons against unjust criticism.
- While prosperous people look over their shoulders with suspicion, those experiencing adversity look ahead with hope.
- Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the ability to act in the presence of fear.
- Adversity produces heartache when it comes, and exhilaration when it goes.
- Your don’t know you’re fortunate until you’re unfortunate.
- Deal creatively with adversity. When you can’t pay the electric bill, have a romantic dinner by candlelight.
- Difficulties are opportunities for growth. If you try to avoid all trials, you are simply arresting your development.
~Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz, God is in The Small Stuff and It All Matters (Uhrichsville, Ohio, Promise Press, 1998), 125-29
