Are you sitting in your failure, or fighting through it?
There’s a quote from Abraham Lincoln that says, “My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure."
In other words, when you fail, do you get stuck thinking, “This is just who I am. This is just how it’s going to be. My life is the struggle bus and I’m just riding on it.” Or are you an overcomer who faces trials and knows how to armor up and fight right through them?
Because there is no shortage of hardships in our world. As Charles Spurgeon wisely observed, “There are difficulties in everything except in eating pancakes.”
The Israelites are a great example of a people who faced serious hardships on the way to their deliverance. Their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land was full of challenges and struggles. But their adversity started long before they crossed the Red Sea.
For 400 years the Israelites were held captive as slaves. They weren’t treated kindly. The Egyptians were flat out brutal to them.
Read Exodus 1:8–12,
“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.”
The Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves, put brutal slave drivers over them, and tried to wear them down with crushing labor. But then it says something powerful: the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread. The more oppression came, the more they grew.
There’s no way around it: in life, we’re going to have adversity. We’re going to face things that don’t go our way, people who are mean for no reason, situations that leave us asking, “Why God?” There will be moments we don’t understand, and circumstances that have us wondering, “God, couldn’t you have gotten my attention and done this a different way? Couldn’t you have had better timing?”
There’s no way around the hardships that shape our lives. But how we handle those challenges is up to us.
For some of us, when adversity hits, we get pouty. We start acting like nothing good ever happens in our life. We start saying life just stinks and of course this would happen to me.
Others of us go the opposite direction and pretend nothing’s wrong. We put on a smile, say, “God is good,” and refuse to deal with what’s actually going on.
And then some of us just give up. We walk away. We’re so worn down by the adversity we’re facing, by the life we thought we’d have but don’t have, and we’re left with way more questions than answers.
So how do you come to a place where you thrive in adversity instead of crumbling under it?
Paul answers that question in Romans 8. Here, he’s writing a letter to the church in Rome, knowing major persecution is coming their way.
In Romans 8:31–35 and 37–39, he writes:
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Knowing adversity is coming for them, Paul reminds the Roman church that if God is for them, who can be against them?
Maybe that’s a reminder you need to read today, too.
If it feels like everything is against you, like every step forward turns into three steps back, like even when things are good, bad is just around the corner, don’t forget: God is for you. Nothing can come against you.
Just because things are bad doesn’t mean God isn’t good.
Put another way, just because your situation changes doesn’t mean God’s character does. God is still good. He’s still faithful. He still loves you. He still has good things planned for you. That doesn’t mean you won’t have hard times. It doesn’t mean you won’t go through difficult seasons. But it does mean He hasn’t left you in them.
Look at Romans 8:37 again:
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
That’s such a powerful scripture not just because it reminds us of who’s on our side, but because it calls us to be overcomers.
It’s easy to call yourself an overcomer—until trouble really hits. Some people, when trials and hardships come their way, start acting like anything but. They ask “Where’s God in this? Why did He leave me?” But as Paul’s letter shows us, He’s still there. He still loves you and He’s still present in the middle of adversity.
Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t exempt us from adversity. In fact, Jesus told His own disciples to be prepared to face troubles. Jesus doesn’t promise he’ll spare us from heartache or loss. But He does promise he’ll be our strength through them.
When adversity hits, do you draw near or distance yourself?
There’s really not much middle ground. When adversity comes, one of two things usually happens. You either draw in, get close, and get intimate with the Lord—or you get mad and push away.
In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Paul writes:
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
As Paul puts it, we can distance ourselves from God when persecutions come, or we can delight in His power and presence. And can I tell you, when you push away from the Lord, nothing gets better. I’ve never seen somebody get bitter, distant, and disconnected from God and somehow come out healthier on the other side.
Hardships have a way of pushing people from God. But sometimes people don’t just distance themselves when things are bad. They distance themselves when things are good too. They start thinking, “I got it from here.” They start trying to do life disconnected from His presence.
And that’s one of the biggest mistakes we can make as followers of Jesus.
I get it—we want mountaintop moments with God. We want to see Red Sea miracles. We want salvation moments. But what transforms your life isn’t just a Red Sea moment. It’s staying daily in His presence and being transformed by His Word over time.
That’s where the real change happens.
There’s a difference between being impressed by God and being transformed by God.
A lot of us want the big moment. We want the miracle. We want the breakthrough. We want the thing where God parts the sea and rescues us in a dramatic moment that makes a great testimony. But by letting distance in little by little over time, in hardships and in happy times, we’re getting further away from the incredible breakthrough moments God has for us.
When we’re not abiding in Jesus daily, we’re not preparing ourselves for the trials and adversities that will come in this life. We’re cutting ourselves off from the very source that brings those Red Sea moments we long for.
I can think of no better illustration for how just a little distance can change everything than a story I heard about an old gold miner.
During the Gold Rush in the 1850s, there was a miner who dug for months. He found a little gold, but just couldn’t find the source of it. Eventually, the gold vein he was following disappeared, and frustrated, he sold his equipment for cheap and quit.
The man who bought the equipment brought in an engineer who did a simple assessment. Right away, they discovered the gold was just three feet away from where the first miner had stopped digging. He was three feet away from millions of dollars in gold.
Some people are just three feet away from their breakthrough with God, but they’ve just given up too soon.
Some people shrink back just three feet from what God is about to do in their life. Some people are one prayer away, one step of obedience away, one moment of staying planted away from the breakthrough they’ve been begging God for.
That’s why quitting is so dangerous. That’s why shrinking back during hard times is so dangerous. Because God hasn’t quit on you. He hasn’t given up on you. He’s still developing you. He’s still preparing you. And He’s producing something in you through adversity.
Even when you’re in the middle of adversity, like the Israelites facing hardships all around them, don’t give up on God—because He sure hasn’t forgotten you.
Paul says it again in 2 Corinthians 4:8–18,
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our bodies… So we do not lose heart.
Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 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, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
Paul says our present troubles are small and won’t last very long, but they are producing something in us. They’re producing a glory that outweighs them and will last forever.
So the question is this: while you’re going through adversity, are you thriving? Are you growing? Are you multiplying where you are? Or are you shrinking back?
A lot of us want freedom from stress, pressure, problems, and bondage. And none of that is bad. But in asking for that, in shrinking back from hard times, we want deliverance but aren’t willing to persist in our devotion. We want blessing without presence. We want freedom without intimacy.
But maybe the bigger plan for your life isn’t just freedom, but to connect you to God in an even deeper way.
The Israelites had been struggling for generations. God sent Moses and a series of incredible miracles happened, from the plagues to the parting of the Red Sea. His power impressed the people, but it didn’t transform them. They got caught up in God’s power, but they didn’t get wrapped up in His presence.
Freedom and deliverance from captivity was a part of God’s plan for the Israelites, but His bigger plan was worship and an intimate relationship with His people.
We catch the “Let my people go” part, but miss what’s next.
Exodus 7:16 says,
“Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.”
Worship was always the point. Not just getting the Israelites out of Egypt, but to bring them into worship and a real relationship.
And a lot of us miss that in our own walk with Jesus. He wants to deliver us, yes. That’s the first step. But what comes next is even more powerful.
He didn’t set you free so you could go back. He didn’t set you free so you could just brag about your past. He set you free so you could worship Him in your present. That’s the whole point of salvation.
If all you want is freedom, you’ll stop pursuing God once the pressure lifts. If the whole point of Exodus had just been deliverance, the book would’ve ended at the Red Sea. God could’ve said, “Alright, I got you out. Good luck from here.” But that’s not where the story ends.
Exodus ends with God giving detailed instructions for building the tabernacle, and then His glory fills it, so they can have ongoing community with Him. Why? Because the goal wasn’t just rescue, it was to connect with His people.
That’s why Jesus says in John 15:5:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Abide means to stay planted—not just on Sundays, but on a daily basis, no matter the adversity you’re facing. You may be hard pressed on every side, feeling pressure and stress, while nothing is going your way, but keep abiding. Because apart from Him we can do nothing.
We can live our whole lives chasing the mountaintop moments where God parts the Red Sea in front of us and makes a way where there was no way. We can chase revival after revival. But that won’t change us.
Instead, God is calling you to build a life where He can fill you—your heart, your mind, your marriage, your home, your everyday life. That presence is transformational.
Our power, the source of our strength in adversity, comes from only one place: Jesus. Not an event, and not a Sunday service. Only a relationship with our Savior.
Acts 17:28 says, “In him we live and move and have our being.”
1 John 4:4 says, “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
That means it doesn’t matter what’s happening on the outside if you’re filled on the inside. It doesn’t matter what Egypt is doing around you if God is doing something in you. You can still be fruitful in your Egypt. You can still stand out in your Egypt. You can still thrive in adversity because of what God is doing in and through you.
Paul said we’re hard pressed on every side, but not crushed. Why? Because the power source is still there. Because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
So the question is: which is it for you?
Are you plugged in, or are you living hollow? Are you just having a weekly pep rally, or are you actually abiding in the presence of God day by day?
I want to leave you with this call to action: Seek His presence every day. Not just His help. Not just His provision. Not just His breakthrough moments. But the real Jesus Himself.
Because greater is He that is in you—filling you, strengthening you, equipping you, enabling you—than he that is in the world. That’s how you thrive in adversity.