5 Things God Is Saying If Things Are Hard Right Now

If you’re going through something really hard right now, here are 5 things the Lord may be trying to tell you.

1. If You’re Going Through Something Hard, God Is Saying, “I’m with You”

There’s something in our human way of thinking that oversimplifies life. When good things happen to us, we assume God must be pleased with us. When bad things happen to us, we assume God must be mad at us. But according to the Scriptures, that’s not always the case.

For example, in one of Jesus’s parables, there was a poor man named Lazarus who was covered in sores. And then there was a rich man who lived lavishly on earth. Eventually, both died. Lazarus went to heaven, but the rich man went to Hades. And then Abraham said to the rich man, “Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish” (Luke 16:25).

The point is, if you’re going through something hard, never assume that this is a sign God has abandoned you. The only people who are distant from God are the ones who reject his grace and push him away through rebellion. Hard things are not a sign of God’s distance.

Psalm 34:17-18, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.”

2. If You’re Going Through Something Hard, God Is Saying, “I’m in Control”

Sometimes we believe that God is near and he does care, but the painful things we are going through can tempt us to believe that God isn’t in control. It’s the old argument that bad things can only mean two things. One, God doesn’t care. Or two, God cares, but he isn’t powerful enough to stop the bad things.

According to the Scriptures, however, there is a third option. God cares, God is in control, and sometimes God still allows bad things to happen. Why?

There are many possible answers. Sometimes good happens later on because of the bad that is happening now. For example, in John 9:2-3, it states, “And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’”

In other cases, sometimes tragedies happen that don’t make any sense to us right now. Either way, whether an immediate good comes from this bad thing or you don’t see the good in this lifetime, God is always in control. He is always trustworthy. Nothing happens that is a surprise to him. Never let the hard things you are going through tempt you to doubt God’s sovereign control and power. You can find peace when you fully trust him (Isaiah 26:3).

When you have faith in his power, even when hard things are happening, it frees you to praise him as Psalm 34:1-3 says:

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together!”

When should we bless the Lord? Only when times are good? No! The faithful say, “I will bless the Lord at all times!”

3. If You’re Going Through Something Hard Right Now, God Is Saying, “This Won’t Last Forever”

Life is full of seasons (Ecclesiastes 3:1). Like storms, nothing lasts forever on this temporal earth. In times of suffering, this fact can be a great relief. No matter what you are going through, it will eventually come to an end.

Usually, you will see the end of a hardship even in the midst of your time on earth. But even if a hardship lasts until the day that you die, eventually it will end too (Revelation 21:4). If you are a Christian, you can say:

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.” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

4. If You’re Going Through Something Hard Right Now, God Is Saying, “I Love You”

Hardships certainly don’t feel like love. But according to Scripture, this is one way God chooses to love us.

If the hardship is of our own making through poor choices, God will use this pain to discipline us, which he does because he cares about us. Hebrews 12:5-6, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”

If the hardship is not of our own doing and is simply a trial we have to go through because we are living on a broken planet, even then, God will use this pain to show us his love. John 11:5-6, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.” If Jesus loved them, why did he wait two more days and let Lazarus die? John 11:36-37 also states, “So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’ But some of them said, ‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?’”

They thought that because Jesus let them go through this hardship, this meant he didn’t love them. But in fact, through the pain, Jesus was showing them how much he did love them. But they had to remain faithful through the trial to experience the love God wanted them to experience.

John 11:40-44, “Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone . . . he cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come out.’ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’”

To see the glory of God through the hardship, you have to remain faithful through the hardship. He loves you. Never forget that.

5. If You’re Going Through Something Hard Right Now, God Is Saying, “Be Faithful So I Can Reward You”

When we stand before the great white throne, the only thing that can save us is the blood of Jesus, received through faith and by grace (Ephesians 2:8-10, Revelation 20:11-15).

And yet, Scripture is also clear that there is a second form of judgment for Christians, in which they will be rewarded based on how faithfully they lived while on earth (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Oftentimes, even in this life, God allows us to go through something hard so that when we act faithfully through that season, we are then ready to be entrusted with even more. Matthew 25:21, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.”

Either way, whether in this life or the next, God wants you to remain faithful through this hardship so that he can bless you with even more than you imagined (Ephesians 3:20-21).