Day 1941 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

John 16:33 NIV

In my humble opinion, this is one of the most peaceful verses in the Bible. There's something about knowing that He has already defeated the worst that this world can come up with. There's nothing that He's not ready for or able to help us get through. And when we're all facing times like we are right now, that's a really amazing promise to lean on.

There's also a very real truth in this verse. We will have troubles. We will go through hard times. We will all face more rough days than we'd like to face. So it should come as no surprise when we find ourselves in the midst of yet another tough stretch in our lives. It happens. Happens to all of us. As much as we'd like it, there's just no easy path through all this.

As I've always said, it's in those hard times that our faith grows the most. Those trials push us outside of our comfort zones, and they give us the perfect opportunity to see God's power at work. That's something that we don't see as well when everything is smooth and easy. So we need life's trials and challenges because they help us grow much more than the simpler days.

A few days ago I shared a message encouraging everyone to not get lost in this world. This isn't forever, and that same exact truth applies to the troubles we have while we're here. They don't last forever. All this madness going on in our world right now, it won't be like this forever. At some point, at an unknown time in the future, we will be in a place where there is no pain, suffering, hardship, or challenge. All we can do is hold tight to our faith until Jesus comes back to take us home.

Folks, don't get caught up in the problems you're dealing with right now. I get it, they suck. We can all agree and we've all felt that misery. But nothing we face in this world will ever change who God is or the plans He has for us. Nothing. So we don't need to slide into this line of thinking that our temporary troubles will have lasting effects. They won't. He's already secured the eternal victory over every challenge will have, are, and will ever face.

So rather than starting to believe that you have a miserable life or that there's just no end to the hardships in life, rest in the promise of this verse. Yes, we will go through things that we don't want to deal with. But don't use them as reasons to complain, use them as opportunities to trust God to be who He says He is. He won't let us down, and in fact, He's already planned the way through whatever lies ahead. We can simply trust Him and watch His plans unfold before our eyes.