In Luke 22:31-32, Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Christ said this as a warning to His disciple not to turn away from the faith and to stay strong during times of coming hardships. The fact that Jesus said “I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail” implies that Simon Peter (also known as Cephas) had a hard time looming in the near future. But this warning to expect hard trials goes beyond Peter; it is also a public declaration for all believers in Christ. That is, when you are a follower of Christ, hard times will come. But why? Why would God allow us to have difficulties and go through tough situations in life? Put plainly, God does not want us to have an easy life. Trouble-free lives bring more harm than good for us in the end.
In the movie God’s Not Dead, an older woman suffers from dementia. When being visited by her prosperous son, he asks her why she still looks to God when she is suffering from this debilitating disorder while he, not at all interested in God, is a wealthy businessman. She replies, “Sometimes the Devil allows people to live a life free of trouble, cause he doesn’t want them turning to God.” Being prosperous and well blessed can arouse a desire in us to become arrogant and self-seeking. 1 Timothy 6:10 tells us, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” The lust for money and worldly happiness will cause many hardships and toils. More importantly, it can drive us away from Jesus, the only source of true joy.
Having difficulties also keeps us humble because it keeps us looking toward God for support and wisdom. James tells us, "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble” (James 4:6). Along with that, we are told to ask for wisdom and seek God earnestly for it (James 1:5). But when we are having a trouble-free life, some might say, “Then who needs wisdom? And for that matter, who needs God? If we can take care of ourselves based on our own understandings and knowledge, and we don’t need any aid from God, then why bother being a follower of Him?” In a similar vein, Job echoes this point when he said, “They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’” (Job 21:13-15). In essence, without trouble, we can become narcissistic and self-indulged. Looking towards God reminds us where blessings come from and does not leave any room for pride.
Perhaps as daunting as it might seem, God wants to test us to see how much we rely upon Him and how strong our faith is. Do not be confused, God does not tempt us, for that is from the Devil to pull us from God (James 1:13). God only tests us to show how close we are to Him. Testing also brings us closer to God and makes us stronger through Him. As James said, being tested causes steadfastness, and when we let it “have its full effect,” it makes us “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3-4). As one commonly heard phrase puts it, “God will never test your faithfulness without showing you His own.”
C.S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain, “God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.” Think back to a time when you made a mistake and the consequence hurt—perhaps physically, emotionally, or in some other way. Chances are you have a vivid memory of that event and are careful not to make the same mistake again. We may have been warned of the consequences of it, but until we experienced it, we may not have fully understood. Like those unfortunate consequences, low points in life will teach us unforgettable and highly valuable lessons to live by.
Finally, difficulty allows God to do a great work through us. As mentioned previously, God uses the humble for His mighty work and opposes the proud. There is a consistent theme throughout the Bible where God uses humble men and accomplishes great things through them. Perhaps the most well-known example is David. He was a shepherd and the youngest of his family. But regardless, God used him to defeat Goliath, let him become King, and made him a war hero. Sometimes we are not humble and need to be made that way. Otherwise, when we accomplish great things, we take credit rather than give it to God who did the work.
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather some reasons for why God may allow difficulty in our lives. The Apostle Paul assures us that “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28). This is a promise that God has a reason and purpose in everything He does, and in the end, it will be for the better.
