Hardship Is Not the End

Hardship Is Inevitable

If you’re not dealing with hardship now, you will someday. And if you’re not dealing with it now, you are near someone who is. The Bible is very honest about the condition of the world we live in. The apostle Paul says that our world is groaning, waiting for redemption (Rom. 8:22). Peter writes that we should not be surprised when we face trials (1 Pet. 4:12). The blood and dirt of this fallen world and the theme of suffering splash across the pages of your Bible from Genesis 3 until the end of Revelation. Because this broken world is not functioning the way God originally intended and because it is populated by flawed people, hardship is the environment in which we live. From our irritation with little things that just don’t seem to go right to tragic, life-altering moments of suffering, we all have to deal with the unexpected and the unwanted. It’s easy to get disheartened with how hard life is. It’s easy to become cynical and negative.

It’s easy to allow yourself to question the goodness of God or the reliability of his promises. It is here that the story of the troubled life of Joseph can help us. In Joseph’s story we are confronted with the fact that suffering isn’t ultimate—God is. Hardship doesn’t rule—God does. We are never the victim of negative forces that act under the control of no one. It can be a bit discouraging to read Joseph’s story. He’s sold by his brothers, bought by someone in a foreign country, and then thrown in prison for refusing to give way to the lust of that man’s wife. At this point you may begin to wonder where God is in all of this and what in the world he is doing to this fine young man.

But it becomes very clear that none of these hardships are failures of God’s plan, nor are they in the way of God’s plan. In situations where it looks like he is absent, God, in faithfulness to his covenant promises, is working for Joseph’s good. In situations where it seems evil is winning, God is actually working out his wise plan. Prison was never going to be Joseph’s final destination, because God was at work. Because of his time in prison and the power God had given him to interpret dreams, Joseph goes from an overseer in an Egyptian officer’s house to second-in-command of all of Egypt (Gen. 41–42). Prison was a necessary step in the plan that God was working, not a failure of that plan.

As the children of God, we are ruled not by our circumstances but by the one who controls every circumstance for his ultimate glory and our ultimate good. It may seem like hardship is winning, but whatever hard thing you are going through is not your final destination. God is preparing us for our final destination, where suffering will die and hardship will be no more, forever. The story of Joseph reminds us that God rules, a reminder we need again and again.

This article is adapted from Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional Connecting Scripture to All of Life by Paul David Tripp.

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