Scripture teaches that sometimes God brings difficult things to bear in our lives. He may bring tragedies, heartaches, even crises. Look, God is over all things, but here’s my point. Sometimes He brings these things to the end of chastening us, disciplining us, or correcting us. That is true, but it’s not always the case. You are absolutely, totally, and completely incompetent to discern what’s happening to your neighbor by God’s hand. You don’t know their heart. One man may be struggling here and struggling there and you say, “Man, he’s weak. Man, he’s not right with God.” You don’t know where God has brought him since He saved him and began his sanctification. He may have come from a home life and a background with no disciplines, no leadership, and no parental instruction and God's just teaching him. As long as a guy is humble and wants to grow, we are for him. It doesn’t matter how deep the struggle, how difficult, or how hard.
This judgmental attitude is wrong. In fact, in 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul writes to Timothy and says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” So, here’s the reverse: sometimes those who are striving to please and walk with God the most will suffer the worst events in life. Now, persecutions in the first century were very difficult persecutions. These folks would run you off from your job, have you thrown in jail, or try to kill you. So he says quite the contrary. Though it is a biblical truth that God sometimes corrects people through difficult things coming into their lives, it is also true that some of the godliest and most dedicated Christians will face difficult seasons because they are a contradiction to the world and to those around them as they try to live godly for the Lord.
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