Why Does God Give Us Hard Seasons?
As the most difficult season of my life raged on, I attempted to stay afloat white-knuckled and desperate for God to draw this time to an end. All I saw was darkness around me, and I was overcome with my emotions of grief and hopelessness. I didn’t see any way out. Why would God give me a season so riddled with pain and intense hardship?
We’ve all experienced seasons of life where we struggle to keep our footing. Our circumstances are overwhelmingly painful and difficult to face. Overcome by grief and heartache, we are barely surviving. Whether we are experiencing loss, tragedy, doubt, or all the above, we find ourselves wondering why a loving, good God would allow us to experience such heartbreak. We wonder why we experience difficult seasons at all.
As I look back on my life, I can see the multiple places where I’ve asked this question. These were the places where I saw no path forward, was in the pit of depression, and was nursing my wounds. I wanted to experience the peace and kindness of God, not the pain that comes from this world’s ways. I came to the conclusion that if God was all powerful and all knowing then my hardships and seasons of utter darkness had to mean something. There had to be a purpose behind them, and while I knew that I would not gain black and white answers from God, I knew he would answer me in some way.
Suffering as Christ Did
God did not promise us a pain-free life. He did not guarantee that we would walk this life unscathed. He also did not promise that we would be free from all hardship, challenge, and difficulty. So why do we act like He did?
So many of us (myself included) live our lives almost surprised when we face trials or angry with God when we experience difficulty. I think it’s a natural human reaction to feel these things, but we have to remember that our lives in this world will not be free from suffering. This is especially true if we are living our lives for God.
The Bible tells us that if we follow Christ we will suffer as he did (Romans 8:17, 2 Cor. 1:5, Philippians 1:29). It’s sort of a non-negotiable for Christians that our lives will include some suffering because Jesus suffered too. His people rejected Him. They didn’t recognize who He was. He was humiliated and killed. But His suffering was the ultimate suffering—dying on a cross for you and me.
That’s not to say that our suffering is not as important. It certainly is because it impacts the ways in which we live, connect with others, and connect with God. But we have to remember that Jesus paid the ultimate price. Our suffering comes with living for Him. And it’s what we do with our difficult seasons that really matters.
How do we live out our difficult seasons knowing that our suffering has purpose? And after all, why does God give us those seasons to begin with?
Why?
I would like to preface this by saying that I acknowledge that I do not have all the answers. I simply have hope and confidence in a God that has divine purpose for all that he allows within this world.
My belief in God is strongly followed by a belief that he works out all things for our good, but that does not mean that what is good for us will be all rainbows and butterflies. When I say that I believe that He works all things out for our good I mean that the good He sees for us may include some challenges and trials because it will only grow us into Christlikeness. It will shape us into the people He wants us to become. It will form us into people that are more reliant on Him and more resilient as we come upon future hardship.
God’s idea of what is best for us looks nothing like what we think is best for us. And looking back on my life and decisions I made and things that I thought were what I wanted, I am so thankful that God knows better than I do. He has protected me so much, but He has also called me to walk through the fire to protect me from myself.
So, to answer the question “why does God give us hard seasons?”, here is the answer I have come up with from my own personal experiences and directly from Scripture.
God gives us hard seasons to:
Draw us closer to God
Teach us a lesson we wouldn’t learn otherwise*
Give us an opportunity to deepen our trust in God
Help us build endurance of faith (Romans 5:3)
Cause us to rely on God’s strength instead of our own (2 Corinthians 1:10)
Teach us humility (the entire book of Job)
Spur us on toward Christlikeness/To grow us (James 1:2-4)
Build resilience in our spiritual walk
Ultimately, God allows us to experience difficult seasons because it is for our betterment and for his glory. And while we will not always have the answers or see the fruit on this side of heaven, I still believe that God is the ultimate way maker. He is making good out of our most difficult circumstances and our in our darkest seasons.
If you are facing a difficult season today, know that God is with you right where you stand. He is working on your behalf. Allow Him to carry you during this season and trust that He is making a way.
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*I want to be very clear that I do not believe that the only reason we experience suffering is to learn a lesson from God. God does not “teach us a lesson” as a punishment from an angry God. The lessons we learn are how to rely on God’s strength, build endurance, etc. For example, in 2 Cor. 12:7-10, Paul asks to be delivered from his suffering, but God is teaching him a lesson in relying on His strength, which Paul does in his suffering. This is what I mean by learning a lesson through our difficult seasons. This article explains my line of thinking about this idea very well.