‘There is light at the end of the tunnel’…‘every grey cloud has a silver lining’…‘don’t lose your faith now’. Ever heard these phrases when you’re going through hardships in life? I have, and often when I hear these words I think ‘really?’, ‘do they even understand the extent of my misfortunes?’
Well the fact is that every living human being has experienced periods of adversity, and the challenge lies in knowing as to which coping mechanisms we use to return to the state of happiness.
When we go through hard times, naturally we ask the question ‘if God exists then why does he make me endure this pain?’ It seems like a perfectly plausible question, given the likely difficult circumstances that lead us to ask it! So where does God and faith come into this? A well-known American academic, John Bytheway, once quoted:
“If our testimonies are strong on this point and if we feel the absolute assurance that God loves us, we will change our questions. We won’t ask, ‘Why did this happen?’ or ‘Why doesn’t God care about me?’ Instead, our questions will become, ‘What can I learn from this experience?’ or ‘How does the Lord want me to handle this?”
Often adverse times put us in negative states of mind so consequently we start to question our faith in God. However, if we try to think from a positive frame of mind, when we are facing difficulties, we often remember God. Yes, it’s true that we may be questioning why he would allow this to happen to us, however, the fact is that he makes us question life and more importantly question who is in control of it.
In that time period, he shifts our focus and energy solely to him. So could this be why God brings adversity into our lives? Does he want us to speak to him and question his purpose? These thoughts are echoed by philosopher, Charles C. West, who said,
“We turn to God for help when our foundations are shaking, only to learn that it is God who is shaking them.”
Looking into my own life, my darkest times of despair were the times in which I spoke to God, because I wanted to know that there was someone who cares enough to hold my hand through the turbulence. Without adversity, the relationship I initiated with God would not have flourished, as I would never have questioned his purpose in my life. I now know that he doesn’t want to see me in despair, but rather he sends me challenges to test my faith in his love and care.
If we take the example of a person who has become complacent in his job as a sales clerk, he feels he has learnt everything there is to know about his job and lacks motivation to move to the next ranking within his role. His manager may offer an incentive to motivate him to ‘keep moving’ toward his goal of success, without which he may remain stagnant. Similarly, sometimes we can become complacent in our relationship with God and feel we have learnt all we need to know to live a life according to his wishes. However, adversity comes as an incentive to encourage us to keep moving forward in our quest for spiritual enlightenment. These golden opportunities, which we tend to see as burdens and misfortunes, allow us to let God into our lives and reveal his unconditional love and care.
When we become open to his love, we begin to understand that in life’s many turbulent times, we are not in control; God is the controller. We exist to learn and every student needs a teacher who can guide them through challenging circumstances. But a student who does not believe in their teacher, and lacks faith, will not succeed in class. He will not ask for guidance, or simply fail to take it on board. Instead he’ll probably flunk his year and blame the teacher (or the school) for many of his own shortcomings. More damagingly, he might carry on doing this throughout life, consequently leading to a lack of responsibility, and a life swamped in negativity. It is the same as not having faith in God after being introduced to him. Without faith, we may continue to blame him for any mishaps in our life, rather than realising that these mishaps are a lesson for personal growth. If we have faith that God is our Father and that he will only give us difficult times to make us appreciate the overwhelming ‘good’ that we have in our lives, then we have a good chance at a more content, blissful life.
The Avtar Bani, verse 59, ever reminds us:
“Avtar Says, he is ever grateful to God under all circumstances”
A spiritual teacher shows us that to live a contented life, we must be thankful to our Father, irrespective of the state we find ourselves in at any one time. We have all witnessed that adversity is inevitable, but if we can learn to accept that it is a blessing in disguise and thank God for bringing us closer to him through these times, we can be more positive in our approach to life!
John Aughey, a famous author, once said,
“God brings men into deep waters, not to drown them, but to cleanse them”
Let us be open to his love through times of adversity so we can appreciate the beautiful life he has blessed us with.
Meenakshi Kanda, Bradford, UK
