Every single day, millions of people throughout the world endure all kinds of battles, whether they're emotional, spiritual, mental, or physical. The American Psychological Association recently conducted a study determining that only 50 percent of teens feel confident in their ability to handle their personal problems. Think about it. That is one in every two people who you know. Through personal encounters with fellow peers, one thing that I have noticed during my college experience is that so many people are hurting and searching for answers.
Maybe your constant battle has to do with endless stress or perhaps your enthusiasm for life has diminished. You may be someone who is trying to find a purpose for your life or searching for your get-up-and-go that has got up and left.
If you are someone who has been living under a dark cloud and is ready to get out, check out these Bible verses and see what the Lord can do for your life.
1. God wants us to trust Him in the trials of life.
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.” (James 1:12)
2. God always uses our hardships for the betterment of our lives and His kingdom.
“…call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Psalm 50:15)
3. As we trust Him through our adversities, God uses the difficult trials to mold us into the person He wants us to be.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4)
4. It is so easy for worldly things to consume our thoughts and feelings. By fixing our eyes on the Lord, the one and only sustaining thing in life, we see that our worldly strains are not only molding us into the person who God wants us to be, but are nothing compared to what we will attain in God’s kingdom.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
5. By staying connected to God during troubling times, we see how resilient we become, being able to endure any setbacks.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)
6. Just as Moses and the Israelites wandered the wilderness for 40 years, we too face extensive life difficulties in today’s day and age. During these trials, we can either turn to God who will heal us and make us better or we can turn to unsustaining things that will only make us bitter.
“And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” (Deuteronomy 8:2-3)
7. As a believer in Christ, our future glory with God is absolutely certain. Thus, the worries of today are worth nothing.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
8. Sometimes, God may not immediately get us out of our circumstances because He knows that what we are facing is molding us into a better person, one who trusts in Him and whose faith is mature.
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:2-5)
