It won't last that long

How would you feel if I told you that what you are going through right now is not that big of a deal. That pain your feeling right now is not that bad. What if I said that you will eventually get over it and move on to something else. I bet you'd want to punch me in the throat and tell that it doesn't hurt that bad and that I'd eventually get over it.
 
But honestly...honestly...you will begin to think and worry about your current situation less and less as time goes on. You will eventually move on to something else. It might be a greater success or maybe another trial. It might take a few days, weeks, months, or maybe even a year or two. A year seems like FOREVER. Over the course of lifetime though, it's not. Realistically the time frame in which you experience closer on a situation is up to you and what you decide to focus on.

The apostle Paul knew what pain and trouble was. He was imprisoned, stoned, flogged, beaten, shipwrecked, and snake bit. Yet he wrote these words...

16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! (1st Corinthians 4)

Can you say that about your present troubles? ..... "They are small and won't last very long." I know there are times when I can't.

Remember this, life is short. David said in the Book of Psalm that the length of our life is compared to the width of our hand (and I have pretty small hands for someone who is 6'2"). James said that our life is like the morning fog, here in the morning but gone by noon. It's that quick. When you think about life from that perspective, our troubles are an even smaller portion of the short life.

Jesus never promised us a trouble/sorrow free life. In fact he told us we would have those times( John 16:33). Ecclesiastes even gives seasons of those times(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). But Jesus has overcome the world and seasons change. 


You definitely can't see it now, because all you see is your troubles, but at the end of this there is a reward that outweighs your trial.

I love the illustration of Pastor Judah Smith of City Church uses. He compares life and what we see in our current situation to a Christmas parade. In a parade all we can see is what is right in front of us. And sometimes it can be horses crapping on the street or a really ugly float and we are just waiting to see what is next. To be honest we are just waiting until the end so we can see Santa. That is our perspective in life... what's in front of us. But God is like the guy up in the blimp above the parade. He sees the beginning of the parade, the end of the parade, as well as everything in between... all at the same time. But instead of getting to see Santa at the end of it. We get to see Jesus. And that's SO worth standing through a few trials right now.

So you may be in a season of trouble, sorrow, suffering, doubt, or worry. But hold on and keep looking ahead.. Because the scenery will change, and the Glory to come is far greater and will last far longer (forever) than what we go through on this earth. 

I'm praying your light and momentary suffering will soon give way to a great reward.