Topic: In Difficult Times, What Happens in You Is Most Important [RICK WARREN Devotional 20 April   2023]

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In Difficult Times, What Happens in You Is Most Important

BY RICK WARREN — APRIL 20, 2023
FROM CREATED TO DREAM

“Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, ‘Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.’”

Acts 27:31 (NIV)

When you experience problems, difficulties, or hurts in life, they can either make you better or bitter. You really have a choice. You can either grow up or give up. You can become who God wants you to be, or you can become hard-hearted. 

When you go through difficult times, what happens to you is not nearly as important as what happens in you. You’ll take your character with you into eternity—not your circumstances.

How you respond to life’s unfairness is up to you. That’s why you want to decide now what you will do.

Acts 27 teaches three responses to avoid in trials, and from them, we can learn how God wants us to respond instead:

1. Don’t drift; stay focused. “The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind; so we gave way to it and were driven along” (Acts 27:15 NIV). The ship carrying Paul and other prisoners to Rome was in the middle of the Mediterranean and hadn’t seen the sun for 14 days. They couldn’t get any bearings, and they started to drift.

When some people face difficulty, they start drifting through life. They have no goal, purpose, ambition, or dream. Today we call this “coasting.” The problem with coasting is that you only coast when you’re headed downhill. Life is not a coast; life’s tough. Don’t lose your ambition or your dream when life gets hard. 

2. Don’t discard; hold on. “We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard” (Acts 27:18 NIV). The men in charge needed to lighten the ship, so they threw the cargo overboard, followed by the tackle and the food. Because the storm was so overwhelming, they were discarding things they needed.

When you get in a storm and the stress becomes unbearable, you may start abandoning values and relationships you would normally hold onto in better times. You might say, “I’m giving up on my marriage” or “I’m giving up on my dream to go to college.”

But God says, “Stay with the ship!” God uses difficult situations to change people. It’s rarely God’s will for you to run from a difficult situation. God wants you to learn, grow, and develop—and he is there with you all the time.

3. Don’t despair; hope in God. “We finally gave up all hope of being saved” (Acts 27:20 NIV). After 14 days and after giving up their cargo, tackle, and food, the passengers finally gave up hope. But they’d forgotten one thing: Even in a storm, God is in control. He hasn’t left you. You may not feel him, but if you feel far from God, guess who moved? It wasn’t him!

God is with you in the storm, and he’ll help you through it. And on the other side of the storm, you’ll find that he’s grown your character and deepened your faith.

Talk It Over

• In what part of your life are you just coasting right now? How can you start chasing a goal instead?
• When did you run from a difficult situation? When did you stay in a difficult situation? How did your response in each situation shape your character?
• Is there something in your life that’s tempting you to despair? Spend some time in prayer, letting God know you trust that he’s with you, even if you can’t feel his presence.

What is your choice about Jesus?

God proved his love for you through his Son, Jesus Christ. The Bible says, “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16 CSB).

Are you ready to trust God to fulfill his promise of eternal life? If so, start with this simple prayer:

“Dear God, I don’t want my sin to separate me from you any longer. You have promised that if I believe in Jesus, you’ll forgive me for everything I’ve ever done wrong, you’ll show me the purpose of my life, and you’ll accept me into your family and bring me to heaven one day to live with you for eternity.

“Jesus, I confess my sin, and I believe you are my Savior. I trust you when you say salvation comes by grace, through faith, and not by anything I do. I ask you to come into my life as my Lord. Today, I commit my life to you.

“I want to live the way you created me to live—at peace and rested—and to use the remainder of my life to serve you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”

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