In Psalms, chapter forty-four, verse twenty-two, the Holy Spirit reveals that some suffering comes to God’s faithful people because they maintain loyalty to Him in a hostile world. The apostle Paul quotes this verse in Romans eight, verse thirty-six, to teach that those who identify with Christ and refuse to conform to the evil world will undergo grief, persecution, and suffering. At the same time, as God’s people, we are assured victory through Jesus Christ, as in Romans eight, verse thirty-seven. “Nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” Knowing that God is for us, as in Romans eight, verse thirty-one, “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”
No adversity can separate us from His love. Paul in the New Testament reminds us that a victorious life is no easy path. Jesus suffered, and we who follow Him will also suffer. This hardship is considered suffering with Him, as in Second Corinthians one, verse five, Philippians three, verse ten, Colossians one, verse twenty-four, and Second Timothy two, verses eleven through twelve, is the consequence of our relationship with God as His children, our identification with Christ, our witness for Him and our refusal to conform to the world.
The adversities have been the experience of the people of God in all generations, as in Acts fourteen, verse twenty-two, Second Corinthians eleven, verses twenty-three through twenty-nine, and Hebrews eleven, verses thirty-five through thirty-eight. Believers should not think it strange if they experience trouble, persecution, hunger, poverty, or danger. Trouble and calamity do not necessarily mean that God has deserted or stopped loving us. On the contrary, our suffering as believers will open up how we experience more of God’s love and comfort, as in Second Corinthians one, verses four to five. The apostle Paul assures us we will overcome these adversities and be more than conquerors through Christ, as in Romans eight, verses thirty-seven to thirty-nine, Matthew five, verses ten through twelve, and Philippians one, verse twenty-nine, respectively.