Trusting God in Hard Times: Will You Accept Adversity?

I don’t want to accept bad things from God.

I know that sounds weird, so let me explain.

After a particularly long and grueling day, following the funeral of a beloved family friend, I decided to hit up downtown Fort Lauderdale with my sister.

We figured we’d get our steps in, walk around for a while, and grab a bite to eat while we were there. Nothing major. Just a way to decompress after an emotionally taxing day.

Since we were downtown, we had to pay the meter to park. No problem. I paid for my parking and, as I usually do, set an alarm on my phone to remind me to extend the time if necessary.

Then we went on our way.

We walked up and down the strip, eventually stopped at a pizza place, ordered some calamari, and enjoyed a tasty coal-fired pizza.

When things went left

Everything was fine.

Until I picked up my phone.

My parking alarm was going off.

Nearly 20 minutes late!!!

I was flabbergasted!

That virtually never happens to me.

And immediately, I started panicking internally because my sister and I had already seen two code enforcement officers walking up and down handing out citations.

So, naturally, I prayed.

Lord, please don’t let me get back to my car and find a ticket.

Prayer denied.

The Moment of Truth

There it was on my windshield. A small white citation.

And after I got over the initial shock, I have to admit something.

I was angry. Super angry.

I always pay for parking. I always set an alarm. I try to do exactly what I’m supposed to do.

And the one time I miss the alarm, after an already long, hard, emotionally exhausting day, I get a ticket?!

I was furious.

You probably wouldn’t have known it from looking at me. I was still listening to my sister. I was still responding to what she was saying.

But internally? My mood had tanked.

I got home still angry.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I remembered something.

Wait…Didn’t God Help Me Before?

Not too long ago, I had parked at a meter to meet a friend.

At the last minute, they changed locations.

I moved my car, but I had already paid for parking at the first spot. And I distinctly remember thinking something along the lines of:

Lord, I really don’t want to pay twice. I’m going to park here because I still have time left on the other meter. Please don’t let me get a ticket.

When I returned?

No ticket.

And suddenly, sitting there angry about this ticket, another thought hit me:

Wow. There was an incident where I absolutely could have been cited, but I wasn’t.

I was so thankful then.

So why does my brain seem much quicker to remember the moments when I feel like God let me down than the moments when I felt like He protected me?

And there it was.

The uncomfortable truth.

I Only Want the Good Stuff

Apparently, I only want good things from God.

• Good things from God.
• Good things from life.
• Good outcomes when I’ve done the “right” things.

Is that realistic?

No.

Is it human?

Absolutely.

I’m a Christian. I try to obey God. I try to avoid sin. I’m living as righteously as a human being can. (At least that’s what I lie to tell myself. 😂)

So I deserve good things only, right?

Well…

There’s just one problem with that theology.

Job 2:10 (NLT) says:

“Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”

Ouch.

Tonight, my “adversity” happened to be a parking citation.

Small in the grand scheme of life? Yes.

Annoying enough to expose something happening in my heart? Also yes. Because sometimes it’s the little annoying things that reveal the expectations you’ve quietly placed on God.

Sometimes it’s the little annoying things that reveal the expectations you’ve quietly placed on God. #forsinglewomenonly Share on X

Maybe You’ve Had This Thought Too

Maybe yours wasn’t a parking ticket.

• Maybe you’ve been doing everything you know to do at work, yet someone else keeps getting the opportunities.
• Maybe you’ve been careful with your money, yet an unexpected bill still shows up.
• Maybe you’ve tried to treat people well, yet someone betrays you.
• Maybe you prayed before making a decision, thought you were following God’s direction, and the situation still fell apart.

Or maybe the frustration isn’t that something bad happened.

Maybe it’s that something good hasn’t happened.

• You’ve been praying for the spouse.
• The baby.
• The healing.
• The job.
• The financial breakthrough.
• The restored relationship.
• The opportunity.

And you look around at people who seemingly aren’t trying nearly as hard to honor God, yet the very thing you’ve been praying for seems to fall into their laps. Or God protects them when He seemingly hasn’t done the same for you.

That can mess with you.

Because somewhere along the way, you may begin creating an unspoken equation:

I obey God + I try to live right = life should go well for me.

But Scripture never actually makes that promise.

Faithfulness Doesn’t Exempt You From Adversity

1. Joseph did the right thing when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him. What did he get for it?

Falsely accused of rape and thrown into prison.

Yet Genesis 39:20–23 (NLT) repeatedly tells you something important:

The Lord was with Joseph.

God’s presence did not keep Joseph from the prison. God was with him in the prison.

2. Daniel was described as faithful, responsible, and trustworthy. His enemies couldn’t even find legitimate grounds to accuse him! Yet his faithfulness still landed him in a lions’ den.

You can read the account in Daniel 6 (NLT).

Daniel didn’t end up there because he abandoned God. He ended up there while remaining faithful to Him.

3. And then there’s Job. Job experienced losses that make my parking ticket look exactly as insignificant as it is.

He grieved deeply. Scripture never portrays him as unaffected.

Yet after devastating loss, Job 1:20–22 (NLT) says Job grieved and still worshiped.

Then comes that pesky question:

“Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”

That question gets uncomfortable fast.

What Are You Going to Focus On?

You can focus on the adversity.

Or you can acknowledge the adversity without allowing it to erase everything you still have to be grateful for.

You can focus on the adversity. Or you can acknowledge the adversity without allowing it to erase everything you still have to be grateful for. #forsinglewomenonly Share on X

Those aren’t the same thing.

Gratitude doesn’t require pretending that something doesn’t hurt. Faith doesn’t require calling something good when it isn’t.

And accepting that adversity exists doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to change circumstances that can be changed.

It means your relationship with God cannot be built on the condition that He only allows circumstances you like.

That night, I eventually had to redirect myself.

Yes, I got the ticket.

But what about the other time when I could have gotten one and didn’t?

• What about the countless situations where God has protected me from things I knew about?
• What about the ones I’ll probably never even know happened?
• What about the fact that I had just spent the evening walking, laughing, eating good food, and spending time with my sister?

Was I going to let one citation swallow all of that?

Your relationship with God cannot be built on the condition that He only allows circumstances you like. #forsinglewomenonly Share on X

Because that’s what adversity can do if you let it.

It becomes so loud that you forget everything around it.

Will You Accept Adversity?

Eventually, you have to make a decision.

And so do I.

Will you accept adversity or not?

Not enjoy it.

Not ask for it.

Not pretend it doesn’t hurt.

Accept it.

Accept that following God doesn’t mean receiving only favorable outcomes.

Accept that sometimes you’ll pray and the answer will be no.

Sometimes you’ll do the right thing and still experience the wrong outcome. Sometimes you’ll obey and still hurt.

Sometimes you’ll be faithful and still end up somewhere you never wanted to be.

But none of that automatically means God abandoned you.

Joseph had a prison. Daniel had a lions’ den. Job had unimaginable loss.

And apparently, I had a parking ticket that I was entirely too angry about.

Different levels of adversity. Same question.

Accept that sometimes you’ll pray and the answer will be no. Sometimes you’ll obey and still hurt.Sometimes you’ll be faithful and still end up somewhere you never wanted to be. But none of that means God abandoned you.… Share on X

Will you only accept the good?

Or can you trust God when life hands you something you absolutely did not want?

You may not be able to control what shows up on your windshield, in your inbox, in your bank account, in your doctor’s office, or in the next chapter of your life.

But you can decide what gets your focus.

You can stare at what went wrong. Or you can remember every reason you still have to say: God has been good to me.

Tonight, I had to choose the second one.

Tomorrow, you might have to make that choice too. So don’t let adversity take your eyes off of the One who truly matters and who will work every situation out for your good.

Don't let adversity take your eyes off of the One who truly matters and who will work every situation out for your good. #forsinglewomenonly Share on X