This morning as I was moving around my kitchen doing my normal routine of making sure my two youngest have breakfast, emptying the dishwasher and fixing myself something to eat, I felt like the Lord kept repeating this phrase to me over and over: “These are light and momentary troubles.” When I sat down to eat my breakfast I immediately looked up the verse that includes this phrase. It’s found in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18.

“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. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

I don’t think that it’s a coincidence that God chose this particular time to impress this verse on my heart. Not only did one of my pastors preach on this text last Sunday, but these times that we are in right now are like nothing that anyone has seen – at least within my generation and younger. Having a world-wide pandemic would definitely rank on my top ten things not to ever experience again! I say this tongue-in-cheek, but in all seriousness, our world is in the midst of a great trial, and this verse speaks directly to how we are to deal with it.

If anyone is qualified to speak about trials in their life, the apostle Paul should be considered an expert. He had super legitimate reasons for being discouraged and in a state of despair. If you think about all the things that he went through in his life time, it’s amazing to think that he could pen these verses at all! He endured beatings, shipwrecks, being stoned, starvation, being homeless as well as receiving death threats and that isn’t even the whole list . On top of all of these horrible things, he had to deal with the tormenting thorn in his flesh.

How in the world did this man find the strength to press forward despite these circumstances? He actually refers to them as light and momentary? My idea of light and momentary troubles would be opening the fridge to find out that we are once again out of milk or maybe being in a hurry to get somewhere only to be stopped by what seems like every single red light along the way. So why is it that Paul was able to bare the crushing weight of his suffering and consider it light and momentary?

I believe it’s because he changed his perspective on his situation. He was never trying to cover up the hard things that he endured; instead he began to look on them as achievements. I’m pretty sure that when this virus is over and done with, no one in this world will ever look back and say something like, “The Covid-19 virus was one the best achievements ever.” Nope. Not going to happen. People simply don’t consider hardships as something to be proud of. Paul, on the other hand, was looking at his trials from an entirely different vantage point.

Instead of weighing his troubles on the scale of human nature, he decided to take a leap of faith and to plop his sufferings right down in the middle of God’s scales. Scales that view what’s on the inside instead of the mess that is happening on the outside. So to those looking on the outward appearance, Paul was wasting away, but when Paul looked inward, to where God was at work in his life, he saw that he was being renewed every single day. Paul was able to then consider the weight of his suffering as light and momentary compared to the weight of God’s eternal glory.

While we are “suffering” at home with boredom, monotony and maybe fear of the unknown, we need to remember that our lives are but a speck on the timeline of the Kingdom of God. We can use Paul’s words to assure and encourage ourselves as well as other believers. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

He has great things in store for us. Not just for today or even for the coming season, but for all of eternity. Our struggles are going to pass. Our fears are going to pass. Our world’s brokenness is going to pass. The Corona Virus is going to pass and will no longer exist. The things of the Lord and His kingdom and glory will last FOREVER.

Now let me encourage you to make a conscious effort to fix your eyes on eternal things instead of the woes around us. The trials you are facing now are just the raw materials for your future glory – they are achieving in you something eternal! God uses our problems to do some of His greatest work in our lives. He even allows us a glimpse of this for the here and now and doesn’t make us wait until eternity to see it. James 1:2-4 says, “Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So, let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.” So think of it this way: For your present good, for your future glory.

“Many men owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.”

~Charles Spurgeon~