"...That I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death."
Philippians 3:10
One of my daughter's favourite movies is the classic musical "Annie." We've watched it a dozen times and I now know the lyrics to every song in the film. One of the songs me and Alexa sing all the time is "It's a Hard Knock Life," which is a song Annie and the orphan girls sing about how tough life can be at times.
Maybe you've found yourself singing the words to that song, but just in a different way: "Don't it feel like the wind is always howling? Don't it seem like there's never any light? What's a day you don't wanna throw the towel in? It's easier than putting up a fight." Like anyone, you've probably wondered why life can get so hard if God is so good and loving, and maybe struggled many times with giving up. Why can't He just make life easy by removing all the stress, anxiety, sin, fear and sorrow?
The answer to that question really begins not with God, but with us. God desires to give us a perfect life free from sin and it's consequences, but because we are sinful and broken, our actions and intentions have maligned this world and brought about all kinds of horrible things. But God in His goodness takes that brokenness and turns that misery into an opportunity.
Paul in writing to the Philippians reminds them in chapter three to keep their confidence in Christ and not our own ability and flesh. This admittedly is something that we are not very good at. Left to ourselves, we would rather put our hope and trust in ourselves than in Christ, and when that happens, bad things happen to us because we choose sin and the pain it brings instead of Jesus and the blessing He gives.
That's what Philippians 3:10 talks about. In trials and sufferings, Jesus reveals the power of His resurrection. There is so much promise attached to the resurrection of Jesus. So many of us cling on to the death of Christ, but not to His resurrection. There is unlimited and immeasurable power in the resurrection of Christ and the same Spirit that resurrected Jesus from the grave is the same Holy Spirit that comes into us when we put our faith in Christ.
Our trials are an opportunity for us to see that resurrection power manifest in our life. When we are hurting, the Holy Spirit's resurrecting power brings back to life our joy. When we are struggling in this world, the Holy Spirit comes to bring us a miracle. When we are captivated by our sins and struggles, the Holy Spirit comes to set us free from sin's hold and consequences.
Problems and trials come as a means for us to see the move of God. The bigger the problem the bigger the breakthrough. What trial are you going through right now? Look to the resurrection power found in Jesus through the Holy Spirit and get ready to see it move in you.
