Harvest in the hardship
“His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”
I am in a trying season of life—as we all are, dealing with the rearrangements we have to make for life during COVID-19. And, I do not want to complain because in relation to other situations, we have not faced many hardships in my family. But as a teacher and a mom of a school age child, the start of September has been an adjustment. In addition to starting new routines from summer to school, we are doing school in a way that we never have before. The demands at work and the demands as a mom seem exponentially harder than usual. And in a season where in the natural I am just looking to survive my day to day, I desire, my spirit desires, a life that is thriving. I don’t want to look at this season as one I just “have to get through.” I want abundant life despite a hard season. I want abundant life during the hard season.
As Christians, too often, we equate a comfortable life with a blessed life: our fruit of joy or peace abound when life is going smoothly. But what testimony is it really if someone during a season of comfort has joy and peace and patience? Those fruits come naturally and with ease during those seasons. Is the call on our life to be holy, set apart, and godly only for easy seasons? No, God’s commandments are for us during all seasons of life. But how do we maintain a life of godliness and fruit during difficult times? Jesus doesn’t promise a comfortable life, nor does he promise a life without trouble, or persecution, but He does promise an abundant life. Jesus came so that we “might have life and have life abundantly” (John 10:10). I don’t believe this abundant life is reserved just for eternity, nor do I believe this abundant life is one of blessing in the natural. I believe this abundant life is one filled with an abundance of fruit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These fruit reflect a life of godliness. And I believe God meant for us to have abundant life even in hard seasons.
How is that possible?
Our fruit, our harvest, can be abundant in any season if we allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate it in us.
We cannot help (most) of the hardships that befall us. But even still, during hardships, we have choices to make. We can give into our flesh: letting stress overtake us, becoming angry, being unkind to others, having a short fuse, trying to be in control, letting worry overtake us, just to name a few. And we like to play the blame game when our behavior is less than savory: saying things like “ I’m stressed.,” “I’m tired,” or “I’m busy.” But truthfully, are any of those reasons or excuses to not behave like Christ-followers? During this season of life I have had moments that are very much the opposite of those fruits: I have been unkind, impatient, joyless. I have had moments where I wanted to throw self-control out the window and say what first comes to mind, ignore good eating habits, or binge watch TV to feel better. I came to a point where I said to myself “I don’t want to let stress dictate my actions. I want the Spirit to have control in my life.”
In some ways, though, I feel that I was handling the transition fairly well. My new routine still allows for me to have my quiet time in the morning. I went into the school year with the mentality of not stressing out when things don’t go smoothly. Well, things have not gone smoothly almost daily. And I am actively choosing to not be stressed, to remain calm, to encourage others. But can I admit something? It is exhausting. And the other day, after the umpteenth thing did not go smoothly, even though I had remained calm all day, I felt defeated It is such hard work.
This verse in 2 Peter could not have come at a better time as a reminder.
He has given us EVERYTHING required for life and godliness. Our Savior did not come to save us just to leave us here on Earth to duke it out on our own. He did not leave us only the promise of eternity. He has given us EVERYTHING we need to do life well—to live a life a godliness in all seasons.
How many of us are going through life not using the things He’s given us? And no wonder we are left exhausted. We cannot do life well in our own strength. We have to rely on Him and tap into the life-giving and fruitful gifts he’s bestowed upon us.
First, God has given us His word. I cannot say it enough that as Christian, knowing what our God says is our lifeline. The Bible says the Word of God is life giving and brings light and guidance. We have a book of wisdom, of power, and of life at our disposal—that God wants us to use! How awesome that God wrote His life-giving words for us so that we might have comfort, encouragement, direction, and every good thing needed for life?
As if that were not enough, God has given us His Spirit to dwell in us. One of the many promises of Jesus was that He would send us a helper. Jesus knew this life is difficult. He understands the hardships we face and our human weaknesses. In His love and graciousness, the Holy Spirit now dwells in us. And the Holy Spirit is indeed our helper. The Holy Spirit helps us to know the will of the Father. He guides us in choosing right living. He intercedes on our behalf while we pray.
God has given us His strength. We no longer rely need to rely on ourselves. This is hard for those of us who like to be self-sufficient. And it truly takes being in His word to learn what resting in His strength actually looks like. In Romans the Bible says the same power that conquered the grave lives in us. God has given us the same victorious, over-coming power. So, in our own strength, we can not overcome our flesh. But through His Spirit, we can be victorious—we can life a Spirit-led life.
He has given us His armor. Life is hard. The Enemy is after your joy, your peace, your self-control. He is after your testimony. He does not want you living victoriously. There are times when our hardships are tests from God. But there are other times when our hardships are the attempts of the enemy to rattle us and leave us dejected. God has equipped us to stand firm, even to advance, in faith. He has given us armor to protect us.
God has given all of these things so that we might live a life of godliness. Peter goes on to say in that chapter
4 By these he has given us very great and precious promises, so that through them you may share in the divine nature, escaping the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with goodness, goodness with knowledge, 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, 7 godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being useless or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Don’t be mistaken: it still won’t be easy. Jesus tells us that that we will be pruned if we are not producing fruit. Pruning does not sound like a fun process. But in my experience, I have found that some of the fruit in my life could only have been produced in the hardship. I would never have known the power of the peace of Jesus if I had not been experience such a loss at the time. Patience is supernatural when life is throwing you situations where your patience is spent. But, if we are faithful, and allow the Holy Spirit to prune us, He will cultivate His fruit in us. This is why the Bible says “do not grow weary in doing good.” Jesus knows it is at times exhausting, or frustrating, trying to stay on the path. But He promises that if we do, we will have abundance.
So, we can be confident. We can be faithful. We can hope. We can produce fruit. And we can be abundant in our harvest even during the hardship.
