Hard Isn’t Bad, or Is It?
How often do we use the argument “hard isn’t bad!” when facing a challenging situation? Our children struggle with their schoolwork, or chores, or an intense sports game, and we encourage them by saying that this challenge will help them improve. Our friends face a hard decision in life, and we remind them that it’s a good opportunity to trust God and see him provide. But what about the news reports of war atrocities, or our friend’s loss of a child, or the ongoing hardship of a corrupt and incompetent immigration office that has “wasted” 36 days of our time in the past 12 months with nonsensical demands and inept errors – a rather specific example!?
For those who don’t know us you can probably guess by the latter example that we are speaking from personal experience for that one. We are missionaries dealing with the regular task of legally staying in a place outside our passport country. Our example is not unique, nor is it one of the more difficult situations missionaries have to face, one small consolation as I add up the time and expense for what normally makes up a single prayer request: “pray for wisdom with renewing our visa, and clear understanding with the local officers!” Over the past year in Thailand our family had to renew our visa 6 times, and every single time we were met with different requirements and a change in procedure. On one occasion I had to obtain an emergency passport in three days, or our family would be forced to leave the county, simply because the immigration officer refused to use the final three blank pages of my valid passport!
Inefficiency and a lack of integrity are draining and demoralizing tactics employed by authoritarian countries throughout history, and they seem to be growing in number today. Sadly, such is their prerogative. We are guests in their country and must respond with integrity to understand and do our best to meet their demands or we lose our ability to stay, which means losing the opportunity to advance the gospel and plant the Word in a needy, least reached area of the world. Over the past 3 years we’ve had to move our family twice due to losing our visa in the Asian country next door. Our current location is actually “plan C” (or “D” or something…) and is supposedly an easier option to continue our Bible translation ministry in this corner of the world.
This year our family of seven applied for a longer-term visa option here in Thailand, and in addition to agent and document fees, reentry permits, residence reporting, work permit, health certificate and governor’s letter I also had to submit a folder of weekly photos documenting my consistent but varied volunteer work. All of which added up to 300+ pages to our application packet for this year. And then came the in-person interview that was supposed to be with 2 officers from one department, but somehow turned into 16 officials from 7 different government departments! (I’ve never felt so important and demeaned at the same time) The result was that we were given 6 more months, but as a “consideration period” to improve on the amount of volunteer work I do, and this time to make sure that I get in photos with the local bigwigs as well.
That is a snapshot of our current hardship; a type of “hard” that is difficult to define with any sense of “good”. Yes, we can try to look for a “silver lining” or a higher purpose in hardship and loss. And as believers it’s appropriate to be optimistic people with eternity in view. But I think we do ourselves and others a disservice if we gloss over every hard experience as “good.” We might even be in danger of misrepresenting God’s providence simply because we do not know his long-term plan and we make a rushed conclusion to feel better in the moment. If I’ve learned anything from our recent experiences it’s that there are two common, biblical responses to hardship that can be taken too far in our thinking.
“Look on the bright side” — but every situation doesn’t have a bright side
For example, last year as we did our first couple 90-day visa renewals and were blindsided by unreliable information and changing requirements it was possible to think, “this is hard, but we’re learning, and building relationships that will make it good in the future.” But as the pattern of duplicity with government officials continued those positive expectations easily turned to jaded discouragement. Sometimes hard things are hard because of sinful people in a broken world. There’s a bright side in moving to Thailand to be closer to our teams of national Bible translators, or to working all night to finish a Glossary of newly chosen words for one team of translators to take back with them to their village (the first translation of theological key terms in their language!). There’s a bright side to the strain of workshop weeks, or the long 15hr. drive we make annually down through Bangkok to an MK camp with fellow missionary families. But those examples all have immediate benefits that make the hard parts easy to endure. What do we do when there seems to be no benefit to a country in conflict, no end in sight to all the senseless violence? What about a terminal illness or a hurtful relationship?
“Suffer for Jesus” — but every situation is not persecution
Some hardship is actual persecution for our faith. But it would be wrong for me to equate visa problems as spiritual persecution. Unwisely claiming persecution is a “martyr mentality” where everything is suffering for one’s faith, and the harder the better. I’ve even heard missions talk about it terms like this, such that “living in a shipping container in the jungles of PNG” is implied to be the height of spirituality. A person making foolish decisions could take this reasoning so far as to think that the hard consequences he faces are just validation of his “life of faith.” The random attacks on civilian villages taking place across the border from us are the result of a proud, cruel dictator. It is not direct religious persecution. So how should we encourage Christians to trust God? not necessarily with Mat. 5:10, “Blessed are those who are persecuted,” but rather with v. 4, “blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” This promise does not come with any immediate higher purpose; it simply acknowledges that the world is hard, and although that is contrary to the good that God created, he knows and offers us comfort and patience, furthermore the Spirit also helps with groanings too deep for words. (Rom. 8:26)
Hard is not always good, but God is
The Bible calls us to discern between hardship brought on by our own mistakes or because of the injustice of others. 1 Peter 2 encourages servants to endure sorrow at the hands of an unjust master. Enduring for your own mistakes is no virtue, rather believers must endure hard things being mindful of giving account before God (vv. 19-20). The text actually says, “this is grace before God,” which can be understood as showing grace in our response and as having favor before God. Verse 21 goes as far as saying that we have been called to suffer injustice because Christ did so on our behalf. His example was not to demand his rights, or resort to logical arguments, but rather he “continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (v. 23). I believe this passage is not specifying persecution for our faith, something Peter deals with later in 4:12-19. But in a broken world there will be hardship, and we don’t get a pass to react the way we feel simply because there’s no immediate positive outcome or higher purpose to motivate our endurance. Paul’s example of a “thorn in the flesh” to keep him from being conceited falls into this category of hardship without an obvious cause or result. Personally, though, my experience with Thai immigration might be giving me insight into what Paul meant by “a messenger from Satan was sent to harass me!”
What we need in hard things is this: a humble, patient attitude knowing hard things will be hard and still trusting God regardless.