Of course, you do. God’s Word tells us that in this world we will have trouble (see John 16:33). What if struggle is a good thing? What if struggle is where we grow?

I was recently reading 1 Peter, which Peter wrote to believers enduring discrimination and persecution. These believers found it unsafe to worship and celebrate their faith freely. Yet, in their struggle, they had joy. They were growing in their faith, and Peter was encouraging them. I love this phrase from 1 Peter 1:7:

Character requires development or formation. Character doesn’t grow when everything goes our way or when our decisions are easy. Character develops in the struggle.

The word proven in this scripture is the Greek word dokimion (G1383).  The Blue Letter Bible defines it as “that by which something is tried or proved, a test.” 

We can reasonably conclude our character and our faith will grow in those moments of testing. While I don’t love seasons of struggle or testing, I do find joy in knowing that on the other side, I will be stronger. More importantly, I will be closer to my Savior. My faith will grow.

Granted, I do not live in the persecution of Peter’s day. My struggles with regard to the “character of my faith” do not generally put my life in jeopardy. In fact, the joy and worship you see in this corner of the internet called Proverbs3Three is a demonstration of how freely I can worship.

Struggle and Obedience

And yet…I feel struggle. 

I feel struggle when I know the good I ought to do and don’t do it (ahem..Paul…).

I feel struggle when I see the good that should be happening, and it’s not.

I feel struggle when I’m not using the gifts and talents the Lord gave me.

I feel struggle when I have hard decisions to make.

If we are honest, some struggles are our own doing. Obedience is hard, but disobedience is sin. Some of our own struggles are due to our own disobedience.

When obedience is hard, I venture to believe that is the space where our character and faith grows.

When was the last time you found obedience to be hard? I wonder if one of the following is the reason you found obedience to be so difficult.

Obedience is hard when we are afraid we will disappoint others.

As a recovering people pleaser, I understand exactly how hard obedience is. When we fail to meet others’ expectations, there is a level of disappointment. If we allow ourselves to linger in that disappointment too long, we will take our eyes off of the Lord.

Think about that with me. If we allow the expectations from man to be our driver, what happens when man’s expectations are in conflict with God’s Word or God’s will? How easy would it be to slip into sin if our motivation was honoring man over honoring God?

Are there times to meet man’s expectations? Sure! In our work, we need to submit to our supervisor. When we drive down the highway, we need to submit to the man-made speed limits. Of course there are times to meet those expectations. However, the foundation of our obedience must be to honor God.

When the goal is honoring God, expectations from man that are out of alignment with God’s will become easier to spot. Our motivation remains in check, and those disappointments (while still present) are more manageable. Afterall, I’d much rather disappoint man than disappoint my Creator.

Obedience is hard when we are exhausted.

Check out the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19. Elijah was exhausted. The Lord told him to take a nap and eat. We cannot do hard things when our physical needs are not met.

My former pastor once said to never make a big decision when you are in the middle of the mess. He was talking about church hopping, but I think the point could apply to many scenarios. He talked about how our emotions are high when we are in the middle of the mess. When I am hungry and tired, my emotions are high. “Hangriness” is the cause of so much mess!

Decisions, obedience, and walking in God’s will requires a clear head. God created us body, mind, and soul. I can only imagine He expects us to be obedient in body, mind, and soul.

Take a nap. Get a snack, and walk in obedience.

Obedience is hard when we are not in the Word.

(You knew I was going to say that…if you didn’t, you must be new here…ha!)

Apart from Truth, apart from scripture, how are we ever to know what obedience even looks like? We live in a world of AI. Discerning fact from fiction is getting harder and harder. Knowing right from wrong is impossible when we don’t have an absolute truth. 

Think about it. Culture talks about “your truth” and “my truth” all of the time. If subjective truth is our world, truth becomes irrelevant…and that is terrifying and unsafe.

Only scripture has a complete picture of Truth. Only scripture is inerrant. Only scripture can help us to discern what obedience looks like.

God tells us pretty plainly what obedience is:

I’m not saying it is easy. I’m not saying we won’t struggle. I’m not saying we’ll always be happy.

I am saying that in the struggle, we will grow our faith. We will build our character. We will find joy. It’s the joy that is not dissuaded by the hard days. It’s the joy that helps us to know God is good. Jesus is on the throne. The struggle is not the end. We can do hard things by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can demonstrate “the proven character of our faith” in our obedience.

May the Lord bless you friend. May you know the Holy Spirit’s power in your struggle. May you make the choice of obedience.

If you would like to embrace God’s Word and discover Truth, join our Facebook Bible study group. Beginning January 1, 2025, we will be diving into a year-long study of the Psalms with Selah Moments: Pausing with Purpose in the Psalms. You don’t need anything to join this study, but I did recently purchase this Crossway spiral-bound journaling Bible! It’s so beautiful and will be amazing for taking notes!