Key to Surviving the Tough Times In Life

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, February 14. Today we begin a series of messages that can help you face difficulty with the assurance that comes from trusting God. Learn how to build unshakable faith in uncertain times. Dr. Stanley is very, very threatened by the fact that new people are coming into the church. And he was discouraged and despondent and he said to me in the course of the conversation, he said, Dr. Stanley, I'm not really sure I'm going to be able to survive this.

And I assured him, yes, you will. A couple came to the study some months ago last year from out of town and they shared with me how they had lost a teenage daughter. And in the course of the conversation, the mother said, I'm in such a state of depression.

She said, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to survive this. Well, that's what I want to talk about in this message. The key to surviving the tough times in life. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 11. And let's read the 23rd through the 29th verses together. This passage is about a man who had some tough times and in spite of them, he survived and God used him, honored him, blessed him.

And he is an example to all of us today. Hebrews chapter 11, beginning in verse 23. By faith, Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child and they were not afraid of the king's edict. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. Considering the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith, he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen or invisible. By faith, he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that he who destroyed the firstborn might not touch them. By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned.

One of the mistakes that you and I make in looking at these Old Testament characters as well as the new ones is this. We look at these men and these women and we say, but they were extraordinary men and women who had supernatural strength of soul and body. They were not your normal. They were not your natural people. There was something supernatural about them.

If that had been true, it would have absolutely undermined the very point that God is making all through the Scriptures as he talks about the way he deals through and with these men and women. These were ordinary men and women just like you and myself. The only difference is that these men and women had something in common. They had an uncommon something about them that is available to every single one of us that made them in their life extraordinary in their life.

Not because they themselves were exceptionally so. In fact, the truth is some of us may have some attributes or some characteristics they didn't have. Some of us may have much more going for us than they did. But there was something common, a common thread that ran through the lives of those men and women that made what they did in the life that they live exceptional. Now, when we think about the tough times in life and think about our tough times, all of us can look back and say, well, yeah, I've had some tough times in life. Well, I want to talk about that and I want to talk about the very key that makes it possible for us rather than to be conquered by them and destroyed by them, rather to be a conqueror of the tough times no matter what they are. And so let's begin by simply saying that tough times are inescapable.

They're going to be a part of every single person's life. Tough times are inescapable. Look at the life of Moses, for example, and I want to say two things about this, that some of those tough times we bring on ourselves and some of them are the result of what God does in our life. For example, the life of Moses, he had the best of everything, the finest opportunities, all the wealth, the pleasure, all the opportunities of sin, all the opportunities of prestige and prominence and power and all that goes with it. But something inside of this little Hebrew boy who'd now become a man kept saying to him, but you are a Hebrew. And there came a point in Moses' life, as the man in the Bible says, when he became of age, when he matured in his thinking, that one day he decided, I choose no longer to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter, but now I choose to go back to be what I am and what I was. And that is a Hebrew child, a Hebrew son, a man among the Hebrews, and of course, he made a terrible mistake. His tough times began when he disobeyed God, when he killed an Egyptian soldier, buried him in the sand, and when the word came to Pharaoh, he fled, the Bible says, to the wilderness of Midian, and there for 40 long years, Moses, stripped of every single thing that he could possibly have relied upon, there he was as a shepherd, and that was it.

Forty long years, 40 years in Pharaoh's household, 40 years now on the backside of the desert. What a terrible departure. Now, some tough times we bring on ourselves, and somehow they seem to be the toughest because what we want to do is we want to blame somebody else. But there are some tough times we don't bring on ourselves. There are some tough times in which God places us in. That is, we're there because it's the will of God. So let me ask you this, are you in those tough times that you're facing because of something you did, or is it because God has placed you there for a very specific reason? Tough times are inescapable regardless of why we're there.

We're all going to face them. And the key is, how do we respond to them? So not only are these tough times inescapable, but the second thing I want you to notice is this, tough times either develop us or they destroy us. They either develop us or they destroy us, and that depends upon how we respond. And if you'll think about some Bible characters and how they have responded, any one of which these circumstances would have destroyed others. And you see, what you'll find is that you'll find here's one person who's going through a difficult time.

Here's another who's going through one that is similar. This one is developed and edified. Character is built. There is strength and fortitude. There's something strong about that person, and this one crumbles beneath the same similar load.

What's the difference? The way they respond. Some of the most godly men and women I know, the strongest stalwart giants who love the Lord God are those who have walked through the most difficult, trying, troublesome times I've ever seen. Hardache, heartbreak, sorrow, loss, criticism, persecution, and what happens?

While those around drop like flies, they just keep coming up through the pack. Godly, strong, stalwart, courageous, believing giants of God who are just ordinary people, but ordinary people who've learned the key to surviving tough times in life. The third thing I want to say to you about tough times is this. All tough times are conquerable no matter what when we learn the key to surviving. When we learn the key to surviving, all tough times are conquerable.

Now, look at that verse because herein lies the key. He says, By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is unseen. Now, what does he mean by endured? That word means to be strong, to hold out, to hold up under even the most crushing kind of pressure.

There's a resolution, a fortitude that does not give up, that does not faint, that does not give in, that does not quit, that does not walk away. He endured. How did he endure? The Bible says that he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

Now, here's what I want you to get if you forget everything else that I've said and everything I'm going to say. Here's the key to surviving tough times. Learning to walk in the continuing awareness that you're walking in the presence of God. That is what that verse is all about. He endured, he held up, he was able to hang in there, he didn't run away when everything seemed to be so absolutely impossible.

He didn't flinch. Why? Because Moses walked as a man who walked in the awareness that he was walking in the presence of Almighty God. Listen, Moses' whole perspective on life was different.

Why? Because at the burning bush, he heard something he could never forget. He heard the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He heard Jehovah God. He heard the God who was greater than the gods of Egypt. He heard the only true God say to him, Moses, Moses, I will be with you. He never forgot that. Have you ever learned yet in your Christian life to walk in the awareness that every moment you're walking in the presence of Almighty God?

Sovereign, loving, all wise, faithful God. Let me tell you how you can tell whether you have or not. If you have seasons of worry and anxiety and fret and fears and cares and on and on you go, then my friend, you've missed something. It doesn't mean that not any of us will ever reach the stage where it'll never come to our mind. When we have learned to walk in the awareness of his presence, what happens? We suddenly focus that against the fact that we are walking in the presence of Almighty God and there is no care, no fretting, no worry, no fear, no trouble, no heartache, no loss, no suffering, no anything. That his all wise, loving hand cannot take care of absolutely, perfectly, and fully. Moses learned it.

Here's the man who walked through trouble sometimes with this overwhelming sense of continuing awareness that he was walking in the presence of Almighty God. That's why he could stand on the beach of the Red Sea and he could hear the rumbling of the chariots and the marching of the Egyptian soldiers. Listen, and in the midst of all of his own brethren saying, Moses, why did you do this to us?

Our families are going to be killed. In fact, he could hardly hear the rumble of the chariots and the marching of the soldiers for the clamor and the criticism and the persecution of his own crowd. And quietly, humbly, meekly, Moses said to them, stand still and see what I've already seen. My friend, before you call someone else's act of obedience to God foolish, be sure that you've been to the same burning bush they've been to. Or you may be criticizing God. You say, now wait a minute, let's get back to the burning bush for a moment because sure, Moses was at the burning bush, he heard God speak, but I've never had a burning bush.

Listen to me very carefully. What was important about that old bush? You say, well, it was a burning bush. That's not the first bush it ever burned. Here's the important thing about the burning bush.

It wasn't the bush. It was the fact that at the burning bush, Moses heard God speak. Now listen to me carefully. There is a verse of Scripture here I want you to read because it's the key. I want you to go back over to the third chapter now. The Bible says in verse two, And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire, that's what he saw was the blazing fire, from the midst of a burning bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight while the bush isn't burned up. Now here's the key, and I want you to remember this.

I'm going to repeat this over and over so you won't miss it. When the Lord saw that he, Moses, turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush. You say, but I want to go back and tell you I have not had a burning bush.

You haven't? What was the burning bush? The burning bush was no more than an intention getter.

Here's a man who'd walked in that desert for 40 long years. God got his attention with a bush that began to burn but would not be consumed. It wasn't a bush, it was the word of the living God. Now listen, the bush was an intention getter.

Has God ever gotten your attention in such a fashion that you knew at that moment you were standing in the awesome presence of holy God and God was saying something to you? That was a burning bush. You know what the problem is? That so many of us are in such a big hurry in life and so many of us have so much of our own schedule and our own plans going, here's what happens. God sets a flame to a burning bush right in front of us and we walk right by it and never pay it any mind. Or we explain it away.

You know, bushes just burn. I mean these things have happened before. I've had these feelings before.

I need to take me some medicine or something. You know, why should I feel this way? What happens is that God had a burning bush and listen to that verse. When the Lord saw that Moses turned aside to look, then God spoke. You know why God hadn't said more to you than he said? Maybe you haven't turned aside to listen. You say, well, I'll give you an example of a burning bush.

I'll give you an example. God is saying something very clear to you about the times you're living in and how you're responding. God is trying to get your attention so that you'll begin to walk in the continuing awareness of his presence by faith and obey the living God for your life. That is a burning bush. It may be a time of great difficulty when all of a sudden God brings you to the end of yourself and you feel stripped of every resource. There's nothing to depend upon and you have absolutely nothing. And suddenly you feel that you are in the presence of Almighty God and he's trying to say something to you.

Listen, any old bush will do if God is doing the speaking. But I wonder if you're in too big a hurry to turn aside and listen to God. What is the key to surviving difficulty, hardship, and trial?

Listen carefully. Learning to walk in the continuing awareness that you're walking in the presence of an awesome, sovereign, loving, faithful, all wise God every single moment of your life. That is the key to survival. It is the key to living the life of faith.

And it is the way God wants each of us to walk day by day. Thank you for listening to The Key to Surviving the Tough Times in Life. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.