Acts 9: 15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their Kings and before the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

For most of us, we classify every “negative” thing that happens to us as adversity and we are inclined to think that God abandons us when we need him the most. However, if we study the life of the Apostle Paul, we will come to realize that what we would call adversity was really the fulfillment of purpose. His difficulties were ordained of God! Shocking, isn’t it?

Paul had a past, you see. A past he was not proud of once he encountered the Lord on the road to Damascus. He repented of the things he had done, but the consequences caught up to him wherever he went. After he was converted and filled with the Holy Spirit, he arrived in Damascus and began to preach immediately but his reputation had preceded him. Those who heard him wanted to know: “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on the name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” (Acts 9:21)

Later in life, in 2 Corinthians 11, beginning at verse 16 and in chapter 12 Paul gave a litany of all the “adversity” he had experienced, but having come to terms with them, he was able to boast about them. He could even put into perspective his illness which he considered a thorn in his flesh, and which he had asked the Lord to take away from him three times but received no relief. Alongside his challenges he had also received visions and great revelations from the Lord and so he surmised that the “thorn” prevented him from becoming conceited.   The Lord’s response to his plea for relief was simply: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” In the end Paul explained, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I a weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12: 9-10).

How did Paul survive? He knew the certainty of his calling. In Acts 26 he described it fully to Festus and King Agrippa when hauled into court and then added: “So then King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.” He was sent to preach Christ to the ‘Gentiles and their Kings’ and nothing was going to stop him.

Friend, your adversity may be the surest sign that God is with you, purifying and sustaining you. Ask him to recharge you and let you become more aware of his presence so that you too can endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ.