Why Paul Did Not Lose Heart In Suffering — James Jennings

Paul’s Anchor in Suffering: 2 Corinthians 4:16–18

2 Corinthians 4, verses 16 -18. I want to speak right now on why Paul did not lose heart while he was suffering. Why did Paul not lose heart? He says here, so we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, wasting away, being destroyed, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

Light Affliction and Eternal Glory

4. This light momentary affliction is preparing or producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look, not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen. 4.

The things that are seen are transient or temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal. And then there is a chapter break, but he goes on. There's a conjunction. 4. We know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God.

Let's pray. Father, Lord, I thank You for Your incredible Word that, Lord, it's profitable. That in some ways can sound like a cheap word, but it's profitable for teaching, for reproof, for encouragement.

And Lord, I pray that You would use this message to encourage saints who are going through trials. And Lord, us who are maybe not in as severe of a trial, Lord, that we would have a clear and renewed perspective on how we should approach the trials that we will indeed face, because You have promised through much tribulation we will enter the Kingdom.

So Lord, I ask for Your help right now. In Christ's name, Amen. Well, let's think about this issue of losing heart for a moment. When 9 -11 happened, I read an article about a man named Ben Copp. He was 13 at the time.

And he had made a vow to join the Army Rangers when he was old enough and to go all the way to Afghanistan and Iraq and to fight against terrorism. And so he did that. But upon his third deployment after saving six soldiers in battle, he got shot in his leg.

Later that day on the operating table, he had cardiac arrest which led to his death. Now was the cause that he was fighting for worth it? Was it worth it? Fast forward to 2021. Afghanistan, the country in a short period of time has been taken over by a terrorist organization that this young man was seeking to help eliminate.

And so, if you go online, you'll find multiple articles right now where news organizations are interviewing the mothers of soldiers who died in Afghanistan. And they're asking the mother the question in view of this current takeover, they're wanting to know to the parents, do you feel like what your son did was in vain?

That his death was in vain? One mother said, I've just got to try and think that he didn't die in vain. That we didn't lose so many lives in vain. Another mother said, if you say that it was all for nothing, you're saying my son died for nothing.

And I cannot live with that. Walk a mile in my shoes and then say that to me. One mother recalled how she struggled to sleep after watching the heartbreaking scenes of the Taliban taking control of Afghanistan.

Look, why would people ask those mothers that question? Because mankind knows we don't want our life to be full of no meaning. We don't want our sacrifice to have been for naught. Right? No one wants that.

And these mothers could be on the verge, or some have already lost heart. They've got to turn the TV off and they think it seems it was all in vain. Or you take a soldier who lost both of their legs in the battle to secure a city, that the city is now no longer secure.

Were those legs lost in vain? Did it have no meaning? Now, my goal right now is not to answer that question in regards to what's going on in the Middle East. I'm simply using that as an illustration. Whether or not it was in vain and how someone would answer that question and all the factors in there, I cannot be an authority on that or even begin to answer that question.

But what I want to highlight is that the current circumstances are such that those who sacrifice for the cause could lose heart. They could become very discouraged and think this is all in vain. Now you rewind history about 2 ,000 years earlier, and you find this man who was radically saved.

Paul’s Suffering and His Refusal to Lose Heart

He went preaching. The very message he once tried to destroy. I'm speaking of Paul. And then he says in 2 Corinthians 11, he was beaten with rods. He was stoned. He was shipwrecked. There were dangers from robbers, danger from his own people, and danger from false brothers even.

He says he had many sleepless nights. He was often without food. False brothers. There were churches that Paul labored to establish that people came in there, even wolves, and they twisted things and it all turned out to be, was it in vain what Paul had done?

Not all of them became apostate, but many gave in to errors. Many yoked themselves to the false teacher. Some of Paul's own co-workers deserted him. He says at the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4, all those in Rome had deserted him.

What an incredible statement for this man to make. Did Paul lose heart? Paul says right here in the verse, we do not lose heart. So he didn't. Paul didn't lose heart. Paul didn't get to this point of despair, of fainting, of giving in to all manner of discouragement.

And yet, this is a man who also says his body is wasting away. His body is wasting away. He's getting persecuted, stoned, false brethren, and yet the man is not losing heart. He's not losing heart. There's something here from Paul that I want to have.

I want all of you to have. That's why we're going to ask the question, why did he not lose heart? Because whatever reasons by which he didn't lose heart, I don't know about you, but I want to know those reasons.

Because that should affect my life in the midst of trials. And Paul was not some super human. And neither are we. If you look at chapter 4, verse 7, we have this treasure in jars of clay. Jars of clay.

Easily broken. Easily discarded after they are broken. We're not made of metal that can be repaired. Paul was criticized for his weakness. 2 Corinthians 10 .10, the false apostle said his bodily presence is weak.

And his speech was of no account. It wasn't impressive. Paul says he experienced trouble on every side. Look at 2 Corinthians 4 .11. For we who live are always being given over to death. Always being given over to death.

Look at verse 8. We are afflicted in every way. Every? Is that an exaggeration, Paul? 10. We're always carrying in the body the death of Christ. So Paul suffered. And boy, it's just hard to wrap your mind around it, isn't it?

Based on what we go through in our own lives to enter into what Paul endured. Paul even adds in that list right there, he says that he was perplexed. He says he was perplexed. Verse 8, perplexed, but not driven to despair.

Perplexed. I take that to be something that affects the mind. You know, the wasting away that Paul's talking about here, it's not just the physical. When the physical wears away, what happens to the brain?

I mean, your stroke, brother, and others who've gone through things, you're not the same mentally, your capacity to think, you start to feel like I'm wasting away. I just saw a picture of Papa the other day.

They're pushing Papa in a wheelchair outside during the evangelism. What happened to the Papa who's out playing tennis? His body has continued to waste away. So are ours. I recently just playing soccer with my kids, kicked the ball barefoot and it hit my ankle and it's been swollen for a month.

And it won't go away. And I'm thinking, when did this ever happen? I'm just 35. My body doesn't heal like it used to heal. We're wasting away. Paul was perplexed at times. That could be comforting. You don't want to take it to mean something that doesn't.

But sometimes he didn't know. Do I go to the left? Do I go to the right? Lord, what are You saying? What are You saying should happen? But Paul did not lose heart. He did not become discouraged and faint in the midst of his trying ministry.

And why did he not? That's what really matters to you. Whatever answer Paul gives for why he did not lose heart should give us relief from discouragements in our own life and from fainting. And yes, does Paul say, so we?

Referring to the other apostles and those who minister, he does. But the truths here are applicable to anyone whether or not you're in the ministry or not. Now look at the amount of times he mentions this idea in these chapters.

4 .1,. Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. We don't lose heart there. In 4 .16, we do not lose heart. In chapter 5, look at verses 6 and 8. He says the opposite.

It's not just Paul didn't lose heart. He says in v. 6,. So we are always of good courage. Wow! Again, is he exaggerating? So we are always of good courage. Then he says in v. 8,. Yes, yes, we are of good courage.

And we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please Him. Paul was concerned about churches not losing heart. What did he tell the Galatians at the end of the letter?

Let us not grow weary of doing good. For in due season, we will reap if we don't what? If we don't give up. If we don't faint. If we don't lose heart. You can lose heart. You and I could lose heart. What did he tell those at Ephesus?

Ephesians 3 .13. I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering. Which is your glory. So Paul's suffering, and they could lose heart. They could get discouraged and faint. And it's not even over their own sufferings.

It's over Paul's sufferings. What did he tell those at Thessalonica? 2 Thessalonians 3 .13. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. What did Christ say in Luke 18? He told us a parable in regards to prayer so that we would pray and not what?

Lose heart. Get to the point of fainting. Of discouragement. Paul knew we could easily lose heart. So he says this. He says these exhortations. And if you remember a few weeks back, during the 10 a .m., I dealt with parents not provoking their children to anger.

And in Colossians 3, it talks about fathers not provoking your children to wrath lest what happens? Lest they be discouraged, or the NAS says, lest they lose heart. Lest they lose heart. You know, they're never encouraged.

They're always criticized. The parent is a perfectionist. Everything they do, there's always something wrong. The kid just wants to faint and quit. Right? Or there's no love. And they're constantly looking for that love.

I mean, I gave many examples, but a child could lose heart based on the conduct of the parent. Well, I've got good news for you. God's conduct for you and I should never be a cause for us to lose heart.

He is a perfectly heavenly Father. What does it mean to lose heart? If you look at a lexicon, it'll say become discouraged and faint. Or you fail to hold out successfully. You give up. You give up. Or it says to act badly in some circumstance.

To lose heart, it's the idea that the person gets to the point where they just make that terrifying statement, why try? Why try? Why try? To lose heart could be to be disillusioned. You lose faith or trust in something formerly regarded as good.

And you know, there's two types of losing heart, right? There's the momentary, kind of like Craig even said in the Lord's Supper. You've got these saints who had unbelief, but yet their life had belief at the same time.

So their whole life was one of faith, but there were certain areas they were struggling to believe God. Same thing here. I might lose heart momentarily with one area in my life, but then you've got others, it's not just losing heart in a little area and being discouraged, but their whole life becomes one of a permanent discouragement, of disillusionment with the faith, and they entirely abandon Christ.

So you and I can lose heart over many things. Don't ever lose heart over Christ. Right? You know, there's times you hear someone, they talk about a sport or some hobby, and they just say, it doesn't do what it used to do for me.

That's fine. That's great. I'm glad it doesn't do what it used to do. But never say that about Christ. You never want to get to that point where you're discouraged in giving in more and more to losing heart on the reality of following the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is in Malachi 3 .18. Israel arrived at the point, and listen to the words they ended up saying. It's somewhat terrifying. They said, it's in vain to serve God. It's in vain to serve God. What is the prophet of our keeping His charge?

Or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? Right here, they're mourning before the Lord, and they're getting to the point where they're thinking, what's even the point of this? You heard Craig talk about us praying and fasting.

If in your mind you're thinking, what is even the point of that? That's unbelief. Trying to creep in and poison your mind and lose confidence in God. Throughout all the Old Testament, we see people thinking it's in vain to serve God.

They lose heart. We don't want to lose heart. We want to be strengthened in our heart, right? Paul mentions that multiple times. One of them is in Colossians. He says that their hearts may be encouraged.

So we need. Now, how severe is this? How severe is it to lose heart? I mean, how much should I listen up to what led Paul to not lose heart? Is this really that important? Look at 2 Corinthians 4. You ask yourself, what might you do if you lose heart?

And Paul says right here, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we don't lose heart. And then he actually explains what those who don't lose heart have renounced. Which, if you think that would imply if one loses heart, they might not end up renouncing these very things that Paul says next.

Verse 2, we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or tamper with God's Word. But by an open statement of the truth, we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience and the sight of God.

Those are words coming from a man who has not lost heart. He's not lost a confident trust and belief in the goodness and loving-kindness of God. But you reverse that. You've got someone who's losing heart in the Lord.

Resisting Doctrinal Compromise in Affliction

They're going to tamper with God's Word. I've seen it happen. Think of how many errors come from people finding no hope in a trying affliction from the Word of God. And since they can't, they end up tampering with it to find an encouragement that is not actually there.

The well-known one is one of the main false teachers of easy-believism out there. His friend who was a pastor denied to faith became an atheist. When his friend died, he couldn't handle the thought of his friend in hell.

He couldn't cope with that thought. So you know what he did? He created a doctor and he tampered with the Word of God and said, well, because you one time asked Jesus in your heart and you said that you believed, even though you've now become an atheist, I'm still going to see Him in heaven one day.

And behold, that has spread throughout all of America because one teacher at Dallas Theological Seminary decided to go that route because he couldn't handle the Word of God saying what it does in the midst of a trial.

It's sobering here. For Paul, he's not losing heart, so he's renouncing tampering with the Word of God. But in reverse, if we're being crushed, if we're fainting, we don't want to change who the Lord is.

If you don't like what God is doing with His government, don't try to hack the system. Don't try to alter it. So, Satan prowls around like a roaring lion. And he's seeking someone to devour. He wants to convince you to lose heart because some affliction that God has allowed in your life.

Satan wants to convince the believer that God's treatment of them is wrong. He wants you to lose heart. Just to think, it's like Job's wife. What a picture of the enemy when she's looking at her husband and saying to him, curse God and die.

But Job's response was to bless the Lord who gives and takes away. And so it is with our enemy. Satan wants us to misread God's mind in sending the affliction. But we must not do that. If you start to wrongly view God's treatment of you, then you're going to have some type of bitterness toward God.

And you either get upset with Him, or you get to the point where you alter His character in order to fit your mold. You tamper with it. I mean, think, has Satan slanderously tried to convince you that God's treatment is ill toward you?

Has that ever happened? When something happened, and right away the thought just comes, some ill thought about God. Now, before we look at these reasons why Paul did not lose heart, I want to warn us all of something.

My goal is just to give the reasons Paul does from this chapter. And I'm trusting that by doing that, it will bring the outcome that Paul intended. Right? Pretty simple. However, this is what I believe.

I believe some will be let down by Paul's reasons. It's not going to be what you're going to want. Partly because some might be too familiar with what Paul's going to state. And thus, it won't have such an impact.

Or for some, we can already program our mind where we think, this is what I need. And Paul says, no, this is what you need. Right? We've got to be able to believe that. So I'm not meaning to say you won't be impacted, but that it will take faith on your behalf, faith on my part, even as the one preaching this, to really believe these truths as your own.

Only then will it change and alter my own perspective. So if Paul's reasons are not what you're looking for to pull you through losing heart and being discouraged and affliction, then I would ask you, what are you looking for?

Is anything else that you go find out there actually going to do what these truths from the Word of God are going to do? The medicine being ineffective does not indicate defective medicine as much as the patient not really, by faith, taking and receiving it correctly.

So we're going to consider why Paul did not lose heart from these verses right here. So first reason, and some I have to skip over here for the sake of time. But the first reason here that Paul did not lose heart is in chapter 4, verses 1.

God’s Mercy and Paul’s Calling

He says, therefore, having this ministry, by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. Wait, what's Paul saying there? For one, he's acknowledging who even got him in the ministry. Was it something he did?

Was it something someone else did? It was what the Lord had done. Right? We have this ministry because we were shown mercy. Paul recognizes he is where he is because he's been shown mercy. And Paul realizes he's laboring because who took initiative to put him in the ministry?

The Lord. Right? This is God's idea. How can you lose heart if you're doing what was God's idea and not your own? Right? If the Lord's the one who enrolled me, if the Lord's the one who saved me, if the Lord's the one who put me in this situation, and it wasn't my own idea, but I got plucked out of a path I was on and I got put in this situation, I can not lose heart over that.

Think about what Paul said in 1 Timothy 1 .16. I have received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.

Paul is being faithful to the One whom showed him mercy because the grace of God is true and it actually does change someone. Right? The real mercy of God is not ineffective. And Paul won't lose heart because God's perfect patience won't fail to bear perfectly with Paul's weaknesses.

It's one thing to know of someone who was miraculously rescued by another compared to actually being the one who was rescued. And so Paul says, I know, I was personally rescued by the Lord. I was put in the ministry by the Lord.

And the Lord is even using me as an example to show His perfect patience. I mean, how could I lose heart? Chosen by God. Drafted into the ministry by God. And He's told me He's going to manifest perfect patience towards me?

What's there to lose heart about? It almost sounds like they're using that as an excuse to mess up because God is so patient. But no, true patience makes you want to love the Lord all the more. So this firsthand experience of the mercy of God, it makes Paul want to proclaim the Lord's kindnesses all the more.

But can you and I look and say, you know what, the only reason I am where I am is by the mercy of God. God put me here. God did this. There is great encouragement there to not lose heart. I didn't make this up.

I didn't save myself 13 years ago. It was the Lord. And all of a sudden, there's this courage because you see God's hand in faithfulness. But you consider the opposite. You consider someone who they say, well, I have this ministry because I got creative and I knew all the marketing tactics and I made this little thing on YouTube and I got all these views and I figured it out on my own.

You know what? They're going to be able to easily get discouraged because it wasn't the Lord's doing. When the going gets rough, they're going to end up fainting. So that's the first reason. True mercy and acknowledging that and seeing that and working your life.

You're not going to be able to lose heart if you really get a glimpse of God's patience and kindness and His salvation in your life. Joshua read in Hebrews 12, it says considering Jesus and His sufferings that we do not faint, that we do not lose heart there in v. 3.

Contentment in Weakness and the Treasure in Jars of Clay

Second reason, Paul did not lose heart because he was content being a jar of clay and not a titanium vase. Look at v. 4 -7. We have this treasure in jars of clay. We. Not just them, but specifically these guys ministering.

You've got this little jar that could so easily be broken. I mean, it's not tough. It could easily be broken. It's got this glorious light within it of the Gospel that is coming forth from something you would not expect.

Kind of like our building. When people come up to our building, it does not look good. Now thankfully, it's not a jar of clay and it's not going to collapse on us. I hope people come in and they see there's truth here.

No matter the way the external thing looks. I mean, God actually wanted it like that as far as the weakness of the human body. And Paul, how can one be content? First, if you want to be content with being a jar of clay, which you need to be content, you need to just accept that reality that you are weak and you're not going to be able to maintain perfect health until you're 100 and bodily training only profits a little.

What was God's reason behind making us jars of clay? Do I know that reason? Because if I don't know that reason, I'm not going to be content. I'm not going to be content. And he says right there in verse 7, he gives the reason.

We have this treasure in jars of clay to show something. And that to show is to show the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. I mean, God wants us weak enough, kind of like Gideon stripping the army down of how many soldiers they've got so that when they go to war, so that we go to preach, so that we go to evangelize, so we go into the missions field, people look and they see the power is not with them, it's with God.

It's with the Lord. They're weak. And then the life of Jesus is manifested in our mortal flesh, it says in verse 11. I mean, there's power there through Christ. So in your trial, do you recognize the weakness?

It's supposed to be there. Right? It's not an accident. Like, it's supposed to be there. Are we content about that? So rather than despair it, we trust by faith that recognizing the weakness, we can go to the Lord in faith and find strength.

Remember 2 Corinthians 1? Such a glorious chapter. Paul despaired of life itself. He felt like he had received a sentence of death. And then he gives as clear as day a reason why it all happened. And I love that verse.

He said, it was so we would no longer rely on ourselves, but we would rely on the God Who raises the dead. I mean, that's one of the main purposes of a trial is to get you more God-reliant. And then you won't lose heart.

But when you're self-reliant in your own power, your own strength, you hate being perplexed at times and having to walk by faith, you want everything ordered and figured out perfectly, you're going to lose heart.

But we go by faith. We look to that which is unseen. So what about those who do the opposite of this? They're not content in weakness. Therefore, their life does not show the surpassing power which belongs to God.

Therefore, they don't get true help in the trial. They're constantly trying to put on some titanium armor around the jar of clay. Rather than just realizing this is what I am and God has made me like this with a purpose, so I'm going to stop trying to patch this thing up.

Patch this thing up. I'm not saying you shouldn't take care of your body and get medical help if you can. We want to live as long as we can. We don't want to have a martyr's complex. Okay, third thing.

Trials as Light and Momentary Compared with Coming Glory

Third thing here, why Paul did not lose heart. Paul did not lose heart because he viewed his trials as easy to bear compared to what is to come. And you see that in the verses that we read. He says, we do not lose heart, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day, for this light, momentary affliction.

For this light, momentary affliction. Light. Easy to bear. Not heavy. I mean, is that how you would describe? Affliction. And he's calling his whole life together as this. Not just some specific individual trial.

Growing up, there's video games and you go to play it at the place and it gives you a check and a degree of difficulty. Right? Easy, normal, hard, and then some had harder than hard. Paul here himself is selecting and describing the degree of difficulty in one way compared to that which is to come.

I mean, what if I could tell you that you could select your degree of difficulty on your trials? What if that's actually in your hands? That you could select the easy button? Because Paul here, he's telling us that.

He's calling his lifetime of afflictions as light compared to something. I mean, what if you went up to a Christian who was stoned, whipped, their comrades deserted them, they had eye problems, they're suffering, and you say to them, boy, this really must be easy to bear.

Easy to bear. I mean, wouldn't that be somewhat hurtful? Wouldn't that insult them? Yet here, Paul himself is the one telling us this light, momentary affliction. Light, momentary. And this is coming from one who is not what?

Who has not lost heart. If your heart is drifting from faith and confidence in the Lord and discouragement, you're not going to be able to see things as they are with an eternal perspective. That's going to start to get taken from you.

But here one is who's not lost heart, and he can look at his trials as light. And he's not discouraged by them. At least not right here as he's writing these, because whatever led him to be despairing in 2 Corinthians 1, right after being stoned it seems in Lystra, he had learned from that to rely more on the Lord.

So Paul is growing up to this point. He's not the same Paul he was when he talks about what happened in 2 Corinthians 1. God has already grown him some and further sanctified him in his own battle against these afflictions.

The Greek word for light is used in one other place in the New Testament. Where do you think that is? Yeah, Matthew 11. Matthew, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. My burden is light. Meaning, it's not hard to carry.

The word could be rendered insignificant or trivial. Meaning, the way it's superficial. You know, you say you have a superficial cut. It's basically saying it's not a big deal. It's not a big deal. I mean, you could wrongly take Matthew 11 to think the Christian life is easy in the wrong sense.

You could totally miss what Paul is saying there. But is it easy if by faith, I'm trusting the Lord and working through things by looking to Him and having Him bear those burdens and casting them upon Him?

Yes, I won't get crushed. Because I'm looking to Him. Think of the song, Abide With Me, that we just sang. I never noticed that statement that it has. It says, I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless.

And what was the next statement? Ills have no weight. What does it say after that? Tears, no bitterness. I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless. Ills have no weight. He's talking about this passage.

Paul looks at his trials and he calls them superficial. That's almost insulting to someone who's in the midst of a trial right now. Again, he's saying that in comparison to something. That all the more shows us Paul's perspective, the way Paul would think.

In 2 Corinthians, that word affliction is the word tribulation in some places. It's the idea of pressing out grapes in a wine press. You'd put heavy pressure, apply to the grapes, where they cannot take it any longer, and the grapes finally, they give forth the juice.

You're getting out of them something. That sounds like the difficulty harder than hard. When you look at Paul's trials, I would say harder than hard. And Paul says, easy, light, momentary, not that heavy, easy to bear.

Now, we could do one of two things right now. We could get mad at Paul for his insensitivity, his lack of present-day understanding, or we could pause and we could ask ourselves, here is a man who has a perspective that I need.

This is a man who has a perspective that I need. So I might be discouraged in an affliction right now and I might look at Paul's words as harsh, but I need to have whatever this individual has. I don't want to view my trials as impossible to bear.

I don't want to lose heart. I want to be able to look at my trials and be able to say as Paul did that that is easy to bear and it's light and momentary compared to something. It's not saying trials aren't difficult.

It's not saying that the way that it's narrow, Jesus used the word hard. He didn't say easy in Matthew 7. He said it's hard. Hebrews 12 talks about to the point of shedding your own blood, meaning to the point of death.

I'm not trying to say death is easy. But it is easy if your perspective is on that as Paul's was, that which is eternal. Eternal. How could Paul view his trials as easy? You know how? Paul did something every day that you and I need to do.

Paul was comparing and contrasting all of the time. Every day. Comparing and contrasting in order to do what? To maintain a biblical perspective on reality. Right? Even in this text right here, he sees the body's wasting away.

That's one thing, but then he sees the inner man is being renewed. Then he looks at the suffering as light, but then he looks at the glory as something that is weighty, that is heavy. And he sees the suffering is momentary, but he sees the glory as eternal.

Paul is comparing things. We ought to be getting the spreadsheet out, so to speak, and adding the correct values to everything that we see. This trial value is this, but then, oh, the glory is this value, therefore this value must shrink.

It's not as difficult in view of what is to come. But you know what happens here? We're stuck in this body of flesh with eyes that are looking to that which is what? Seeing. That's the difficulty. All this is happening in the realm of faith.

It's about trusting the Lord from the heart of faith. I mean, imagine if you had all the afflictions of Joe, Jeremiah, Jonah, Stephen, and Paul. Imagine all of those on your head. What is that compared to the eternal glory?