Is your life balanced? Do you experience more sorrow than happiness? It may seem like your problems outweigh the good times, but your life might be more balanced than you perceive. The Scriptures give us spiritual guidance on how to keep adversity and prosperity in perspective so that we don’t get too discouraged when times are difficult or too proud when times are good. I have found that it is easy to lose perspective of God’s purpose in our lives when things are going abundantly well. As I sought God and served Him daily, I recognized that I didn’t exercise the same faith in Him or seek Him diligently like I did when my resources were low, or my body was sick. I learned to become more consistent in my availability to God and effort towards God whether the sun was shining, or the rain was falling. Increasing your availability to God in prayer and in His Word is very challenging and will take a greater effort and determination on your part. But it is God’s answer to help us offset the discouragement from troubles and problems we face daily. Apostle Paul reiterated this truth by saying, “. . . in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” – Philippians 4:11–12. After learning this spiritual truth, my adversities might have outweighed my prosperity, but my joy in Jesus overshadowed my sorrow.
As prosperous as Job was, he demonstrated great spiritual wisdom when he lost everything by saying, “. . . the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” – Job 1:21. Job reminded his wife of this truth when she told him to curse God and die, “What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” – Job 2:10. Focusing on the good (God) and not the bad, helped Job to keep what he lost in perspective. Paul emphasized this same spiritual truth to the church in 1 Timothy 6:7-8, warning Timothy of the dangers of financial prosperity and the love of money.
It takes a great deal of spiritual growth to be able to handle prosperity as well as adversity. Oftentimes prosperity can cause greater damage to our relationship with God than adversity. Human nature will often seek and depend on God less when things are going well or forget God altogether like the children of Israel did when they entered the land of promise. Moses warned them of the potential danger of getting so wrapped up in God’s blessings and not forgetting the one who blessed them. “Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt . . .” – Deuteronomy 8:11, 13-14. Unfortunately, God’s children didn’t heed Moses’ warning when they entered the Promised Land. They became so overwhelmed with the good that they forgot God, forsook God, and followed after false gods.
God, in His love for us, balances our lives by providing enough blessings to keep us content and permitting enough adversity in our lives to keep us humble. If we only had blessings, we would never develop a greater trust and dependency on God, and if we only had burdens and trouble in life we would always be discouraged. Therefore, the Lord balances the blessings we can enjoy with the burdens we bear, for God knows how much we can endure and only He can turn our burdens into a blessing!
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