How You Can Endure Adversity

“BY ENDURANCE on your part you will acquire your souls.” Jesus Christ spoke those words when giving his prophecy concerning “the time of the end.” (Luke 21:19; Daniel 12:4) In his statement, these two points stand out: (1) Endurance is essential to the saving of our life, and (2) it is possible to endure.

But how can you endure? To answer this question, we first need to know why Jehovah permits suffering and persecution to come upon his servants.

Suffering and Persecution​—Why?

The prime reason is that Satan challenged the rightfulness and righteousness of Jehovah’s sovereignty. (Genesis 3:1-19) Jehovah has arranged to meet this challenge for his own name’s sake and for the sake of others.

God has also allowed his people to suffer for purposes that can prove to be very beneficial to us if we view such affliction in the right way. For example, if we endure when under trial without resentment toward our adversities, we are proving that our faith is genuine, the kind of faith that pleases God. (1 Peter 1:6, 7; Hebrews 11:6) But affliction can also show up such personality flaws as pride, impatience, and love of ease. With the help of God’s spirit, we can work to overcome such traits and more fully ‘clothe ourselves with the new personality.’​—Colossians 3:9-14.

The psalmist expressed this point for us very well, saying: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, in order that I may learn your regulations.” (Psalm 119:71) What a fine way to view affliction! No complaining or murmuring. No selfish concern for any personal loss that the affliction might have caused. Rather, here is wise realization that what Jehovah permitted to come upon the psalmist could help him to appreciate the regulations of Jehovah more fully. Do we allow suffering to have the same effect on us?

The apostle Paul benefited from the tribulation he experienced in the district of Asia. For one thing, this adversity made him depend more fully upon Jehovah. It also underlined the apostle’s belief in the resurrection, for he endured his hardships with complete trust in “the God who raises up the dead.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10) Yes, Paul enjoyed benefits because of his endurance under suffering.

The same is true of those Christians who have the right view of affliction today. In Zimbabwe, a country once plagued with guerrilla warfare, a congregation of Jehovah’s people was moved into a protected village. Due to the wartime conditions, each of the three appointed elders in the congregation had lost a child in death. Moreover, the local people were putting great pressure on these Christian parents to compromise their faith by appeasing the spirits that were said to have been angered. How did the elders feel about this? Speaking for all three, one of them said: “While the nation is at war, we are also at war with the wicked spirits. We have an advantage over the enemy [wicked spirit forces] in that we have a hope, a living one. So, even if we die in the fight, as long as we die faithful to Jehovah, we shall be resurrected. We shall have conquered the enemy.” These three faithful men never lost sight of Jehovah’s power to deliver. Noting their firm stand, we, too, should be convinced that we can endure!

When Persecution Is Brutal

‘But what if the persecution is brutal, with cruel methods of torture being used?’ you may ask. ‘Can we even then endure and not give out in our faith?’ Well, early Christians were able to endure horrible treatment without compromising their faith.

Similarly, full faith in Jehovah was demonstrated by a present-day Christian living in an isolated rural area of Zimbabwe. He was alone on one occasion because his wife had gone to visit their married daughter. Suddenly, he was accosted by some armed men who made false accusations because of his Christian stand. After beating him severely, these men tied red-hot bricks between his legs and also made him walk on such bricks. Then he was left alone to die. Because the sudden change of conditions in the area had made travel impossible, the man’s wife was not aware of her husband’s plight. Neighbors were ordered on pain of death not to help him. So he remained alone in this condition for three whole months, daily expecting to die.

This suffering Christian man was able to sustain himself on supplies of water and maize meal at his home. But because of the mistreatment he had received, he could not walk. Therefore, when nearby firewood ran out, he had to break up his furniture and use this to make cooking fires. The water became rusty and full of worms. His burns continued to fester.

This was the brother’s condition when his wife was finally able to return home three months later. Imagine how she felt upon seeing him! Immediately, she made preparations to get him to a hospital. To do this, she had to take him in a wheelbarrow to the nearest bus stop and from there get him to town where there was a hospital. Three weeks later, he was discharged from the hospital and went to the home of his daughter, where he received spiritual aid and encouragement from members of the congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in that area.

What helped this loyal supporter of God’s Kingdom to endure brutal treatment? For three months he was entirely on his own. He fully expected to die. And yet, when asked how he felt during this ordeal, his answer was, “I felt that Jehovah was with me all the time.” There were no complaints against his persecutors or lamenting over what had happened to him​—just firm conviction that Jehovah never forsakes his loyal servants.​—Psalm 37:28.

Yes, Christians can endure. They know that if Jehovah allows tribulation, it is for a good purpose, and endurance is possible. God’s Word and the experiences of others assure us of this fact. (Matthew 24:13) However, while enduring trials, we often need to be comforted, do we not? But where should we turn for such comfort?

Drawing Comfort From God’s Word

JEHOVAH is “the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation.” (2 Corinthians 1:3, 4) Therefore, it is to him and his Word that we must turn to receive true comfort and solace in times of distress.​—Romans 15:4.

If we are faithful to God, then he ‘will by no means leave or forsake us.’ Confidently, we can say: “Jehovah is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5, 6; Psalm 37:39, 40; 145:20) Surely, therefore, we need not be depressed or discouraged, even when suffering great affliction.

As part of his great prophecy being fulfilled in our time, Jesus said: “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death; and you will be objects of hatred by all people because of my name.” But just after that Jesus added: “And yet not a hair of your heads will by any means perish.” (Luke 21:16-18) How could that be? Because of the resurrection, the very same hope that sustained Paul. (John 5:28, 29; 2 Corinthians 1:9, 10) Is it not comforting to know that even death itself cannot take away our wonderful hope for the future?

Think of the comfort that this hope and the assurances of God’s help can bring to persecuted Christians enduring physical torture, to those crippled and maimed because of cruelties, to godly women who have been raped, to parents forcibly separated from their children. Yes, in Jehovah’s Word we find many expressions of comfort and assurance that can even cause us to rejoice when under tribulation.​—Matthew 5:10-12.

Keep in Mind the Reward

When experiencing adversity and affliction, remember that nothing is happening to us that has not happened to other faithful servants of Jehovah. We can resist the Devil’s attempts to cause us to stop serving Jehovah if we do what the apostle Peter urged: “Take your stand against [the Devil], solid in the faith, knowing that the same things in the way of sufferings are being accomplished in the entire association of your brothers in the world.” (1 Peter 5:9) Yes, other Christians endure similar trials for the sake of the good news and do so without compromising. We can do the same.

We should take note not only of those who stood firm but also of the rewards they received. To illustrate: Satan, bent on proving that Job served Jehovah only for selfish reasons, brought one calamity after another upon this man of God. First his animals were destroyed, then his servants, and finally even his ten children. Not satisfied with that, Satan struck Job with “a malignant boil from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.” (Job, chapters 1 and 2) Did Job break his integrity to God because of these calamities?

No, he did not. But what about the reward? Well, Jehovah restored Job’s health, gave him “in double amount” all that had been his, and granted him an extended, satisfying life. (Job 42:10-17) In addition to these rewards, there is the far greater one of a resurrection with the prospect of everlasting life on a paradise earth. (Job 14:13-15) Surely, Job’s experience gives comfort and strength to suffering Christians today.

“Jehovah Helps”

Now, consider the case of a Christian woman who endured many years of suffering in concentration camps in Germany during World War II. In addition to dreadful conditions, brutal persecution, and privations was a forced separation from her husband and child for five years, not knowing what was happening to them. Finally, after years of faithful endurance, she was reunited with her husband and child, and the three of them have been serving Jehovah faithfully ever since. Note her comments concerning her experience:

“My years in German concentration camps taught me an outstanding lesson. It is how greatly Jehovah’s spirit can strengthen you when you are under extreme trial! Before I was arrested, I had read a sister’s letter that said that under severe trial Jehovah’s spirit causes a calmness to come over you. I thought that she must have been exaggerating a bit. But when I went through trials myself, I knew that what she had said was true. It really happens that way. It’s hard to imagine it, if you have not experienced it. Yet it really happened to me. Jehovah helps.”

Are you not comforted and strengthened by these expressions? Because of holding fast her integrity under trial, this Christian woman, along with her family, looks ahead to realizing her hope of everlasting life. (Hebrews 10:39) What a grand reward for faithfulness!

After experiencing trials for years, how did our beloved brother Paul feel? Discouraged? Downhearted? Depressed? Not at all! He was confident, hopeful, glad that he had endured. “I have fought the fine fight, I have run the course to the finish, I have observed the faith,” said Paul. “From this time on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me as a reward in that day.” (2 Timothy 4:7, 8) Paul held his course without wavering and has received his heavenly reward. (Philippians 3:4-14) Who is not comforted by such a fine example? May we similarly endure adversity, draw comfort from the Scriptures, and remain loyal to our loving God, Jehovah.

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Job’s experience gives strength to suffering Christians today