(2 Corinthians 16&17) Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Bad things happen to good people.  Actually, bad things happen to all people. No one escapes. Here on planet earth, amidst the beauty and wonder, there is much danger and trouble to be encountered. 

This week, I finished watching the fifth season of The Chosen.  The last episode shows what it might have been like for Jesus as he prayed on the Mount of Olives before he was arrested.  It was painful to watch Jesus as he wrestled with the anguish and emotions over the torture he was about to endure. John shares this prayer that Jesus prayed that night (John chapter 22 verse 42) “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus was about to encounter bad things, but the results of his endurance brought about, “an eternal glory” that made salvation possible for the whole world.  Considering what Jesus went through, we can understand why the Apostle Paul called our troubles “light and momentary”.

I know that our troubles don’t usually seem light and momentary when we are in the midst of them.  Yet Paul gives us this promise, they are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So, with wholehearted trust in our God, we can endure our circumstances. And even though we don’t fully understand, we believe that someday we will see the eternal glory that our struggles here have produced.