VIDEO What Troubles Reveal

And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Genesis 41:38

It has been said that difficulties don’t determine who we are. Rather, they reveal who we are. Said another way, the same heat that softens butter can make mud hard as a brick. It all depends on how the thing being heated responds. The same with the human heart. Difficulties can soften one heart and harden another.

Joseph, in Egypt, and Daniel, in Babylon, both revealed their character to their pagan masters. Their difficulties caused the presence of God to be manifested through them. In the New Testament, no one endured more difficulties over a longer time than the apostle Paul (2 Corinthians 6:3-10; 11:23-29). He described his difficulties as being “hard-pressed,” “perplexed,” “persecuted,” and “struck down.” But never “crushed,” “in despair,” “forsaken,” or “destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9). He called his troubles “the dying of the Lord Jesus” so that “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in [his] body” (verse 10). His troubles revealed the “treasure” of Christ within (verse 7).

Troubles in life are normal (Job 5:7). Our response will manifest Christ to the world—or not.

To become Christlike is the only thing in the whole world worth caring for. Henry Drummond

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Genesis 41 – Joseph Rises to Power