Doesn’t life seem like a struggle at times, or sometimes, or much of the time, maybe even all the time? There is so much to keep up with:
Maintaining relationships with others who may not make the same effort.
Staying current with the happenings of the world around us and their significance.
Constantly educating and training yourself to stay relevant in the workplace.
Working with ever-increasing financial pressures.
Facing personal health issues, or those of a loved one.
Dealing with aging and how that makes us feel.
Coping with unexpected disappointments, setbacks and tragedies.
There is no doubt that your life and mine can seem like a constant struggle. We share that in common with most who have ever lived – from all parts of the world, any environment, cultural background and nationality, good and bad, great and small, religious and irreligious.
A relative few have risen to meet this reality, but too many have wallowed in the face of a life filled with trouble and turmoil.
The Bible is a book that details “struggle” from the beginning of human existence. We understand that the first man and woman struggled from their creation as we find in Genesis chapter 3, verses 16 to 19:
“To the woman God said: ‘I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you.’
“Then to Adam God said, ‘Because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, “You shall not eat of it”: cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.
“Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return.’”
We do not need to extensively evaluate how painful life has been for women over the past six millennia, nor how the earth in that time has been cursed so that men can only coax minimal productivity from all their work. But be assured that this is the basis of human struggle ever since: families formed in pain and our best efforts cursed.
And to make matters worse, our “advisor” with deceptive suggestions on how to live from the garden of Eden has been there to thwart us ever since. Prior in Genesis 3, verses 14 and 15, a very long struggle between the devil and humanity is detailed:
“So, the Lord God said to the serpent: ‘Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’”
Satan tried to overthrow God: he and his forces of evil struggle against us, make our temporal lives a struggle and they lead the struggle against all that is good. The forces of evil promote and accentuate our struggles that may make our temporary human existence miserable, but God allows them their work and devices to produce character that makes an eternal spiritual existence possible!
There are many epic struggles featured in the Bible from the time of Adam and Eve: we will rehearse only a few stories as we progress to the whole purpose of the struggles accomplished in you and me.
In Genesis 32, beginning in verse 22, we read that, after many years, Jacob is about to meet his brother, a man whom he had swindled out of birthright and blessing. He is quite distressed that Esau might not be so happy to see him and would make good on the death threat that caused Jacob to flee his home in fear for his life:
“And he arose that night and took his two wives and two maidservants, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of Jabbok. He took them and, sent them over the brook, and sent over what he had. Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He struck the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.
“And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ So, He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with man and have prevailed.’ Then Jacob asked Him, saying, ‘Tell me Your name, I pray.’ And He said, ‘Why is it that you ask about My name?’ And He blessed him there.
“And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel [Face of God]: ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.’ Just as he crossed over Peniel the sun rose on him, and he limped on his hip. Therefore, to this day the children of Israel do not eat the muscle that shrank, which is on the hip socket, because He struck the socket of Jacob’s hip in the muscle that shrank.”
If life wasn’t already a struggle for Jacob after having to leave his life’s work behind at his father-in-law’s estate and then having to meet his brother who might kill him and all his family, he would now have to limp in pain for the rest of his life due to an injury inflicted by God Himself in a prolonged wrestling match.
That was the human cost to that time for his life’s struggle, but notice what else was determined here:
First, Jacob’s name was changed from “heel-catcher” to Israel – “prince with God.”
Second, he had struggled with God and with men and prevailed.
Third, he received a blessing from God Himself before having to begin his new life as the next in a line of patriarchs in a nation – named after him – that God would use for all time!
Probably no one put his struggle into words better than David, the man after God’s own heart. The highs and lows of his struggle included:
Saving his country by slaying Goliath and many other Philistines, serving God with absolute integrity of heart.
What he had to endure at the hands of Saul, Israel’s first king, after faithfully serving him.
Living for years among the outcasts of society and even among the Philistines feigning insanity.
The tragedy that befell his own household with the premature deaths of three sons and the rape of a daughter and violation of his harem.
There is no doubt he struggled – with himself and with what he saw around him in the behaviors of other men…Psalm 73, verse 3:
“…But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pangs in their death, but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like other men. Therefore, pride serves as their necklace; violence covers them like a garment. Their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than heart could wish.
Verse 12 – ”Behold these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches. Surely, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. When I thought to understand this, it was too painful for me – until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end…
Verse 21 – “Thus my heart was grieved, and I was vexed in my mind. I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory…”
Perhaps we too have struggled in our lives:
Can we relate to almost completely stumbling and been jealous of wealthy, pride-filled, harmful people who seem to slide through in prosperity and ease, while we seem to be plagued throughout each day and chastened every morning.
Has this prospect, real or perceived seemed too painful to endure? In our struggles, do the words “grieved” and “vexed” describe how all this makes us feel?
David always thought it through and seemed to come to the “bigger picture” as he struggled in evaluating “why” things are the way they are: in addition to the eternal weighting of glory he hoped for, he brought his human struggles to what we find in verses 25 and 26 of Psalm 73:
“Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever…”
With Jacob and David, there seemed to be constant affliction and trouble to contend with as they struggled through their lives: some struggles, of course, they brought on themselves, but some were allowed by God for their growth. With both, their struggles worked to a greater purpose.
Continuing, let us move to the New Testament and touch on two more personalities that related their struggles for us.
Life was far from easy or peaceful to the apostle Paul, but his real struggle is found in Romans chapter 7, verses 14 to 25 – from the Phillips Translation:
“For we know that the Law itself is concerned with the spiritual – it is I who am carnal and have sold my soul to sin. My own behavior baffles me. For I find myself doing what I really loathe but not doing what I really want to do.
“Yet surely if I do things that I really don’t want to do, I am admitting that I really agree that the Law is good. But it cannot be said that I am doing them at all – it must be sin that has made its home in my nature. And, indeed, I know from experience that the carnal side of my being can scarcely be called the home of good!
“I often find that I have the will to do good, but not the power. That is, I don’t accomplish the good that I set out to do, and the evil I don’t really want to do I find I am always doing. Yet if I do things that I don’t really want to do then it is not, I repeat, ‘I’ who do them, but the sin which has made its home within me.
“My experience of the Law is that when I want to do good, only evil is within my reach. For I am in hearty agreement with God’s Law so far as my inner self is concerned. But then I find another law in my bodily members, which is in continual struggle with the Law which my mind approves and makes me a prisoner to the law of sin which is inherent in my mortal body.
“For left to myself, I serve the Law of God with my mind, but in my unspiritual nature I serve the law of sin. It is an agonizing situation, who can set me free from the prison of this mortal body?”
Haven’t you and I struggled like this? We desire to think, speak and behave rightly in accordance with God’s holy, spiritual law, but we helplessly succumb, lose the battle and sin. Paul identifies that it is only through Jesus Christ that we will be delivered and overcome this dreadful and agonizing situation!
From here, we might get into the life-long struggle of one of the greatest servants of God who ever lived. John had always done what was right in administering the “baptism of repentance” – a few wrongly thought he was demon-possessed; some rightly thought he was a prophet; most knew him as a holy and just man.
His life was not comfortable or pleasant: he lived in the wilderness away from people; he was clothed in camel’s hair; and he ate locusts and wild honey. His ultimate demise came as a result of telling the truth to Herod Antipas about the unacceptability of marrying his brother’s wife.
The end of his struggle is described in Matthew 11 and verse 1, where we find that he wanted some reassurance that preparing the way for the true Messiah was what his life’s struggle was all about:
“Now it came to pass, when Jesus finished commanding His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?
“Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go tell John the things which you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk; lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended by Me.’”
On the heels of this encounter Jesus presents John in a certain light that seems to have perplexed so many who purport to be Biblical scholars and students who cannot reconcile the meaning of “violence” with their pacifist views on Christianity. Verses 11 to 15 of Matthew 11 reads as so:
“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.
“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear…”
The Amplified Bible further describes this struggle as “…violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize] – a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought for with most ardent zeal and intense exertion…”
Jesus Christ projected John’s struggle onto our lives and how forceful we must be with ourselves to attain the Kingdom of God. Remember, John baptized with water for repentance; repentance is not a passive act – it requires the need to see that we are wrong in how we live our lives and the willingness to change…something that might seem quite “violent” in giving up the world and its ways, traditions, customs, holidays, etc., in which we have been walking. Attaining the Kingdom of God requires nothing less, as violent, forceful and painful as the struggle to change may be.
All four of these men of God – Israel, David, Paul and John the Baptist – had an understanding of human struggle that is common to each of us, but they also understood the purpose of our life-long struggle: the Kingdom of God. It might be said that they struggled against this world and its rulers and so much evil, in order to attain the gospel-promise of another world with Jesus Christ as King of kings, governed by God’s holy law.
This struggle has been the theme of human history and though we may look at people, places and circumstances within our realm of the physical as what brings about our struggles (springing out of the ground or coming from nowhere), there is an age-old spiritual source that we should be cognizant of: as it was from the garden of Eden, it is today. Ephesians 6:12, gives the instruction to put on the whole armor of God – from the Moffatt Translation:
“For we have to struggle, not with blood and flesh but with angelic rulers, the angelic potentates of the dark present, the spirit-forces of evil in the heavenly sphere…”
The real “Brief History of Time” is as we find described in Revelation 12: and we see struggle all throughout the chapter:
Verses 1 to 2 – A woman with child crying out in labor and pain to give birth.
Verses 3 to 4 – a great and fiery dragon waiting to devour the child at birth.
Verse 6 – the woman fleeing into the wilderness for 1,260 days.
Verse 7 – war in heaven between two archangels and their followers.
Verses 8 to 9 – Satan the devil and his demons being cast down to earth.
Mankind’s six millennia struggle – your struggle and mine – kicks in with verse 10 of Revelation 12:
“Then I heard a loud voice saying, ‘Now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and of His Christ have come, for the accuser of them before our God day and night has been cast down.”
And the only way we prevail in that struggle against spiritual wickedness in high places is found in verse 11:
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
There is a way to prevail against Satan and this age where he rules earth’s inhabitants and influences our own selves to an extent that we may not fathom…verse 12 mentions the continuing struggle:
“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time. Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child…
To verse 17…”And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Again, three required things are herein listed for the Christian to prevail in the struggle against Satan, this world and our own selves: Acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus for forgiveness of sin; a testimonial or recorded witness of the way we face life’s struggle; Motivation to forsake human existence to adhere to obedience to God.
And what can Satan accuse us of any more if the blood of the Lamb covers our sins, the word of our testimony or record of our life is blameless and we cannot be lured with hanging on to this life at all costs.
Satan would love to destroy us by constantly dragging out the dirt on us before God, but with the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony and not loving our lives to the death.
Romans 8, beginning in verse 22 indicates the outcome of a successful struggle with our human existence on earth:
“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the spirit, even we groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Verse 31 – “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect…”
Continue in verse 35:
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’
“Yet in all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The struggle that is this human life, even for those that have committed their lives to God in this age, began at the creation of mankind in the garden of Eden with the first man and woman and continues to our time.
Most of humanity since has succumbed to that struggle, but you and I have the opportunity and the ability to overcome through:
The blood of the Lamb or Jesus Christ that covers sins committed in the great struggles of our life.
The word of our testimony or life’s record in the way we met the great and constant struggles throughout our human existence.
Not loving our lives to the death, in never compromising with what is right through our struggle.
