The title for this blog comes from an old Persian adage. It is a phrase that brings comfort to us in our trials because we have the hope that they will not last forever. No matter what it is that you are going through, there is a clock ticking away for when it will end. This too will pass.
The Lord sometimes sets us free in a trial before he sets us free from the trial. “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19 NKJV).
One Bible verse that is close to the phrase “this too shall pass” is: “And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble” (2 Corinthians 4:17 GNT). Don’t ever let the temporary completely distract you from the eternal.
The Lord has you for all of eternity, so why do you worry about a couple of days or a handful of years? He has you. “The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore” (Psalm 121:8 NKJV).
“And this small and temporary trouble…” For most of us, we cannot fathom calling some of our troubles small. Our trials are often the biggest thing we can see in our lives. Yet from the Lord’s eternal perspective, these few days you live on earth aren’t even a drop in the bucket of eternity.
Don’t be bitter about the trials that God is using to make you better. “You will have to suffer only a little while; after that, God, who is full of grace, the one who called you to his eternal glory in union with the Messiah, will himself restore, establish and strengthen you and make you firm” (1 Peter 5:10 CJB).
In life, “…we suffer…” and wonder why the Lord would allow it. From our perspective, there is some suffering from which we cannot see any value that can come from it. We shake our fists at God and sometimes think Him unkind. Never be afraid to acknowledge your feelings.
Suffering does not reflect how God feels towards you, but it will reveal how you feel towards Him. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him…” (Job 13:15 NKJV).
The comfort we can have in this life of suffering is knowing that it will be short-lived and that the Lord has promised us an eternity without any suffering. We may not always understand why we suffer now, but there will come a time when He will show us.
Stop trusting your gut more than you do God. “Jesus replied, ‘You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will’” (John 13:7 NLT).
The hope we can have in this life of suffering is knowing what lies ahead: “[suffering] will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory…” We may not understand the path of our suffering in getting to the eternal glory, but we can trust in the Lord, who promised this eternity to us.
Look forward to heaven more than fear the things in between. “But we are looking forward to God’s promise of new heavens and a new earth afterwards, where there will be only goodness” (2 Peter 3:13 TLB).
When we are in pain, it is often only the pain we can think about. When people come against us, it is their attacks that fill our minds. But there is a better way in which we can live our lives, and that is to keep our thoughts focused on the eternal God in heaven.
What you think about, has you. “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3 NKJV).
We don’t understand why we have to go through all that we go through. God is sovereign and able to change any situation, but often, He does nothing, and we wonder why He would be so unkind to us. Yet when we step into eternity, we will forever wonder why He could be so kind to us.
You cannot rush an eternal God but only wait for Him to answer you. “‘The Lord is my portion and my inheritance,’ says my soul; ‘therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait [confidently] for Him, to those who seek Him [on the authority of God’s word]. It is good that one waits quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:24-26 AMP).
We are promised that the glory in heaven will be “…much greater than the trouble…” we have gone through here on earth. Our eternal life in heaven will be so much greater than our lives on earth that even our greatest trials will seem small in comparison.
The question is not if you will survive the circumstance you are in but if you will trust Him through it. “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9 NKJV).
Though you may be at the end of yourself, hold onto this in whatever trial you are enduring: This too shall pass. No matter what you are enduring at your work or home, be sure that: This too will pass. Let your thoughts be on God, and it will be God that fills your thoughts.
We must keep our faith focused on the unseen, even when the seen is staring us right in the face. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NKJV).
Blessings to you,
Paul Balius
Yes, Christ, our uncreated Creator of all creation, omniscient, omnipotent, omnibenevolent, our ardent, affectionate Arch-Advocate, is the Alpha and the Omega, the Lord of our personal histories, the King of our hearts, the Saneness of our souls, who by His perfect perspicacity, sees and sympathizes pertaining to every part of all the pictures puzzling and the pain pressuring, is infinitely intimate with the chief context, contexts ad infinitum, each relationship, and, as laid-down lovers of Himself, forever fully God, forever fully man, altogether works wondrously rich the righteous, royal result of every detail of our cherished lives together to reign with Him, for our everlastingly, explosively enjoyable good, and His inimitable, worthy-most glory, in both short-lived time and ever-expanding, endless eternity.
We are so blessed by Jesus that He has done so much for us!
Comforting and enlightening as always.
Thank you so much for sharing your revelation and knowledge with us.
May the Lord bless you , keep you and make His face shine upon you.
Marcela
Hi Marcela, thank you for your kind words and your words of blessings. We truly serve such a great and might God, who loves us so much and cares for us perfectly. May His great favor be on your life.