To Encourage You

Revelation 2:10 “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

One of the greatest blessings of the Christian life is that there is a limit to all suffering, i.e., the believer always has hope.  In Revelation 2:10 we see a prophesy about some suffering that is coming to Christians in the future.  Interestingly, it says that these believers will be tested for ten days.  Note that it doesn’t say 11 or 12 days – but 10 days – a very specific time period. And the same can be said for any suffering that a believer is currently experiencing.  The believer lives in this world just like everyone else, and suffers many of the same trials and tribulations that unbelievers do.  Further, believers suffer some unique trials that non-Christians do not, for some believers suffer persecution because they are Christians.  Yet, as Revelation 2:10 says above and as many other places in Scripture remind us, that suffering is always limited. It is never forever.  It will always end. 

As we are told in Psalm 30:5, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.”  Elsewhere we are told such things as “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4), and “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials” (1 Peter 1:6).  Even when his disciples faced the greatest trial of their lives, i.e., the looming crucifixion of their Master, Jesus taught them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:20-22). 

And the same holds true for all believers in all ages.  No matter what we face, no matter how difficult, no matter how it seems, or feels, or looks, this too will pass, and whatever grief, pain, or loss we are experiencing, it will inevitably and always be turned to joy.  The question is, will we believe our senses at such times, or will we believe Jesus’ words.  It is at such times that the strength of our faith, i.e., our trust, in Jesus and His words is revealed.