Struggling to Stand?

“Who can endure the day of the coming of the Lord? Who can stand when He appears?”(Mal 3:2)

As I read this verse, I thought of the struggles we all face in our lives. Everyone has a battle to fight, a cross to take up, and temptations to surmount. But what purpose do these tough periods serve?

Regardless of the level of faith we are at, God inserts new challenges in our lives daily to mold us into the perfect being in His eyes. On our own abilities, it is impossible to attain to the standard that God has set for each of us. We do not know the ultimate level of faith we are supposed to reach, but in God’s own holy wisdom, He has seen the future for each of our lives.

Knowing what is ahead, God sees that we need to be refined and perfected. Given that He is our Counselor and the finisher of our faith, it is evident that He wants to help us do that. Since we are blemished and incomplete, we really need His help to achieve that.

It is no wonder that in His perfect wisdom, God puts us through rough periods to toughen and shape us up. In that regard, He sits as the refiner and purifier of silver, constantly placing us in the fiery furnace. The next time we come under fire when faced with workplace pressure; studying-stress at school; or feel the blaze of unhappiness from family conflicts, rather than sensing the burn-out and giving up on God, recognize that God is actually putting us through the path He had passed through (cf. Heb 2:17), in order to help us attain to our next level of maturity.

Do we have enough faith in such a plan for us? Can we actually see that this path is necessary? None of us can stand in the day of the Lord for we’re all unworthy, imperfect, and unready. Yet He in His loving-kindness has prepared the way ahead for us – the way of adversity – so that we can face Him in perfect holiness.

So who can stand when He appears? Of course, we who let Him refine us through the fire. Wonderfully, God Himself is the consuming fire (Heb 12:29). Now that is the most reassuring of all comforts we can receive in our struggles!