You hate your job.
Your boss is an idiot. You’re underappreciated and overqualified. You can’t stand the inefficient methods of work that are forced on you. You don’t understand the reason management belittles others and refuses to listen to feedback or good ideas. Will you remain under or get out? Getting out now might make you feel better right away, but what if you don’t get a job right away? What if the next work environment is worse?
This year, you don’t have money for Christmas presents without help from credit cards.
You’re embarrassed because your parents always gave you a massive pile of presents, and you can’t do that for your kids. Will you remain under or get out? Will you swallow the hard pill and tell your kids “Christmas is going to be small this year,” or will you max out a couple of credit cards and compound your financial problems later?
You are depressed.
Life is hard and unfair. You feel like the walls are closing in even on days you describe as “pretty good.” You feel like there’s no end and no hope. Will you remain under or get out? Suicide gets you out, but how does it affect the people who love you? Pills, alcohol and other substances make you forget your problems for a few hours, but in the morning they come raging back. What are the long-term costs associated with your preferred method of escape?
Every day make the conscious choice to endure. Make the decision to “remain under” until you are certain God is done building your faith through this trial. Getting out won’t perfect your faith and won’t make you stronger. Getting out will not lead to blessing. Remaining under, on the other hand, is used by God to mold you into a masterpiece. God has greater plans for you THROUGH your trials than you can ever experience by getting away FROM them.
So don’t run. Instead, kneel.
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.
—James 1:5 (NLT)
