Through Many Tribulations
Scripture Reading: Acts 14:8-28
Recently, I took a flight to visit my grandkids. Somewhere along the way, we hit some pretty rough turbulence. The plane bounced around enough to prompt me to pray. The destination made the difficult part of the journey worthwhile.
Acts 14 reminds us that the Christian life is much the same way. The journey is not always smooth, but the destination makes the trip worthwhile.
Paul and Barnabas were faithfully preaching the gospel when they arrived in Lystra. After Paul healed a man who had been crippled from birth, the crowds were amazed. In fact, they became so excited that they tried to worship Paul and Barnabas as gods. One moment, Paul was being treated like a celebrity.
A short time later, everything changed.
Opponents arrived from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the crowds to turn against them. The same people who wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul instead picked up stones. They stoned him, dragged him outside the city, and left him for dead.
Imagine the scene. Bruised, bloodied, and broken, Paul lay outside the city gates while everyone assumed his ministry was over.
But it wasn’t.
Acts 14:20 tells us that Paul got up and went right back into the city.
That may be one of the most remarkable verses in the book of Acts. Most of us would have been seeking the quickest escape. Paul reentered the very city where people had just tried to kill him. He understood that faithfulness to Christ is measured by obedience, not comfort.
Later, as Paul and Barnabas revisited the churches, they encouraged the believers with these words: “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
Notice what Paul does not say. He does not say tribulations might come. He says they will come. Hardship is not the exception in the Christian life; it is part of the journey. Jesus himself said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33).
But focus on where Paul directs attention. He emphasizes the kingdom. The road may be rough, but it leads to something glorious. Tribulation is the pathway, not the destination, guiding us toward eternal life.
The Christian life comes with suffering, disappointment, opposition, and grief. Some trials are far more severe than anything we would ever choose for ourselves. Paul knew that firsthand. Yet he understood that every hardship has an expiration date. The tribulations are temporary, but the kingdom is eternal.
John Piper writes, “To know that our Father in heaven has ordained our pain is not a comfortable truth, but it is comforting.” God never wastes the trials of his children. He uses them to deepen our faith, strengthen our dependence on him, and prepare us for the glory that is to come.
So if the journey feels difficult today, do not lose heart. The tribulations will not last forever. Through many tribulations, we enter the kingdom of God, and the destination is worth every mile of the journey.
God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.
C. S. Lewis
Their focus was on God. They didn’t get distracted by honor when the people wanted to make them gods. They didn’t get distracted by persecution. They faithfully continued—took the next steps. That’s an example I’m praying I will follow.