Faith in God Through Trials

You know, the world that we live in today, in some ways even evidenced by the inauguration yesterday and some of the conflict, some of the disputing, some of the news reporting, pretty much in conflict with each other, and some of the people opposed, even to the new president now. I think it identifies a fact that the world we live in today is different. This is not a normal time. You know, we can think back, I can think back to certainly times during my life that I think, compared right now, looking at it, it seemed pretty normal.

It seemed pretty ordinary. So pretty, in a sense, somewhat even united and kind of calm and peaceful. But see, that's not the case today. We have a world that is not only unsettled but it's in great conflict and unrest. And Senator McCain from Arizona said the other day, our world is on fire.

You know, what he was implying was, you know, looking at the things we know that are agitated over in the Far East. My brother happens to be in the Philippines right now. He knows not only what's going on in the Philippines, but he knows that some of the interactions with China, you know, with other Malaysia, with Japan, with some of the distressing things that they are feeling there about the state of the world, the state of affairs that this world is in.

And what it seems to me, whenever you think about this, and again, in contrast to many, many years, many decades that I think have seemed to be pretty normal to me, and we've got a very unnormal, very abnormal, I guess you would call it, time. And Satan seems to be stirring up the entire world, and I'm going to explain that more as we go on through the rest of the sermon.

But I think it's obvious that people are agitated. They're irritated. They sometimes are angry. They're often upset. And basically, you know, just in a state of kind of a heightened anger. And see, how could that possibly happen? How could that occur? Does Satan really have the ability to affect people all over the globe? Well, of course, the answer to that is, yes, he does. But what we want to think about is, how does that affect us? As the people of God, you know, in Revelation 13, you see a section of Scripture, and I'm not going through it in detail.

I'm simply pointing out one verse there. In Revelation 13, verse 10, it's actually talking about the beast power. It's talking about the great distress that's going to be coming to the world. And it's talking about how it is that, you know, those who want to obey God, the saints are going to need to be on guard.

And verse 10, at the very last part of it, which kind of concludes a section there in that chapter, Revelation 13, verse 10, says, here is a call for the endurance, the patience, and the faith of the saints. See, that's actually, in essence, a description of what the saints are going to be needing to be doing. They're going to need to grow in endurance and patience and long suffering, and they're going to need to have their faith strengthened, again, beyond anything we may have ever imagined up to this point. In Daniel chapter 7, you'll also find a description because, of course, Revelation and Daniel, both of those books give a lot of insight into historical things that have been fulfilled now, and then even other things that are to be at the time of the end.

But in Daniel chapter 7, again, talking about pretty much the growth and development of an oppressive system that would be active at the end of the age. It talks about the saints, again, the holy ones of God. It talks about them. It says, the beast power, again, under Satan's sway, under his influence. Daniel 7, verse 25, it says, he will wear out. I think the King James says, persecute, but most of the translations that I looked at, it said, he will wear out the holy ones of the most high.

Now, I think that's the only place that particular word is used in the Old Testament, but wear out sounds like trauma after problem, after trial, after difficulty, after, you know, after a while, maybe you'll wear down.

And see, that's what we want to certainly have in mind. We don't want to allow anything collectively or individually. You know, to take our eyes off of the need to have faith in God. See, our faith and trust in God must never be undermined by anything. Absolutely nothing should undermine your faith in the Creator God and in his Son and in what he is doing with us.

So, whenever, and Mr. Kubik is writing about this and what I will send you, since I apparently didn't get it to you tonight or last night, but in face of extreme or unsuspected trials, how do we stay grounded? How do we stay stable? Even if things seem to be persistent and almost never-ending. You know, whenever I have any kind of trial, well, no matter what it is, whether it's financial or whether it's health or whether it comes from other directions, you know, whatever type of difficulty I might be struggling with, I'd sure like for that to be over quickly. I often pray, and of course I can read verses that say, please answer speedily. And of course, that's okay. That's something that often God is merciful enough to do.

But sometimes things go on and on, and they seem to never have an end and never have an answer. And that can tend to cause us to wear out. And we don't want to allow that to be the case.

I want to point out here in the book of 1 Peter, because Peter wrote these two books, 1 Peter and 2 Peter. They're general in their description. They were not written to a specific congregation in the church, as Paul wrote to Corinth, or to Philippi, or Ephesus. These are written to Christians in general. And I think you'd have to say that Peter, through his life, through his 30 or 35 years of 30, 35, 40, however long it was, his ministry, his service to the church, and ultimately, you know, to his death, which was going to occur, I think, sometime in the later 60s, he understood what it was to face persecution. He understood what it was to face trial. And, of course, ultimately he would be martyr for the name of Jesus Christ. And yet he wrote not only about his trials, not only about the persecution that he faced, but he wrote about what he knew the brethren were facing. He wrote about what they were going through. And, of course, if you'll think back, you know, who was ruling power at the time? Well, the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire exercised authority over the entirety of the area there in Jerusalem and then certainly up into Greece and obviously in Italy and in Rome. And yet, you know, he told the brethren several things that I want to take a look at today in 1 Peter. It's a very good description of how it is that we can view trials, and we all will go through trials, but we want to be prepared for them. We just want to be ready and we want to know that trials shouldn't just come upon us without being anywhere near prepared. Here in chapter 4, 1 Peter 4, verse 12, he says, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, to try you, as though some strange thing were happening to you. See, here he's telling the people there in the first century, don't be surprised that trials come forth. Don't be surprised about what you're expected to endure. Don't be surprised about the suffering that you may go through for doing the work and the job that God has called you to do. So don't think it's strange when fiery trials come upon you. In a sense, he's kind of telling them, well, to expect even the unexpected. That's what he's trying to say. Don't think it's strange. But he says in verse 13, rejoice in so far as you are sharing Christ's suffering so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. And so he said, that's certainly a pretty optimistic view of trial. Understand that it's coming? No. You know, I don't know. Some things we can kind of predict. We kind of know if we're getting sickly, if we're getting to feel bad, some things just hit us all of a sudden. And, you know, it's an unexpected thing. But this is Peter's instruction in telling us how to even prepare for the trials that will surely come.

I want to point out several other facets here in 1 Peter that hopefully can help us to understand that enduring trials is really not only our obligation, but there is great benefit and great value in enduring trials. Like I said, we often want trials to be over quickly and we want them to be behind us. We want to be delivered. We want to be restored. We want to be healed. We want to be rescued. You know, we want all of that to happen real quick. And yet, that's not what Peter writes. He says, understand, you know, that trials are inevitable and actually understand that trials have an enduring value. Here in 1 Peter, Chapter 1, 1 Peter, Chapter 1, he says in Verse 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ by His great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance. So He's given us hope and He's given us an inheritance. We know what God holds out before us as eternal life. He's given us an inheritance that is imperishable and undefiled and unfated, reserved in heaven for you, you who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed again in the last time. See, He was actually writing to the people that He knew there, but obviously God was inspiring Him. The Holy Spirit was giving Him direction that would be needed for all of us today.

Here in Verse 6, He says, In this you rejoice. See, we rejoice in that we have hope. We rejoice in the fact that we have an inheritance. You know, we're looking forward to the family of God. In this we rejoice even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials.

And so here He was telling them and us, you know, you were enduring trials. You have had to suffer various trials so that the genuineness of your faith, being more precious than gold, that through no perishable is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

See, now what's He saying about trials?

Well, He's saying that they're inevitable. He's saying that they have great value. He's saying that they should be expected.

He's saying that trials are like the refining of gold. See, what is it whenever you melt gold and the impurities and, you know, they it boils up to the top and pulled off as slag or, you know, however that occurs of, He said, the trials that we go through, the trying of our faith that we go through is more valuable than anything physical, anything like gold. But see, that's the way God looks at it. That's the way Peter understood God looked at it, and He tells us, well, we need to realize how important trials are in our spiritual development. Because, see, that's what we want to keep in mind.

I mentioned too many times we want our trials to be over, and we're often praying for relief. We're praying for deliverance. We're praying that it will stop. But maybe more importantly, we should pray that as God allows us to go through a trial, as He allows us to be, in a sense, put in the cooker and go through a difficult time in our lives and wonder, you know, how He's going to rescue us, what He's going to do. He may want us to think more of just the fact that, well, I certainly don't want this trial to be wasted. I want to learn whatever it is that this trial and enduring this trial is one is God wants me to learn. See, I think if we think about it that way, then it puts more value into the trial. It puts more of a recognition of the significance and the importance in enduring trials because clearly we're told to endure trials. And yet, too many times we don't think about, well, am I really learning the lessons that God can teach me through endurance? See, every one of us want endurance. We want patience. The different words that you see describe endurance or patience or long suffering. We don't like that one because that sounds pretty difficult. That's basically the same thing. It's very similar. It's all talking about enduring, and as we know we're going to be saved, we're going to have to endure unto the end. And so enduring, that's a part of God's divine nature. That's one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, long suffering. He tells us that the love of God in 1 Corinthians 13 is patient. It's long suffering. And of course, then it goes ahead and says a lot of other things that we have to seek as well, but trials often teach us endurance. And so what we find Peter beginning with as he discusses trials is simply that we know that they are for our good, that whatever we go through, it is for our good, and that it has tremendous value as we grow in God's divine nature. The second thing I want to point out is here in chapter 2. Chapter 2 we're kind of familiar with. We read verse 9 a lot. You're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people. In order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. See, now, that applies to the people of God. That applies to people who keep the commandments, as our sermonette pointed out. You know, we observe the commandments. We do that out of love. We do that out of turning from sin. We do that out of repentance, and we do that to grow closer to God.

But here you see, if we drop down in chapter 2 to the perfect example described in verse 21.

Verse 21 says, for to this you have been called. He can say that to brethren to this you've been called because Jesus Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you should follow in his steps.

Of course, in verse 23 or 22, he committed no sin and no deceit was found in his mouth. When he was abused, he didn't return abuse. When he suffered, he didn't threaten. But he entrusted himself to the one who judges righteously or justly.

Whenever we go through trials, if we see them as something God has allowed, something that we are going to benefit from enduring, and we are simply following, if we're suffering and if we're in distress, then that's following in a pattern that Jesus set. His life was one. I would think, as he struggled against sin, as he fought sin, always victoriously throughout his life, that had to be one struggle. But obviously, toward the end of his life, we know the type of distress, the type of abuse, the type of separation that he felt from his disciples. He said, I know you're all going to leave. He also said, I know you're going to leave, but I'm never alone because the Father is always with me. He understood what was going on. And yet, even at the end of his life, and when he was going to endure, not only suffering, but abusive language, criticism, all types of distress, and ultimately the scourging and the crucifixion that he would endure, he knew all of that was going to happen. And yet, he did that patiently. He knew it had to come, but see, what did he... He'd even talked to the Father about that. He said, Father, if there's any other way we can work this out, I would consider thinking about that. And yet, of course, he always followed that up. You know, that had to be difficult. That had to be almost unbearable, but he knew that, well, no, I'm setting a perfect example. I'm going to endure. I am going to submit to the will of the Father. I'm not going to demand my own way. I'm going to submit to the will of the Father, and I'm going to fulfill this mission that I'm here on. And, of course, obviously, he is our example. It says in Hebrews 5, verse 8 and 9, that Jesus was perfected through the things he suffered. Now, clearly, it would appear he was perfect before that, but, you know, you learn something more. You became more refined, even, through what he suffered. And see, too many times, you know, we probably don't remember to look at it that way. We don't think about it in the same way that Jesus did, and so we want to emulate his example. Another thing that Peter writes about here, we mentioned chapter 4, about not being surprised, but in chapter 5, I want to point out how that, and this ties in with what I was saying to begin with, with the whole world upset. The whole world, kind of on the verge of seemingly exploding and agitated. Who creates that agitation? Well, here in verse 8 of 1 Peter 5, 1 Peter 5, verse 8, he says, discipline yourselves. Keep alert, because, like a lion, a roaring lion, your adversary, the devil, prowls around, looking for someone to devour.

You know, who is Peter writing to? He's writing to the church members. He's writing to us. He said, we have to recognize that our enemy, our adversary, is Satan. And see, sometimes we recognize that. Sometimes we feel, and yet sometimes it's just because it doesn't look so obvious. We don't think about that. And yet, when you think about the devil, at one point, he was named Lucifer. At one point, the devil was an archangel.

At one point, he was at the throne of God. At one point, he had been, it appeared to be, one of the most incredible creations the father had made. And yet, amazingly, and you can only say insanely, he concluded that, I don't like what the father's doing. I don't like what my creator is doing. So I'm going to resist, and I'm going to rebel against him. And ultimately, he became the devil. He became the adversary of God. And see, what about that picture? The creator, being attacked and rebelled, having rebellion against him from his creation.

That was a lopsided fight. That was doomed to fail, as far as Lucifer was concerned, because he, you know, had no chance against the great God. He had no chance against his creator. And so the devil became the adversary of God by that rebellion. But see, when did he become your adversary? When did he become the adversary of mankind? Well, in Genesis 3. In Genesis 3, you see a description of Adam and Eve being the first two people God created, and yet being exposed to an incredibly powerful, deceitful, cunning, wily liar.

That's, you know, it was almost no contest there either, because Satan was too wily for them. He was able to deceive them. He was able to get them off the path real easily, it seems, you know, when you read Genesis 3. But see, that's when mankind began to have the adversary called the devil. And see, ultimately, those of us who were called to Jesus Christ, those of us who come to recognize the spiritual aspects of our lives, understand what God's purpose is. We realize that we are battling against this worrying lion. He goes on here in chapter 5, verse 9, resist him steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brethren, your brothers and sisters in all the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering. You realize, you know, there are people all over the globe, people that God has chosen to deal with, people that God is working with in an incredibly marvelous way. He's given us hope. He's given us an inheritance. He wants us in his family. He wants us to remain faithful through the trials, however severe those trials are. He wants us to see that trials have value, that they actually purify. In essence, when you think of the human condition, we clearly need to be purified, and we need them to be filled and transformed with the nature of God. And so, whenever we're told you're to resist the devil, because you know that your brethren around the world are suffering in much the same way, well, you know, he tells us not only about that, have we understood the fact that, you know, we're in that battle. We're in that struggle. We can't afford to be playing with what Satan is able to do. We've got to resist that with all of our might. We've got to resist that with our prayers, with our awareness. Actually, how is it that we resist? Well, Ephesians 6 tells us directly what to do.

He says in verse 10, finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord. Be strong in the strength of his might.

He didn't say, well, because you're such mighty, powerful people, brethren, you can overcome Satan. He doesn't say that. He says, brethren, realize that you need to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. See, the power of God is made available to us. He goes on to say, to put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For, he says in verse 12, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, so you're able to withstand in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. See, here he tells us exactly what to do. He's showing us this is the armor of God. This is how, as we know, trials that God allows us to go through are beneficial. They have value because the divine nature of God is received through enduring trials. We also know the example that Jesus said that we're to follow. We actually recognize that our enemy is in spiritual warfare. We recognize that. And so, whenever it talks about the helmet of salvation and the belt of truth, and whenever it talks about a breastplate of righteousness, and our feet involved in preaching the gospel of peace, whenever it talks about having a shield to fend off the fiery darts of the wicked one, the shield of faith, it says, a shield of faith, which you will be able, in verse 16, to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. See, how important is faith in God? How important is maintaining faith in God, even through the most difficult, the most unexpected, the most crushing trial?

Well, faith is very important, but he also says not only do we have those defensive things, we have an offensive thing. Take the sword of the Spirit in verse 17, which is the Word of God.

See, when we base what we say, what we believe, what we think on the Word of God, not just our understanding, but what we know, you know, the truth of God is what's been taught. See, that's what, you know, we continue to maintain. We keep that in mind. And, of course, many of us have been doing that for 50 years. But, see, taking the salmon helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now, that's why it's so wonderful to memorize verses. If you can keep them in your head, sometimes it's going to take reminding and reviewing. But the Word of God, and I don't know, again, if you have experienced this, I know I have, I guess, at times not benefited from this much. But there are other times when I do benefit, and have been, but maybe even learning, to benefit from whenever I'm distressed, whenever I'm pressed, whenever I'm struggling with whatever kind of issue, focusing on the Word of God, focusing on what God says. Probably, I don't know where to look to find something directly applicable to what I might be struggling with, and maybe you've read into the same thing. Maybe you would know where to look. You could certainly look things up, but, see, focus on the Word of God. Focus on just what it says, because He says that is the sword of the Spirit. That's what we have to work with. That's what we are able to overrule the very powerful adversary that we have.

But we've got to understand who we're fighting, and we have to understand the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God that we can use to stand firm. That's what He's telling us here. I want you to stand. I want you to know that you are able to rely on the power of God, the strength of His power, as it says in verse 10. The last thing I want to mention out of 1 Peter 5 is that as we go through trials, some of them probably much shorter than others of the longer duration, some very difficult, some maybe not so hard. As we go through things that we should anticipate, as our faith in God is tested, after a while, we'll be rewarded. That's what it says here in chapter 5, 1 Peter 5 verse 10.

After discussing how it is that we need to humbly come to God, he says God, up in verse 5, opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. That's another thing to seek, because that gives you a huge advantage. God says He's even willing to dwell with the humble and with the contrite, those who tremble at my word.

But He says, humble yourselves in verse 6, under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you in due time. Even in verse 7, cast all of your cares, all of your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. But what I want to get to really is in verse 10, because in verse 10 He says, after you, and so here He's been talking about trials throughout the whole book. Now, there are numerous other things that we didn't even read through, but this is what I thought we could cover today. But in verse 10, chapter 5, after you have suffered for a while, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to His eternal glory in Jesus Christ, He will Himself restore and support and strengthen and establish you to Him, be the power forever and forever. Amen. See, that's what Peter wanted the people in the church to know. He wanted us to understand that well trials are going to come. We don't know the severity of those trials. We don't know the difficulty, but we do know the answers. Having faith in God and not allowing anything to undermine that. Trying to, you know, encourage ourselves with the Word of God, trying to encourage one another as we build up each other in the body. You know, that's what we can do.

Actually, I think about this in connection with Psalm 23. You know, it's the Psalm that all of you know could probably recite. Many of us probably have recited that much of our lives. But see, when David talks about, you know, the Lord being His shepherd, see, he's talking about a very close and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. He's talking about a connection to God that is absolute, that is incredibly sure.

And what does he say in verse 4? Psalm 23 verse 4, he says, Yea, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. See, that's a great description. Walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

Now, what's the valley of the shadow of death? Well, I guess as we think about it, if we get older, or maybe we're not even older, as we get close to dying, you might think, well, that's what that's referring to, but I think it really is referring to what you might say is a valley that's deep, it's dark, it's rocky, it's stumbly, it's craggy. He's talking about the extreme trials that we might face, but see, what it says is, even though I walk through this trial, I walk through this valley. If you're walking through it, then you end, or didn't you came out on the other side? But he says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I don't have to be afraid. This is interesting to hear that even prayed yesterday by the chaplain of the senate in the prayer over their lunch, he says, we don't need to be afraid. And I don't know, you know, the context of what his thoughts are about that, but I absolutely do know that for Christians, knowing that we don't have to be afraid, and we don't have to fear, he goes ahead to say, you don't have to fear because, because I am with you. And he goes ahead to say, the shepherd, who is the Lord, the shepherd has a rod and a staff that will comfort us. See, that rod gives direction and sometimes correction, protection. That staff gives encouragement. It gives support. It gives comfort and care. He says, I'm the one who can provide all of that. Jesus Christ is able to do so. Here in 2 Corinthians 4, you see, we've been talking about Peter, but I'll switch over a little bit to Paul, because Paul clearly delineated the extremes of the trials that he went through, the difficulties of stuff that most of us find hard to believe.

How many times do you have to be shipwrecked before you figure out, I don't want to ride a ship. I don't want to go on a boat. I don't want to go on a plane today. You know, that's not the way Paul thought about it. He thought, well, you have to get there. So he took the boat. That was the efficient way to go at the time. But, you know, shipwrecked, beaten numerous different ways, all kinds of oppression, all kinds of tribulation, tribulation from false brethren, tribulation from the Jews who continually harassed him over many things.

He said, I've got all kinds of things to be discouraged about or distressed about, but I don't want to be distressed. He had incredible amount of trial.

And yet here in chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians, he says in verse 7, we've been given this treasure in clay jars so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and doesn't come from us. That he was talking about the power that he had from God. He was talking about Christians have been given a closeness to God that didn't come from them, that it came from God. And even though we're a clay jar, even though we're a physical being and we're subject to death, we're subject to we've got to be able to breathe, and we've got to be able to have blood coursing through our body. But we're just physical, but we've been given a hope that is incredible from God. And so he said in verse 8, we're afflicted in every way, and yet we're not crushed.

We're perplexed, but we're not driven to despair. We're persecuted, but we're not forsaken. We're struck down, but we're not destroyed, always carrying the body to death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our lives.

See there he describes a certain level of trauma, a certain level of strain and stress. He talks about being afflicted and perplexed about being persecuted and struck down, which clearly is the way we feel whenever we face a trial, whenever we don't know where to turn.

But he says even though we have those difficulties, we are not crushed. We are not driven to despair. We are not forsaken, and we are not destroyed. We have the hope of God intervening and helping, of God directing us, of God maybe more importantly growing his divine nature in us. We're not simply just looking to be rescued. We're looking to take on the nature of God, and sometimes that can only come through trial. Sometimes that's the only way that we will have what is described as long suffering, to become like God in that way.

Last verse, I think you see that Peter has a great deal to say about trial. Understanding the value, understanding Jesus' example, understanding our enemy, knowing how to fight that battle, and knowing that God will. He says there in chapter 5 verse 10, He will intervene and help us. He will restore. He will settle us.

That's a very good verse to keep in mind again as we go through a trial. But lastly here in 2 Thessalonians, Paul also writes to people there in Thessalonica.

He was encouraged by them in many ways, and yet he also knew there would be some troubling times for them. He writes about that here throughout this book of 2 Thessalonians. But in chapter 3, this is kind of in his closing, kind of concluding what he has to say. Verse 1, finally brethren, pray for us. So here he was asking the brethren to pray for one another, and to pray for him, pray for others who worked with him to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God. Finally, brethren, pray for us so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly, and that that word may be glorified everywhere just as it is among you.

And that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people, for not all have faith. But he says in verse 3, the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. Verse 5, he says, may the Lord direct your heart to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

See, he was talking to people that he wanted to be encouraged by. He wanted to encourage them, but he wanted to be encouraged by them as they prayed for him and as they understood that we are praying that we be delivered from evil people who are affected by the evil one.

And so, brethren, as we live in an age that is, in many ways, very unpredictable, we don't know what we might run into. We know what we've already gone through. Many of us have been around the Church of God for some time. Many of us understand the doctrinal apostasy that we've gone through. We understand a ministerial rebellion that we've endured. We know what other trials we've had to face individually, many health issues, many other distressing things. But see, we don't know what trials we may yet need to go through, but we know that God will be with us. We know, even as he says there in Psalm 23, as you go through the valley of the shadow of death, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid because I'm with you and my rod and staff will comfort you. See, we have something absolutely solid, absolutely incredibly, incredibly sound that we can rely on. And that's our faith in God through the trials that he allows us to go through.