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Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world" (Jn.16:33). But none of us likes tribulation or any kind of trouble, opposition, discomfort or inconvenience. So we pray for such to be taken away! There was some 'thorn in the flesh' that the apostle Paul had to endure, and he kept praying for God to remove it from him. But God's answer to him was that it was intended to help him remain humble in spite of all the revelations he was receiving (2Cor.12:7).

How many are praying for someone or some circumstance to change so that their life can become happy! It seems to be a good and reasonable prayer, but God does not seem to answer it even after a long time. The answer which Paul received was in effect that this thorn was good for him!

It is as if we have decided that until the difficulty goes away, we cannot have peace or happiness. The implication is that it is other people or circumstances that decide our happiness. In our mind we have allowed them to decide for us! Then, till they change, we cannot be happy! We keep praying and even begin to lose our faith in the usefulness of prayer when things continue the way they are.

We need revelation to understand this. How can constant difficulty do us any good? Think about Jas.1:3,4, "Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith brings about perseverance." Till now we were thinking that it is comfortable circumstances that will make us happy. But when our eyes turn from earthly glory to eternal glory, then we see that the present difficulties can serve to train our character which is what will contribute to our riches in eternity (2Cor.4:17).

Think of this also from the point of view of our mental outlook. If we are constantly waiting for things to change before we can become happy, and, for example, there is someone who constantly irritates us, we will be in effect choosing to remain in a state of constant frustration! But on the other hand, if we choose to accept the fact that this person is like that, and stop waiting for him to change, we can concentrate more on how we should respond in a godly way to him as he is. Now, instead of holding him as the key to our happiness and suffering in frustration because he is not changing, we can start reconciling in our mind with the actual situation and working out our own salvation.

The old saying comes to mind, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." If we try instead to change what we cannot change, we will be constantly beating ourselves up in frustration. But now we can learn to enjoy the peace that Jesus gives us in the midst of our difficulties, not waiting for them to disappear, which is what the world thinks of as peace (Jn.14:27).

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