Whether you're nervous about making the move to assisted living, dealing with a health issue or facing any other challenge big or small, here are four Biblical figures you can look to for inspiration.
You can't really say "Biblical figures facing trials" and not include Job on the list. The book of Job tells the story of a man faithful to God facing almost every major trial most people fear they'll deal with. He loses his immediate family, his home, his livelihood and his health. And yet, even as he questions why God is allowing these things to happen, Job still believes God is over it all and refuses to turn away from God.
One of the big takeaways from this Old Testament book is that God's ways are not man's ways. In his struggle to understand God's ways, Job makes the mistake of equating them to man's ways. He later hears from God, who questions him so that Job realizes God's wisdom and plan are greater than anything he can comprehend.
Sometimes we try to make sense of things in life and they simply don't line up in a way we can understand. During those times, it's important to remember this truth that Job learned.
Picked on and outcast by his brothers, Joseph spent time as a slave and in jail in Egypt. Yet God protected him through all of this and raised him up in Egypt as the right hand of the king. The story of Joseph is about way more than one man's obedience to God and the faithfulness that's returned to him. It's about how God used Joseph's obedience and faith to put him in a position where he'd be able to save the entire fledgling nation of Israel from starvation during the famine.
Older adults of faith may want to consider that God still uses people today and that how they react to challenges may impact the faith and path of those around them.
Esther herself wasn't facing an obvious trial. She was living as royalty and, as the king's favorite, probably had a very comfortable life. Yet her people were facing a grave danger, and she rose to the occasion as their leader. When asked to enter the presence of the king without being invited — something that could mean a death sentence for her if things didn't go exactly right — Esther agreed because if she didn't face this potential danger, all her people certainly would.
Before Esther faced this trial, though, she called for fasting and prayer. This is a great reminder that people of faith today can take to heart — no one has to walk into trial without preparing first. Calling on others in your life of similar faith to pray with you before a challenge of any type can be helpful.
In Scripture, David is called "a man after God's own heart." And yet, older adults of faith who've studied the stories in 1 and 2 Samuel know David wasn't perfect. He might have been God's chosen king of Israel, but he was also a man with flaws and sins. Yet through everything, David returned constantly to God and tried to follow him throughout his life.
If you're looking for more than one story about resilience in the face of trial and faith in the Lord, the stories of David in the Old Testament are a great place to start. You can read about him as a young man facing the giant Goliath, as a warrior being chased and harassed by his king and as a king trying to live up to the name he created for himself while battling the desires of the flesh.
The life and story of David is also peppered with other stories of faith and resilience, including those about Jonathan.
These four Biblical figures are only a few you might consider when you want to be inspired to live faithfully and resiliently in the face of worldly challenges. You could also turn to stories of Moses, Ruth, Paul, the disciples and, of course, Jesus himself. All these stories help remind us of the truth of Romans 8:37: "...in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
