Times of trouble can do one of two things. Troublesome times can build your faith and establish a deeper relationship with God, or troubled times can crush your faith and leave your relationship in a vulnerable stage or your relationship may become nonexistent. It is during hard times that you are most open to loosing your faith and falling far from God.
When you are struggling it is the perfect time for Satan to attack and plant seeds of doubt in your mind about your belief and faith in God. During times of struggle we must guard our hearts and minds against the attacks of Satan. We are warned of this in God’s word:
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the devil your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are (1 Peter 6:8-9).
When you are suffering you are at your most vulnerable state. I can say from experience that it is easy to cross the line of having faith to having no faith. Sometimes it is not easy to recross to the having faith side. Some people who loose faith are never able to find it again. We must remember that our current circumstance in life will not always be our circumstance. We have to stay strong in our faith and press on. We can use Job as our example to continue to have faith no matter the circumstance.
I pray that as I and others struggle in life that we will hold onto our faith as tight as we can so that we can grow stronger in our relationship with God and not loose sight of him.