3 Things to Do in Challenging Times

How to face uncertain moments in your life.

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Sometimes, we have to make tough decisions in our lives, and we don’t know what to choose - or maybe there are no great choices.

Sometimes, a situation may be so challenging that we don’t know how to handle it or what to do.

Many people in the Bible faced tough decisions and challenging circumstances. No doubt, some of them thought just as we do, “I don’t know what to do.”

But we also see three themes emerge from the lives of the faithful when they face challenging circumstances.

Keep trusting God.

When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were summoned by Nebuchadnezzar and asked why they hadn’t worshipped his golden image, they had a bold response that showed their trust in God during a challenging moment.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

They didn’t know exactly what would happen when they put their trust in God and defied the king. They knew the king would throw them into the fiery furnace - and they knew God was able to deliver them.

But they didn’t know if He would deliver them. In a moment where they didn’t know how things would turn out, they kept trusting God.

Keep praying to God.

When Daniel heard a law had been passed that forbade prayer to anyone or anything other than the king, Daniel went home and kept doing what he’d always done.

Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. (Daniel 6:10)

In a moment where Daniel knew what the law said, and he knew what the Lord was capable of doing - he still didn’t know how things would turn out.

But in that uncertain moment, Daniel kept praying to God just as he always had done.

Keep doing what you know is right.

When Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were taken into Babylonian captivity, they were faced with a lot of uncertainty and new situations. Some things they found around themselves would have been sinful to engage in.

But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. (Daniel 1:8)

In a challenging moment, with the future uncertain - especially if they didn’t go along with Babylon’s training program, these four Israelite young men kept doing what they knew was right.

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When we go through difficult, uncertain times in our lives, we too, should keep trusting God, praying to Him, and doing what we know is right.

We may not always know what we should do - but we can keep doing these three things and living by faith in the Lord God.