Tough Times Don't Last
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | May 17, 2026
Click here to listen to the service
Read 1 Peter 4:12 – 14; 5:6 - 11 (NIV)
When I was a slightly younger adult… probably 40 years ago or so… I remember my mom had a book by Robert Schuller entitled, “Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do.” Now to be perfectly honest, I don’t remember if I ever read the whole book or not… but the title stuck with me.
TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST, BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO…
Can we talk about tough times for just a moment?
It wasn’t enough that it felt like we were playing both ends against the middle between Russia and Ukraine, then Israel and Palestine… we had to pick fights with Mexico, Canada, Venezuela and most egregious of all, Iran… and I won’t talk about the Vatican.
While closer to home we have folks being stripped of their access to healthcare and the voting booth… not to mention the wholesale assault on our wallets and bank accounts. I don’t know about you, but a five-dolla holla feels a whole lot different when I am standing at the gas pump than when I am ordering a footlong sandwich from the counter at Subway.
I think it is fair to say that we are living in some particularly tough times. So much so, in fact, that I feel like I have become a broken record stuck on repeat when I stand up to preach any more…
But I am reminded that the texts that I most often use for the sermon each week were selected YEARS ago by the scholars who put the Lectionary together… and even more importantly, I believe these passages were inspired by God long before that to give us a word of encouragement, enlightenment and empowerment whenever we find ourselves going through tough times.
And the reality is that we are either going through tough times right now in the present moment… we have just come through tough times in the not-so-distant past… or we are about to go through some tough times in the future that looms ahead of us.
And that is why, for our time together this morning, I want to focus on this thought:
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST
Peter’s words in our text this morning offer encouragement to any of us who may be facing some challenging times. At the core of this passage of Scripture is confirmation that in spite of what circumstances might look like to the contrary… we can make it.
First and foremost, we are reminded of a simple truth… that whatever we may be going through… it is not the first time that we have had to face difficulties.
You may have heard me share something last week that I heard in a sermon by Rev. Dr. Tisha Dixon-Williams… the fact that we are here today means we have survived 100% of our worst days.
Which means, we have indeed made it through.
Secondly, our text offers us a word of enlightenment… reminding us that we are not the first, nor will we be the last person to face difficulties of some sort. In fact, Peter says that the family of believers around the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.
In other words, everybody… everywhere… is going through something.
And then third, we are given a word of empowerment because we have the promise that we do not have to face whatever difficulties confront us on our own.
God is with us and God will be with us… to lift us up in due time by His mighty hand.
We have been through hard times before.
We are not the only ones that have had to go through hard times.
But praise God… when we know the Lord… we have the assurance that we will never have to go through hard times alone.
In fact, the text suggests that because we know the Lord, we should actually rejoice in hard times because that is when we are sharing in Christ’s suffering.
Now I must confess, when I am in the midst of a crisis, most of the time, I am not really thinking of rejoicing in my suffering as a first, second or even third response to the situation.
More than likely, I am probably somewhere between angry, frustrated and completely overwhelmed. That is until I reflect on what the scriptures tell me.
First Peter 5:7 says that we can cast our cares on Christ because He cares for us.
The truth is, we are going to go through periods of suffering in our lives. Jesus even told us as much over in John 16:33 where we read, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Now depending on which version of the Bible you are looking at… that word trouble may be translated as tribulation, persecution or difficulty. All words that can quite easily be used as a synonym for tough times.
But the good news is that we can take heart… and because Jesus has overcome the world, we can be confident that while TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… those tough people who trust in the Lord will persevere through it all.
So just what does it take to be considered tough? Let me spell it out for you.
Trust Obedience Understanding Grace Humility… T-O-U-G-H
TRUST… we must first trust in the Lord… not in ourselves or other people.
Proverbs 3:5 – 6 tells us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
However, when we find ourselves confronted with tough times… one of the first things we tend to do is start thinking about who we can call to bail us out.
Should we call our spouse, our parents, our siblings, or perhaps our children in our quest for a solution? Or perhaps we should reach out to the Pastor for guidance and direction.
Or maybe we should just pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Suck it up as they say and just go for broke. Yeah… that’s it. I will just trust myself to do the right thing.
After all, don’t the scriptures say, “To thine own self be true?” No… it was actually William Shakespeare who said that.
However, what the scriptures do tell us is to trust in the Lord with ALL our hearts and not to lean on our own understanding. If we do that and acknowledge God for who God is… we will be guided along the path in the right way we should go.
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do, but first we have to trust.
But along with that trust comes obedience.
In fact, there is an old hymn of the church that says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey” [CH 556].
First Samuel 15:22 says it like this, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
Looking at that verse as it is found in the Message Paraphrase, we read, “Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production.”
Simply put, God is far more interested in us listening to and following His instructions than He is in us performing fancy rituals that we may be doing just for show.
Now that is not to say that God does not want us to do the things that honor Him… like coming together for worship… praying together… studying together… gathering at the Lord’s table… and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
But our hearts must be in the right place whenever we do those things. Because whatever we do… it ought to be out of a desire to honor God and to be obedient to what He has called us to do… not simply so that we can be seen.
Truly… obedience is better than sacrifice.
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do when we trust and obey.
Now, along with that trust and obedience, we also need understanding.
In fact, Psalm 119:34 says, “Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.” And verse 73 says, “Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands”
In order to trust God and obey His command… we need an understanding of what it is that we are being called to do and how God is calling us to act.
Let me ask you a quick question… do you remember when you were a child and your parents told you to do something and you had the nerve to ask, “Why?”
Did your parents respond like my mother by citing from the universal code of parenting, “Because I said so, that’s why.”
Well, let me say this… God loves us and when God tells us to do something… even when we ask or even think to ourselves, “Why?” God’s response is rarely simply, “Because I said so.”
Along with God’s desire for us to trust and obey… God wants us to understand what is going on and why we are doing what we are doing.
Proverbs 4:5 encourages us to “Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.” And in verse 7, we are told, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
Clearly, understanding is important… but how do we get understanding? [I am so glad you asked…]
When we commit to spending time in God’s presence and studying God’s word… we will get the understanding that will guide us through whatever situation we find ourselves navigating… get wisdom… get understanding
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do when we trust and obey and get understanding.
And in all of this God will give us grace to endure through the tough times.
In his second letter to the Corinthian Church, the Apostle Paul shares a fitting testimony of his own when he writes:
Read 1 Peter 4:12 – 14; 5:6 - 11 (NIV)
When I was a slightly younger adult… probably 40 years ago or so… I remember my mom had a book by Robert Schuller entitled, “Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do.” Now to be perfectly honest, I don’t remember if I ever read the whole book or not… but the title stuck with me.
TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST, BUT TOUGH PEOPLE DO…
Can we talk about tough times for just a moment?
It wasn’t enough that it felt like we were playing both ends against the middle between Russia and Ukraine, then Israel and Palestine… we had to pick fights with Mexico, Canada, Venezuela and most egregious of all, Iran… and I won’t talk about the Vatican.
While closer to home we have folks being stripped of their access to healthcare and the voting booth… not to mention the wholesale assault on our wallets and bank accounts. I don’t know about you, but a five-dolla holla feels a whole lot different when I am standing at the gas pump than when I am ordering a footlong sandwich from the counter at Subway.
I think it is fair to say that we are living in some particularly tough times. So much so, in fact, that I feel like I have become a broken record stuck on repeat when I stand up to preach any more…
But I am reminded that the texts that I most often use for the sermon each week were selected YEARS ago by the scholars who put the Lectionary together… and even more importantly, I believe these passages were inspired by God long before that to give us a word of encouragement, enlightenment and empowerment whenever we find ourselves going through tough times.
And the reality is that we are either going through tough times right now in the present moment… we have just come through tough times in the not-so-distant past… or we are about to go through some tough times in the future that looms ahead of us.
And that is why, for our time together this morning, I want to focus on this thought:
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST
Peter’s words in our text this morning offer encouragement to any of us who may be facing some challenging times. At the core of this passage of Scripture is confirmation that in spite of what circumstances might look like to the contrary… we can make it.
First and foremost, we are reminded of a simple truth… that whatever we may be going through… it is not the first time that we have had to face difficulties.
You may have heard me share something last week that I heard in a sermon by Rev. Dr. Tisha Dixon-Williams… the fact that we are here today means we have survived 100% of our worst days.
Which means, we have indeed made it through.
Secondly, our text offers us a word of enlightenment… reminding us that we are not the first, nor will we be the last person to face difficulties of some sort. In fact, Peter says that the family of believers around the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.
In other words, everybody… everywhere… is going through something.
And then third, we are given a word of empowerment because we have the promise that we do not have to face whatever difficulties confront us on our own.
God is with us and God will be with us… to lift us up in due time by His mighty hand.
We have been through hard times before.
We are not the only ones that have had to go through hard times.
But praise God… when we know the Lord… we have the assurance that we will never have to go through hard times alone.
In fact, the text suggests that because we know the Lord, we should actually rejoice in hard times because that is when we are sharing in Christ’s suffering.
Now I must confess, when I am in the midst of a crisis, most of the time, I am not really thinking of rejoicing in my suffering as a first, second or even third response to the situation.
More than likely, I am probably somewhere between angry, frustrated and completely overwhelmed. That is until I reflect on what the scriptures tell me.
First Peter 5:7 says that we can cast our cares on Christ because He cares for us.
The truth is, we are going to go through periods of suffering in our lives. Jesus even told us as much over in John 16:33 where we read, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Now depending on which version of the Bible you are looking at… that word trouble may be translated as tribulation, persecution or difficulty. All words that can quite easily be used as a synonym for tough times.
But the good news is that we can take heart… and because Jesus has overcome the world, we can be confident that while TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… those tough people who trust in the Lord will persevere through it all.
So just what does it take to be considered tough? Let me spell it out for you.
Trust Obedience Understanding Grace Humility… T-O-U-G-H
TRUST… we must first trust in the Lord… not in ourselves or other people.
Proverbs 3:5 – 6 tells us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
However, when we find ourselves confronted with tough times… one of the first things we tend to do is start thinking about who we can call to bail us out.
Should we call our spouse, our parents, our siblings, or perhaps our children in our quest for a solution? Or perhaps we should reach out to the Pastor for guidance and direction.
Or maybe we should just pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Suck it up as they say and just go for broke. Yeah… that’s it. I will just trust myself to do the right thing.
After all, don’t the scriptures say, “To thine own self be true?” No… it was actually William Shakespeare who said that.
However, what the scriptures do tell us is to trust in the Lord with ALL our hearts and not to lean on our own understanding. If we do that and acknowledge God for who God is… we will be guided along the path in the right way we should go.
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do, but first we have to trust.
But along with that trust comes obedience.
In fact, there is an old hymn of the church that says, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey” [CH 556].
First Samuel 15:22 says it like this, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
Looking at that verse as it is found in the Message Paraphrase, we read, “Do you think all God wants are sacrifices— empty rituals just for show? He wants you to listen to him! Plain listening is the thing, not staging a lavish religious production.”
Simply put, God is far more interested in us listening to and following His instructions than He is in us performing fancy rituals that we may be doing just for show.
Now that is not to say that God does not want us to do the things that honor Him… like coming together for worship… praying together… studying together… gathering at the Lord’s table… and loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
But our hearts must be in the right place whenever we do those things. Because whatever we do… it ought to be out of a desire to honor God and to be obedient to what He has called us to do… not simply so that we can be seen.
Truly… obedience is better than sacrifice.
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do when we trust and obey.
Now, along with that trust and obedience, we also need understanding.
In fact, Psalm 119:34 says, “Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart.” And verse 73 says, “Your hands made me and formed me; give me understanding to learn your commands”
In order to trust God and obey His command… we need an understanding of what it is that we are being called to do and how God is calling us to act.
Let me ask you a quick question… do you remember when you were a child and your parents told you to do something and you had the nerve to ask, “Why?”
Did your parents respond like my mother by citing from the universal code of parenting, “Because I said so, that’s why.”
Well, let me say this… God loves us and when God tells us to do something… even when we ask or even think to ourselves, “Why?” God’s response is rarely simply, “Because I said so.”
Along with God’s desire for us to trust and obey… God wants us to understand what is going on and why we are doing what we are doing.
Proverbs 4:5 encourages us to “Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or turn away from them.” And in verse 7, we are told, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”
Clearly, understanding is important… but how do we get understanding? [I am so glad you asked…]
When we commit to spending time in God’s presence and studying God’s word… we will get the understanding that will guide us through whatever situation we find ourselves navigating… get wisdom… get understanding
TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do when we trust and obey and get understanding.
And in all of this God will give us grace to endure through the tough times.
In his second letter to the Corinthian Church, the Apostle Paul shares a fitting testimony of his own when he writes:
Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:7 – 10).
Tough times are going to come… but God’s grace really is sufficient for us.
However, all of this is contingent upon our willingness to trust God, to be obedient and to seek understanding of just what we are being called to learn in the midst of the struggle we are facing.
And while TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST and tough people do… it is not simply so we can boast in our own ability to endure.
That is why in addition to the trust, obedience, understanding and grace that is needed… to remain tough and make it through tough times… we need a healthy dose of humility.
In 1 Peter 5:6, the directive is given, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Looking at this verse in the Message Paraphrase, it reads, “So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time.”
When we maintain a posture of humility as we are facing tough times… God will bring us through. But God won’t just bring us through the tough times… God will move us above and beyond where we may have been when the tough times began.
Can I give you an example?
Perhaps you recall the story of a man named Job. He was a good man who went through some really tough times… he lost his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his cattle, his servants AND his sons and his daughters… yet in spite of all that he was able to say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).
Then… as if all that were not enough… Job lost his health. And what was his response? “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)
And the scriptures go on to say that “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
He remained humble, acknowledging that God is sovereign.
And what was the result? In the end, scripture says, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10). Job humbled himself and he was exalted.
But Job is not the only example in scriptures of someone enduring tough times. Over in 2 Chronicles 7, the children of Israel were going through a really tough time.
Starting at verse 13, we find these words:
However, all of this is contingent upon our willingness to trust God, to be obedient and to seek understanding of just what we are being called to learn in the midst of the struggle we are facing.
And while TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST and tough people do… it is not simply so we can boast in our own ability to endure.
That is why in addition to the trust, obedience, understanding and grace that is needed… to remain tough and make it through tough times… we need a healthy dose of humility.
In 1 Peter 5:6, the directive is given, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”
Looking at this verse in the Message Paraphrase, it reads, “So be content with who you are, and don’t put on airs. God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time.”
When we maintain a posture of humility as we are facing tough times… God will bring us through. But God won’t just bring us through the tough times… God will move us above and beyond where we may have been when the tough times began.
Can I give you an example?
Perhaps you recall the story of a man named Job. He was a good man who went through some really tough times… he lost his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his cattle, his servants AND his sons and his daughters… yet in spite of all that he was able to say, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised” (Job 1:21).
Then… as if all that were not enough… Job lost his health. And what was his response? “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10)
And the scriptures go on to say that “In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”
He remained humble, acknowledging that God is sovereign.
And what was the result? In the end, scripture says, “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10). Job humbled himself and he was exalted.
But Job is not the only example in scriptures of someone enduring tough times. Over in 2 Chronicles 7, the children of Israel were going through a really tough time.
Starting at verse 13, we find these words:
When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Humility requires us to accept that we may have some accountability and responsibility for the tough times that we are encountering… although can be so much easier to point a finger at someone else and blame them for our troubles.
But as you have probably heard me say on more than one occasion… when we point the finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at us.
True humility dictates that we do what Michael Jackson said and start with the man (or woman) in the mirror… getting the plank out of our own eye before we try to focus on a speck that may be in someone else’s eye.
Let’s face it, none of us are perfect. So, when tough times come upon us… we need to take an honest look at ourselves to see what part we may have played in the situation. And from that position of humility, God will hear our prayers and bring us through our tough times, yet again.
Because TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do.
Now there is one last scripture I want to share with you today… Psalm 25:8 – 10.
These verses give us the full complement of trust, obedience, understanding, grace and humility, for it is there that we read:
But as you have probably heard me say on more than one occasion… when we point the finger at someone else, there are three fingers pointing back at us.
True humility dictates that we do what Michael Jackson said and start with the man (or woman) in the mirror… getting the plank out of our own eye before we try to focus on a speck that may be in someone else’s eye.
Let’s face it, none of us are perfect. So, when tough times come upon us… we need to take an honest look at ourselves to see what part we may have played in the situation. And from that position of humility, God will hear our prayers and bring us through our tough times, yet again.
Because TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST… tough people do.
Now there is one last scripture I want to share with you today… Psalm 25:8 – 10.
These verses give us the full complement of trust, obedience, understanding, grace and humility, for it is there that we read:
Good and upright is the Lord [in other words, trustworthy]; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways [that’s understanding]. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way [I think that one speaks for itself]. All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful [that sounds a lot like God’s grace to me], toward those who keep the demands of his covenant [can someone say obedience?].
When we find ourselves in troubling times, we can trust God, because He is good and upright… He’s trustworthy.
He desires for us to be obedient to His word… to keep the demands of his covenant… you know, to do what He tells us to do.
But because God is a loving parent… He wants us to get understanding so He instructs us in the ways of God.
And the way He shows us is described by the psalmist as loving and faithful. It is the way of grace… God’s unmerited favor… God’s grace that is sufficient for everything that we may have to endure.
And in all of this, we are reminded that it is the humble that God will lead in what is right and teach His ways. What better reason do we need to remain humble when we are dealing with tough times than knowing that God is the One who is leading us through them… that God loves us so very much that He has made a way for us to come through the pain and the strain, the struggles and the strife, the heartache and the hardship… all so we may walk in His marvelous Light.
So, remember, TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST but tough people, God’s people, do.
And it is all because of God’s amazing grace… and if you trust and believe that God’s grace is sufficient for you, then I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship Amazing Grace #546
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He desires for us to be obedient to His word… to keep the demands of his covenant… you know, to do what He tells us to do.
But because God is a loving parent… He wants us to get understanding so He instructs us in the ways of God.
And the way He shows us is described by the psalmist as loving and faithful. It is the way of grace… God’s unmerited favor… God’s grace that is sufficient for everything that we may have to endure.
And in all of this, we are reminded that it is the humble that God will lead in what is right and teach His ways. What better reason do we need to remain humble when we are dealing with tough times than knowing that God is the One who is leading us through them… that God loves us so very much that He has made a way for us to come through the pain and the strain, the struggles and the strife, the heartache and the hardship… all so we may walk in His marvelous Light.
So, remember, TOUGH TIMES DON’T LAST but tough people, God’s people, do.
And it is all because of God’s amazing grace… and if you trust and believe that God’s grace is sufficient for you, then I want to invite you to stand and join in singing our Hymn of Discipleship Amazing Grace #546
