Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
8 28 2026
When Life Becomes Too Hard – To Serve – To Love – For Joy
What happens when life becomes too real? Too hard?
When the things you once counted on begin to fall apart, and you find yourself wondering
where you fit in a world that seems to have no place for you? Like there are pieces missing now.
You’ve been fragmented by too many things beyond your control.
There are seasons when we become sick and tired of being sick and tired.
Hopelessness settles on top of despondency, and despondency settles on top of despair.
Loneliness becomes almost physical, like a cloud that follows you everywhere.
And when you are that tired, even being brave, can feel like more than you have left to give.
These moments are not only experienced by those who are physically hurting or radically impoverished.
This truth reaches much deeper. There is another kind of desperation…
the desperation that comes when we have lost our vision of eternity,
or have found ourselves in this fog and partially lost our sense of who Jesus really is,
and forgotten what we are living toward.
Or for some…did we ever really know that?
Paul understood something about this. In Philippians 4:12-13, he says,
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry,
whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
Notice what Paul doesn’t say. He doesn’t say that being hungry doesn’t hurt. He doesn’t say poverty isn’t difficult.
He doesn’t say suffering is somehow pleasant. He says he has learned the secret of being content in every situation.
That is trust. It is knowing Christ so deeply that the circumstances around you
no longer have the final word about the condition of your soul.
But perhaps there is an even deeper question for us. Where is our desperation for God? I don’t mean desperation for relief… But, where is our hunger to know Him? We can become desperate for an answer to our problems, desperate for relief from our pain, desperate for our circumstances to change. But are we desperate to know Jesus? Are we craving His presence? Are we longing to spend time alone with Him…not simply because we need something from Him, but because we want to know Him more? That may be the question beyond all the other questions. And maybe the issue isn’t simply that we don’t have the answer. Maybe we aren’t hungry enough for the One who is the answer.
If you see yourself as a strong Christian, don’t be put off by that inference. None of us have arrived… Perhaps if you’re thinking this is for a friend who needs this…you will discover there’s something here for you to.
The writer of Hebrews tells us that Jesus endured the cross “for the joy set before him.” There was agony in the present, but there was also a vision of what was ahead. Jesus could see beyond the cross. And Scripture repeatedly calls us to do the same. Don’t get so lost in the trials of this life that you lose sight of the prize set before you…the presence of Jesus Christ, the hope of glory. Peter failed. Elijah became exhausted and wanted to die. David cried out from places of profound despair. Scripture doesn’t hide the broken pieces of God’s people. It shows us the imperfect road of transformation, because God is not finished with us when life falls apart.
Think about eternity for a moment. What is a season of suffering when placed against a million millennia of life in the presence of God? I don’t say that to make today’s pain seem small. Today’s pain is real. Your loneliness is real. Your sickness is real. Your financial struggles, disappointments, losses, and fears are real. But they are not eternal. There is coming a day when there will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more loneliness, no more tears. There is a day coming when we will see Him face to face. The One we trusted when we couldn’t understand will be standing before us, and suddenly we will know that every step toward Him mattered.
God’s purpose is not simply to get us through another difficult day.
His purpose is to make us holy…to transform us into the image of Christ.
He takes the broken pieces of our lives and, somehow, uses even those pieces in the process of making us more like Him. Without a vision of Him, suffering can feel like desolation. But when we see the endgame…
when we remember who Jesus is and where He is taking us…
our suffering becomes part of a story that is bigger than this moment.
So perhaps the question isn’t only, “How do I get through this?” Perhaps it is, “How deeply can I know Jesus in the middle of this?” What would happen if we became desperate…not merely for relief, but for His presence? Desperate to open His Word. Desperate to sit quietly before Him. Desperate to know Him so well that when everything else shakes, we know that we know, that we know… He is still there?
That is more than endurance. It is more than obedience. It is discovering that the joy of knowing Christ can “become our strength” even in the muck of life. In fact, it IS to BE our strength! It is learning to celebrate…not because the circumstances are good, but because God is good. It is walking through the pieces with a confidence that says, “I don’t understand this, and I certainly don’t like all of it, but I know who holds me. I know who leads me. I know what waits for me.”
And I know that someday, when we look back from eternity, we will see the pieces differently.
We will see the places where we thought everything was lost and realize that Jesus was there.
We will see the seasons we thought would destroy us and realize He was transforming us.
And we may look at this life, with all its pain and struggle, and simply say,
“It was worth it. Knowing Him was worth it. Trusting Him was worth it.
Becoming more like Him was worth every step.”
Because the prize set before us is not merely a better life.
The prize is Him.
And when Jesus becomes our deepest hunger, our greatest treasure, and our eternal hope, even in the middle of life’s broken pieces, we can discover the peace of His presence.
We can walk through what we never thought we could survive and find that His grace is sufficient,
His strength is real, and His love has been holding us all along.
Let’s Make It Personal:
- When life becomes too real and too hard, what am I most desperate for—relief from my circumstances, or a deeper relationship with Jesus?
- If the prize set before me is ultimately Jesus Himself, what would it look like for me to trust Him with this season, knowing that He is using even the broken pieces to make me more like Him?
Thank you for spending these few minutes with me today. My prayer is that these devotionals don’t simply give you something to think about, but draw you into a deeper love for Jesus Christ and community.
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IF YOU’D LIKE TO GO A LITTLE DEEPER… I’d love to invite you to join me beginning This Tuesday, September 1st, for my free six-week ONLINE DISCOVERING JESUS COURSE. We’ll meet Tuesday evenings from 7:00–8:30 p.m. as we explore the foundational truths of our faith and, more importantly, deepen our relationship with Christ. You’re welcome to invite your spouse, family members, friends, or neighbors. I’ll provide all of the materials at no charge. Just let me know. . To join the video meeting, click this link: https://meet.google.com/zkb-dxcq-iau
Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus…because He truly is the Treasure.
God only knows with Dolly Parton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFiyEFmIXvA&list=RDUFiyEFmIXvA&start_radio=1
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