Paul teaches: “Tribulations produce patience; and patience, tried character” [Rom 5:3–4]. That God has promised to be with believers in tribulation [cf. II Cor. 1:4] they experience to be true, while, supported by his hand, they patiently endure—an endurance quite unattainable by their own effort. The saints, therefore, through forbearance experience the fact that God, when there is need, provides the assistance that he has promised. (Institutes 3.8.3)
The Christian life is not exempt from suffering and difficulty. Tribulations come to us. The question is, How we will handle them? Will they deflect us from our paths and destroy us? Or, can they be met by a power beyond our own?
Calvin said that as Christians “we must pass our lives under a continual cross” (3.8.2). When hard times come to us, “thus humbled, we learn to call upon [God’s] power, which alone makes us stand fast, under the weight of afflictions” (3.8.2). Troubles have teachings. We learn to turn away from “stupid and empty confidence in the flesh; and relying on it” and through our testing to find a deeper knowledge of God (3.8.2).
In the midst of tribulations, we patiently endure, supported by God’s hand. We find that God, “when there is need, provides the assistance that he has promised.” This is our hope and this strengthens our hope. God comes to our aid and then all the promises of God’s presence and power are received. The best part is that God promises to be with believers in tribulation. The promise of God’s own self is incomparable. Nothing more can be imagined; and nothing less can help us. There is no substitute for God’s presence. God provides the assistance we need, always.
— Coffee with Calvin, Donald K. McKim