“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 12:9-10

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Yu Darvish is a tall and dominant right-handed starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres. Previously, he pitched for the Texas Rangers, Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs. He has unique abilities to throw a large variety of pitches — fastballs, cutters, sliders, splitters and curveballs. As games progress, he makes constant adjustments and tweaks his delivery in order to keep hitters off balance.

However, he’s currently missing the entire 2026 baseball season as he recovers from elbow surgery. He hopes to return next year, but it depends on how well his arm heals, and many people speculate he will come back as a reliever rather than a starter.

Even though most of us aren’t pro athletes, we also struggle sometimes to keep a good perspective when we experience setbacks or spend time recovering from injuries.

When the devil saw Job living such an outstanding life, he tried to get him to forsake the Lord by taking away the possessions and people that brought him comfort. Satan spoke discouraging words to Job through his wife (Job 2:9-10). How would Job continue as a believer with so many things going against him? He had to dig deep and rely on God’s power rather than his own limited abilities.

As we read the account in Scripture, it startles us to realize what Satan did and what God allowed, but the Lord showed His overcoming power and Job resisted the urge to find fault with God. Several tragedies hit Job, yet he continued to love God even though he couldn’t see anything good in the situation.

These events serve as an example of how we should respond when we face pain and loss. In a surprising way, Job kept on praising God with a grateful heart as he experienced unbearable heartache (Job 1:20-22).

Job handled tough times better than most of us, and we can learn from his example to keep on loving God when we have problems or don’t feel good. Job teaches us about endurance and refusing to quit on the Lord, but we also see how God builds better character inside us when we get hit by various circumstances beyond our control (Job 23:10). Later, Job said he knew God better and understood life more after going through intense suffering.

Though we want an easy life with few troubles, we won’t learn to care about hurting people until we are wounded, or help others carry a heavy load until we are crushed by a burden we can’t lift, or fully appreciate our blessings until we’ve lost something dear to us. Of course, it’s overwhelming at times, but that’s when we realize our weakness and cling tighter to God — because we can’t live as we should unless the Holy Spirit is strengthening us moment by moment.

— Bill Kent, Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Sylvania, Georgia

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