The story of Eun Hye is about one of many believers who have found
6. COURAGE TO STRUGGLE
The story of Eun Hye is about one of many believers who have found courage while living in repressive and anti-Christian cultures. Eun Hye is not her real name, which has been kept secret by the Christian organizations that have helped her, in order to protect her and her North Korean relatives. When Eun Hye's parents travelled to China several years ago to try to find two of their daughters who were missing, Eun Hye ended up in a crowded official "camp" for street children where conditions were abysmal. Forced to learn to hunt rats (which were plentiful), the sixteen-year-old was barely able to survive and began to pray to "Hananim," the invisible God her grandmother had told her about.
As reported by Open Doors and other organizations that have worked with her, one day the camp guards sought detainees for work in the mountains and Eun Hye heard a voice in her head urging her to volunteer. She did so and while in the mountains she and another girl were left alone just long enough to escape. After an arduous journey – without supplies – struggling through mountains, swimming across a reservoir, and tunneling under an embankment with their bare hands, Eun Hye finally reached her hometown where she was reunited with her family. Her father had become a Christian and explained to her who the God Hananim was. Soon after, the family swam across a border river and escaped to China where they were able to join an underground church.
But the group was betrayed, and Eun Hye and her family were arrested and transported back to a detention center in North Korea. There, Eun Hye suffered frostbite, and her parents were brutally interrogated, yet miraculously, the family was released and was able to return to their home. But the struggle to survive, especially as Christians, was ongoing.
Eventually, as the family did not have enough food for everyone, Eun Hye and her mother again swam across the river into China, somehow surviving as the North Korean guards fired at them. Eun Hye was able to settle in China though she was in continued danger of betrayal and miraculously escaped several attempts to capture her. At one point the truck sent to take her back to North Korea broke down and she was released. Her father eventually died from his interrogation injuries, and Eun Hye's brother remains trapped in North Korea, but she married in China and was able to flee with her husband to South Korea where she lives today.
Eun Hye's story is an inspiring one, and it is a wonderful example of someone who did not accept the restrictive and God-denying society she found herself in, but was willing to struggle with everything she had to change her situation. As Christians, we may or may not find ourselves in circumstances that are intolerable, but we all have to struggle with issues in our everyday lives, and we may also be moved to struggle on behalf of others, in prayer (Colossians 4:12 ESV) and other ways.
Every Life Has its Struggles Ultimately, there is little difference between someone like Eun Hye struggling against an oppressive and atheistic regime and someone struggling with an addiction or enslaving sin or perhaps with debilitating health issues, poverty, or other significant problems in their lives. "Is not all human life a struggle?" Job asked (Job 7:1 NLT).
However, Christians often experience more struggles than those around them, as they fight spiritual battles as well as physical ones. This level of struggle can be daunting, and sometimes Christians become discouraged because they feel they are not succeeding as much as they would like – or should. But it can be encouraging to remember that God does not expect us to maintain a perfect track record in this life. He does not expect us to win every battle – but he does expect us to fight every one! It is our willingness to struggle and fight in order to please and obey God that he wants to see.
And only those who strive make progress, only those who struggle succeed. That is why Jesus said "Strive to enter through the narrow door" (Luke 13:24 ESV). Likewise, the apostle Paul urged the followers of Jesus: "pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called" (1 Timothy 6:11-12). "Pursue," "fight," "take hold" – these expressions all reflect the struggles of the Christian life. And in the sixth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul also describes this spiritual battle: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil" (Ephesians 6:12).
In this verse, and in others where he speaks of fighting, Paul is primarily talking about the struggle of the individual Christian with his or her own self – the struggle to repress our human nature and to let God's nature work through us. The word he used that is translated "struggle" in
many of our Bibles was originally one used to describe a wrestling match or hand-to-hand physical combat. That is why Paul tells us to utilize the full armor of God for this struggle (Ephesians 6:11) and goes on to describe it in detail (vss. 14-17).
In addition to the analogy of spiritual battle and the armor we need to fight it, Paul also uses another metaphor in his letters that helps us to understand the Christian struggle – that of the runner. For example, to the Corinthian church he wrote: "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:24). That is also the analogy behind Paul's famous words "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me" (Philippians 3:13–14).
With this running analogy Paul speaks not only of our struggles with ourselves, but also our struggles to do the work God gives us to do (see also Colossians 2:1).
The Joy of Struggling? But we should not think of this spiritual "running" as short-distance sprinting. We are called to a long-distance run, and that is where the analogy can be encouraging. In long-distance running even those who occasionally stumble and fall can persist and still win the race. And there is another aspect of running that can be encouraging to us.
In long-distance races, after the runner has warmed up and worked through the initial pain of intense exertion, the struggle actually gets easier after a few miles. Runners often experience a sense of exhilaration and euphoria that is called the "runner's high." This occurs when the struggle the body is experiencing results in the production of endorphins – the chemicals produced by the body to relieve stress and pain.
That is not unlike the situation we can experience as we struggle to run the spiritual race of life. All too often we consider the battles we face in life as negatives to be endured and survived, but if we allow God to work in us as we run the race, knowing that he is accomplishing something through our struggles, we begin to see them differently – as opportunities rather than liabilities or disabilities. That is the attitude of Jesus who, in facing even the greatest struggle of his life "For the joy set before him … endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2).
Of course, the joy we can find in struggle and suffering is not just for ourselves. As Christians we struggle on behalf of others also. Paul emphasized this in his letter to the Philippians: "We are in this struggle together. You have seen my struggle in the past, and you know that I am still in the midst of it" (Philippians 1:30 NLT). He also wrote to the Romans: "I urge you, brothers and sisters, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me" (Romans 15:30).
In addition to struggling in our own battles and those of fellow believers, Christians can choose to struggle in many outward ways – for example, to help right injustice, to stop the spread of social evils such as drugs and pornography, to help the weak and those in need, to fight to curb abortion, child abuse and human trafficking, and not least to preach the gospel (Ephesians 6:15).
If God is working through us in these things we will know, even despite setbacks and temporary losses or delays, the joy that comes through running the spiritual race. As Isaiah wrote, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns'" (Isaiah 52:7 ESV). In this verse, the feet of the one who brings good news are the feet of the runner, and as Paul confirms "This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers" (1 Timothy 4:10 NLT). Relying on God and Doing Our Part As we remarked earlier in this chapter, every life has its struggles – and every struggle requires courage. This is doubtless why the Bible records numerous stories of individuals who took courage, fought, and overcame difficulties – stories that can inspire and encourage us whatever our circumstances or the battles we fight. In most of these stories the victory was not achieved on purely human strength, however – it was a combination of human effort and divine assistance. As Paul told the Colossians: "That's why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ's mighty power that works within me" (Colossians 1:29 NLT). God's power works within us as we do our part.
It may seem like a contradiction that God helps us but we must also fight our own battles. Nevertheless, God expects us to do everything we
can as well as trusting him. We may be familiar with scriptures such as Nehemiah 4:9 which tells us "we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat," but we can find this principle again and again in the stories the Bible records. In almost every instance where bravery is commanded of people, we see both a call to an inner courageous mindset and outward action on our part – it is this combination of our attitude and our action that God strengthens and assists. Notice just a few examples of exactly this principle, from both the Old and New Testaments:
Moses to Joshua: "Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them" (Deuteronomy 31:7). David to Solomon: "Be strong and courageous and do the work" (1 Chronicles 28:20). The crowd to the blind man: "Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you" (Mark 10:49 NASB). Jesus to Paul: "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome" (Acts 23:11) In all these cases the individuals did their part, and God then did the rest – whether fighting personal battles or in efforts to help others. It is the reason behind the famous words of the great preacher John Wesley, who said, "Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can." It is that kind of dedicated willingness to struggle, to fight, that leads eventually to the certain victory God promises. We may sometimes have to wait for God's help in our struggles, but God will always answer – as the Psalms remind us: "Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!" (Psalm 31:24 ESV). But always we must have courage: "Be strong and courageous . . . with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles." (2 Chronicles 32:7–8).