The Theology of Struggle

The Crucible of Struggle: Where Faith is Forged in Fires of African Reality

My Personal Encounter with Struggle

The relentless Pretoria sun hammered down on my Akasia neighbourhood as yet another bout of load-shedding plunged our home into stifling silence. The familiar hum of the refrigerator ceased, the Wi-Fi died mid-sentence, and the electric gates stood immobilised. In that suspended moment, frustration welled up within me—not just at Eskom's failures, but at the cumulative weight of South African struggles. The crime threatening our communities, the unemployment haunting our youth, the relentless pressure of making ends meet. It was in this furnace of frustration that Jesus' words in John 16:33 struck me with fresh force: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world".

This promise wasn't offering escape from load-shedding, crime, or personal trials. Rather, it was inviting me to reinterpret these struggles through a divine lens. I realised in that moment that we Christians often misinterpret struggle as divine disapproval, when in reality, it's often confirmation we're precisely where God wants us—in the crucible where character is forged.

The Biblical Bedrock: Struggle as Sovereign Strategy

Let us define our terms clearly. What do we mean by "theology of struggle"? It is not mere suffering, nor is it the passive endurance of life's difficulties. True struggle, in the biblical sense, is the active, faith-filled engagement with obstacles, injustices, and trials, rooted in the conviction that God is sovereignly at work even here, especially here.

The Scripture declares unequivocally that struggle produces what comfort never could. Romans 5:3-5 presents this divine syllogism: "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment". Notice the progression: struggle → perseverance → character → hope. This is God's transformative curriculum.

Consider the testimony of Scripture's greats. Joseph's betrayal and imprisonment prepared him for palace administration. David's years as a fugitive shaped him into Israel's shepherd-king. Even God's Son "learned obedience through what he suffered" (Hebrews 5:8). If the sinless Son of God was perfected through struggle, why do we imagine our path should be different?

The African Reality: Struggle in Our Context

In our African context, struggle is not some abstract theological concept—it is the air we breathe. It's the grandmother raising grandchildren on a meager grant, the student studying by candlelight during load-shedding, the entrepreneur navigating endless bureaucracy to start a small business. Our continent knows struggle intimately—from the legacy of colonial exploitation to the contemporary scramble for our resources by global powers.

Yet, here is the prophetic confrontation we must sound: the "prosperity gospel" sweeping our continent is a theological aberration that misrepresents our Saviour's way. Jesus never promised his followers wealth without work, health without hardship, or power without pain. He promised something infinitely better—his presence in our pain, his purpose in our problems, his power in our perseverance.

The authentic African theology of struggle recognizes what Filipino activists fighting the Marcos regime termed "the difficult and protracted" nature of true liberation. It understands that, as one Filipino theologian wrote from prison, some "people who suffer but do not struggle, people who suffer and therefore struggle, and people who struggle and therefore suffer". We are called to be among those who struggle and therefore suffer—actively engaging the brokenness of our world rather than passively enduring it.

How Struggle Shapes Us: The Master's Tools

Why does God appoint struggles for us? The purposes are manifold:

1. Struggle shatters our self-sufficiency. Just as Gideon's army was reduced to barehanded warriors facing impossible odds (Judges 7), our struggles remind us that "the battle is the Lord's". When we face load-shedding with no generator, unemployment with no safety net, sickness with no medical aid—we learn to depend not on our resources but on our Redeemer.

2. Struggle sanctifies our character. Those daily irritations—the traffic on the N1, the long queues at Home Affairs, the unreliable water supply—these are God's sandpaper smoothing our rough edges. They reveal the impatience, anger, and pride hidden beneath our Sunday best. As one Christian counselor notes, "Character is revealed by what we do when nobody is watching". Struggle reveals what's really inside us.

3. Struggle shifts our perspective heavenward. When the fig tree doesn't blossom and the fields yield no food, the prophet Habakkuk declares, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord" (Habakkuk 3:17-18). Struggle reorients our joy from created things to the Uncreated One. It teaches us to desire the Giver more than his gifts.

A Logical Defense: Answering the Why

A common objection arises: If God is both all-powerful and all-loving, why does he permit such intense struggle? Why the suffering of the innocent? Why the relentless cycles of poverty and violence plaguing our continent?

Te argument can be formulated thus:

· Major premise: God is sovereign over all things, including struggle.

· Minor premise: God is perfectly good and loving toward his children.

· Conclusion: Therefore, struggle must be compatible with both God's power and his love.

The flaw in our reasoning is assuming that love means eliminating all discomfort. Any parent knows that loving your child sometimes means permitting struggle—the struggle to walk, to read, to become responsible. The evidence of Scripture strongly supports that God permits what he hates (sin and its consequences) to accomplish what he loves (Christlikeness in his people). The cross itself—where the worst struggle occurred—became the site of our greatest redemption.

Embracing the Struggle: Practical Pilgrimage

So how do we practically embrace this theology of struggle in our South African context?

First, we reinterpret our daily difficulties. That frustrating load-shedding becomes an opportunity to gaze at stars instead of screens, to talk with family instead of watching television, to remember our dependence on a power source greater than Eskom. The struggle with crime drives us to build community, to know our neighbors, to create watchful networks of care.

Second, we engage struggles actively rather than avoid them. The Filipino "theology of struggle" emerged when Christians stood with the poor against oppressive regimes. Similarly, we must struggle against the corruption, injustice, and inequality marring our beautiful land. This is not passive endurance but active, faith-filled engagement.

Third, we anchor our struggle in Christ's victory. Jesus did not say "I will overcome" but "I have overcome". Our struggle is not a hopeless battle but a participation in Christ's already-won war. We fight from victory, not for victory.

The Unshakable Hope

As I sat in my load-shedding darkened home that Pretoria afternoon, I eventually noticed what the hum of electronics had obscured—the sound of children playing down the street, the rhythm of my own breathing, the still, small voice reminding me that even in darkness, God's purposes continue unfolding. The struggle had not disappeared, but my perspective had been transformed.

This is the promise, my fellow strugglers: "We can even rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character and character does not disappoint, because (through it) we see God's love poured into our hearts".

The struggle is real, but our God is realer. The darkness is tangible, but the Light of the World is brighter. The problems are persistent, but the Overcomer is present. So take heart, South African saint, African believer, global soldier of the cross—our struggles are not meaningless, they are masterful; not random, but redemptive; not wasted, but worshipful.

Embrace the struggle, for it is making you more like Christ.