Why does trouble come for the believer? That is a big question and there are a few answers the Bible has given us.
One answer is we experience storms because we were born into a stormy world. This is because of Adam’s sin. Trouble is all around us, like secondhand smoke. Another reason is we have a real enemy. Sure he has been defeated, but he still deceives.
One other reason is, things are set up in a way for us to grow and mature. The principle of planting and harvesting is throughout scripture. It’s been misunderstood and called Karma. “We reap what we sow”, was meant to help us grow, because we were intended to sow goodness. It matters how we live because we are always growing and it affects how we grow.
God is not out to get us. He is not waiting for you and I to mess up so He can punish us. If you have put your trust in Jesus’ work at the cross then you have become His child. He is rooting for you! He has called us, He's with us, He's for us, and in us for lives of peace and victory. We are meant for a meaningful life!
Here’s the principle, many believers still confuse living as a christian in order to avoid punishment instead of living right because they are right. When we start listening to His Spirit a whole new option has been opened up to us: Planting seeds of life that will define our future.
We harvest the life Jesus planted just by believing and receiving what His Word says, but we also harvest tomorrow, what we plant today due to how we live. When we act in agreement with His Word we are sowing seeds that will mature in us until we are perfectly formed into the image of Christ in our mind, will, and emotions.
This takes faithfulness and discipline to set your minds on Christ. Meditating on what the rest of the world is thinking about will produce the same results for a believer as an unbeliever.
But we have a new option and a new way the world does not have! We can meditate on the Word with His Spirit giving us understanding bringing His will to life in us and through us.
Planting seeds from the old way of life or thinking (sinful nature) will always produce a harvest of death. (The wages of sin will always be death.)