Good times and bad...the struggle of faith

Genesis 34:30. "Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi: You have brought trouble on me by making me odious to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites; my numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me,
I shall be destroyed, both I and my household."

AELW 6:218-219

"...this is the nature of faith. When the sun is shining and the sky is clear, we find satisfaction in the consolations set before us and sing “We Praise Thee, O God, etc.,” and “I will bless the Lord at all times” (Ps. 34:1). Again, Ps. 30:7–9 says: “Thou didst hide Thy face, I was dismayed. To Thee, O Lord, I cried; and to the Lord I made supplication: ‘What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to corruption?’ ” These seem to be the words of those who despair, for the psalm says: 'Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from Sheol, Thou hast saved me from those who go down into the Pit. I was already done for.'

In this manner faith struggles with weakness when the devil and the flesh exercise dominion, and it appears to the one struggling that faith is no longer present. Thus Jacob complains here: “I have become abominable to all my neighbors, I have been thrown into extreme danger, and I think of nothing but destruction.” Where is faith here and the remembrance of the promises? Why does he not induce his heart to say: “You have prevailed against God. How much more, then, will you prevail against neighboring nations?” All this has slipped away from him. Trial devours the splendid promises and most glorious victories of faith. But he does not yet despair, although he is very similar to one in despair. He does not fall into misbelief and is not an unbeliever, although it appears so. This is trial, just as Paul says of himself: “So that we might not rely on ourselves, we had the sentence of death in ourselves” (cf. 2 Cor. 1:8–9). It is necessary for the saints to be disciplined in this way, to descend into hell and the abyss, and to be recalled from there into heaven."