It Came to Pass: Your Struggle Has An Expiration

The words “it came to pass” rise up out of Genesis like a witness that trouble can show up, but trouble cannot stay forever. Genesis 4 gives the first mention, where Cain brings an offering to the Lord, and then Genesis keeps saying it again and again. The text does not hide the hard stuff. The text says Cain rose up against Abel and slew him. The text says men multiplied, the flood came, Noah waited, the waters covered the earth, and then the waters dried up.

“It came to pass” becomes the word for the house: if it came, it came to pass. The phrase does not say pain is imaginary. The phrase says pain has an ending. The phrase does not deny the flood, the field, the waiting, or the struggle. The phrase declares that what is being seen now is not the final word.

God puts a limit on what feels permanent. The struggle will not last always. The heartache will not last always. The pressure will not last always. What came with weight, grief, fear, and confusion has an expiration date on it. It came to pass, and that means it did not come to remain.

The word calls the people of God to stop treating a season like a sentence. The trial may have been real, but it does not get to define the rest of the story. The house hears that it will not be like this always, and faith starts standing up again. The declaration is not timid: “I’m coming out of this,” and not coming out empty, but coming out with hands up, with victory, and with miracles.

God turns what looks stuck. Sooner or later, it turns in favor. The same God who let Noah open the window of the ark also lets the waters dry up from the face of the earth. The same phrase that sat beside murder, flood, waiting, and drying ground still speaks over families, bodies, minds, and homes. “It came to pass” becomes the sound of release, the sound of an end date, the sound of God turning it around.

The final word is praise. God is thanked for grace, mercy, strength, power, joy, peace, and hope. The Lord is blessed because the burden is not stronger than the promise, and the struggle is not stronger than the God who turns it around.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Trouble Came, But It Passes The phrase “it came to pass” does not pretend trouble never arrived. The phrase gives trouble a boundary and refuses to let a season become a life sentence. What came with pain still has to answer to the God who says it will not be like this always. [48:34]
• 2. Genesis Gives Trouble An Ending Genesis places “it came to pass” beside offerings, murder, floods, waiting, and dried-up waters. The text keeps proving that even heavy moments move under God’s hand. The repeated phrase teaches the soul to read hardship as real, but not final. [47:52]
• 3. Do Not Keep Expired Struggles The struggle has an expiration date, and faith must not keep holding what God has already ended. Some pain stays longer because the heart keeps carrying it after heaven has called it finished. The word calls for release, not denial, because finished things should not be treated like living things. [61:11]
• 4. Favor Turns What Feels Fixed The turn may not happen on the preferred schedule, but the word says sooner or later it turns in favor. What feels locked in place can still move when God starts turning it around. Favor does not erase the waiting, but it proves the waiting did not have the last word.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [12:08] - Blessing the Name of the Lord
• [44:44] - A Quick Word Begins
• [45:19] - Genesis 4 and the First Mention
• [46:39] - Genesis Repeats “It Came to Pass”
• [48:34] - This Too Shall Pass
• [54:04] - Coming Out With Victory
• [55:42] - The Struggle Will Not Last
• [57:36] - It Turns In Favor
• [60:11] - The Expiration Date Of Struggle
• [62:32] - Prayer Of Thanks And Praise
• [64:45] - Turning Around For Me

1. Genesis 4:3 — “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.” [45:19]
2. Genesis 4:8 — “And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.” [46:22]
3. Genesis 6:1 — “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,” [46:49]
4. Genesis 7:10 — “And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.” [47:08]
5. Genesis 8:6 — “And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:” [47:19]
6. Genesis 8:13 — “And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.” [47:34]

1. In these Genesis passages, what kinds of moments are connected to the words “it came to pass”—offering, violence, multiplying, flood, waiting, and drying ground? [47:52]
2. What details in Genesis 8:6 and 8:13 show that Noah had to live through both waiting and release, not just one or the other?
3. What repeated phrase keeps showing up across these passages, and how was it emphasized as the main word for the house? [48:34]
4. What words were used to describe the end of struggle and trial, and how were those words pictured? [01:00:43]

1. When Genesis uses “it came to pass” in both painful moments and hopeful moments, what does that suggest about how Scripture tells the truth about suffering without giving suffering the final word? [48:34]
2. Noah saw floodwaters come, then waited, then saw dry ground. What might that sequence teach about how God works in seasons that feel long and heavy? [47:34]
3. The statement “it came to pass” was treated as more than a Bible phrase; it was spoken like a promise that trouble has a limit. How should that shape the way believers interpret a hard season they are in right now? [55:42]
4. The struggle was described as having an expiration date. What does that mean, and how can a person tell the difference between honestly remembering pain and continuing to carry something that has already ended? [01:01:11]

1. What is one situation in life right now that has felt permanent to you? How would it change your praying, thinking, or speaking this week to say, “this too shall pass”? [48:34]
2. A season should not be treated like a sentence. Is there any area where you have quietly decided, “it will always be like this for me”? What would faith look like in that exact place? [49:19]
3. “I’m coming out of this” is a strong confession. In your own life, what would “coming out with victory” look like in a practical way—in your family, your mind, your body, or your home? [54:32]
4. Struggle, pressure, and heartache do not last always. Which one of those feels closest to your life right now, and how have you seen it affecting your joy, patience, or hope? [56:22]
5. Some people keep holding on to a struggle after its season is over. Is there any grief, fear, offense, or old story you may still be carrying longer than you should? What would release look like for you? [01:01:11]
6. “Sooner or later, it’ll turn in my favor” calls for patience as well as hope. Where do you most need help trusting God’s timing instead of demanding your own? [58:39]
7. Praise was the final response—thanking God for grace, mercy, strength, power, joy, peace, and hope. Which one of those do you need most right now, and how can this group stand with you in that area? [01:02:32]