Trials
I don’t know if you are like me where it seems like there are trials around every corner you turn. Trials are apart of our everyday lives. It may be something as simple as misplacing a cup of coffee on that morning after a hard night of sleeplessness, to a loved one either being sick or dying. It seems like you can’t get away from trials.
I want to talk with you about trials for a moment. What are trials?
Before we talk about what are considered trials let discuss what trials aren’t. Trials are not the same thing as temptations. Temptations are a trick of satan to get you to turn from God. Satan uses temptations in one of three ways, any combination of the three ways, and sometimes evens uses all three ways together. The three ways satan uses are “the list of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life”[1]. We see these tactics used in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve were tempted[2] and also in the wilderness when Jesus was also tempted[3].
The thing about temptations are that God will never tempt you. God will never tempt you to do evil because God cannot be tempted[4]. In fact, 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that while we are being tempted God will provide us a way to escape those temptations.
There are many people that believe they are in trials when bad things begin to happen to them. Not all bad things that happen in life are a trial. Let me explain, if you are disobeying the law by speeding down the highway and an officer pulls you over and writes you a ticket it is not a trial. If you fail to maintain your vehicle and it breaks down, well , again that’s not a trial. A lot of what people claim as being a trail is nothing more than the results of poor choices that they have made. Almost like walking across a freshly frozen body of water and the ice breaks dropping you into the frigid water below and you saying “whelp God must be testing my faith because this ice broke”. NO! You goofball you were being ignorant and done something crazy.
Let’s look now to what trials are.
First I want to say that trials only come when you are walking deeply with God and are following his commandments.
Trials are situations and circumstances that come in life to help an individual grow. This growth may be to help an individual learn to stand strong in the face of trials. Trials happen to build the faith of an individual. Trials happen to build our dependency upon God. Trials even come so that we may build our dependency upon each other.
Think about a child learning to walk. It faces a multiple of trials before it fully understands the complete concept of walking. Think about it for a minute. The child must learn to first stand and gathers it balance. Then once it’s gained it balance it takes that first step and falls. This routine happens time after time until that time it takes off walking. This child grew through the trials of failure to eventual victory. We see this very same routine in our everyday life in all we do. We don’t just take off walking.
When we face these trials and overcome them we begin to build our faith. Like the child learning to walk. They started of on wobbly legs. The more the child gained a victory in the process of learning to walk the more confident it became. That confidence is the same thing as gaining faith. The child gains faith in the ability to overcome each individual step and give him courage to take the next step in the process. That’s how trials work to build faith. When we are victorious in a trial it gives us to courage to face the next trial. James even tells to count it all joy when we face trials because it tests our faith which cause us to be steadfast[5]Remember Faith is taking that next step even when we are unsure of the outcome.
Trials come into our lives to build our dependency upon God. When trials come we tend to think that we are in a trial because of a punishment for a wrong we have committed. To be honest, most of the trials we face in life are to draw us closer to God. They are designed to help us see that God wants to fellowship with his dear children. Referring back to our child learning to walk. The child finally gets its balance and is ready to take its first step. The child’s mother’s reaches down and hold the child’s hand to help the child balance as it takes its first step. This is a picture of how God is there through our trials. When that trial begins God reaches down for us to take his hand so he can help us walk through the trial. We like the growing child will let go of God’s hand and try to walk on our own to only fall. Like the child as long as we have the father’s hand we may stumble, teeter, and wobble but we are less likely to fall have the security and stability of the Father holding us up.
Trials also come that we may build our dependency upon each other. There are trials that we aren’t to try to battle by ourselves. These trials require us to reach out to others to help through many different avenues. It may be through prayer, financial help, physical labor, spiritual support, etc… In fact we are instructed to share our burden (trials) with others[6]. James 5:16 tells us to “confess our faults to one another”. This doesn’t mean tell all our sins to each other . What it means is to share our struggles and trials that we may pray for each other. James goes on to tell us that “the prayers of a righteous man avails much”[7].
It is possible that you will be tempted while you are going through a trial. Look at Job. While he was going through his trial those closest to him began to tempt him to “curse God and die”[8]. When you are going through a trial you can be overwhelmed and when you are weakened that’s when you are the most vulnerable to the temptations of the devil.
When Job was going through his trial and being tempted to turn from his faith in God he held strong to his faith and as we read at the end of Job’s story God blesses him greater than when the street started. You see that when we go through the trials set before us it is always for our good. Trials are there to benefit us and not to harm us. Trials are there to help us grow and prosper.
The best part about a true” God-sent” trial is that God is there walking with us through that trial[9]. Trust in God because he knows what’s best for you because he fashioned and formed you.
No comments:
Post a Comment