In my last post, I talked quite a bit about trials and tribulations and how they press us to refine and prepare us for heaven. However, training us for eternity isn’t the only benefit of the trials and struggles that we face in this life. The trials that we endure on earth also train us to live better while we are still here.
Right on the heels of the Olympics, it seems that athletic training would be a very likely analogy, here. Now, I am no sports enthusiast, by any means. However, you don’t have to be an athlete to appreciate what they go through to excel in their sport of choice. I can imagine late nights, early mornings, pulled muscles, blisters, strained things, sprained things, sore things, etc. The point is, it isn’t easy…and it doesn’t just happen because they want to be prepared to compete. They have to work hard, sacrifice, be intentional, and endure pain and hardship to better themselves for their chosen sport.
This is true in our walk as believers, as well. God created us in His image, to be more like Him as we walk with Him. However, He knew we would be stubborn creatures, and much like a horse, we sometimes need to be “broken” a bit to make us more pliable and teachable. So, the hardships we face are filtered (and sometimes created) by God to draw us closer to Him, sometimes one tear at a time!
We’ve been through our share of struggles, hardships, trials, and tribulations, lately. (Hey, haven’t we all?) Although I have read the “count it all joy when you face trials” scripture (James 1:2) a bajillion times, it’s a whole lot easier to quote than it is to live! It’s a whole lot easier to complain to God about a situation and ask Him to take it away from us and stop the pain it’s causing in our life than it is to surrender it to Jesus and be willing to walk through it, to give the glory to Him on the other side of it! It’s a whole lot easier to throw yourself a pity party and say, “Oh why me, Lord? (instead of somebody else!)”
I have a different take on “why me” that I try (though admittedly am not successful as often as I’d like to be) to implement when troubles come. “Why me” isn’t a bad question to ask God, IF it is from a place of genuine desire to be changed and refined by what we face. So, I try to ask God “Why have you allowed this into my life, and what do YOU want to accomplish in me through it?”
I think it’s really important to be aware of God’s presence and provisions in our lives! In John 16:33, He promises trials and tribulations. Zephaniah 3:17 says He is always with us and even rejoices over us with singing. Genesis 16:13 says that He is the God who sees our afflictions. Psalm 3:3 says He is a shield about us, our glory, and the lifter of our head. Deuteronomy 31:6 promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. Psalm 56:8 says He even collects our tears in a bottle.
It’s great to stay mindful of His presence. This helps us keep a bit of hope and perspective in the storms of life, but what does the Bible actually say about the purposes of trials here on earth? I’m glad you asked!
We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (Romans 5:3-5). See? God has a plan and a purpose for everything we face!
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) God wants to comfort and bless us, that we might do the same for others!
And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17).
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Corinthians 12:10) Paul got it. Will we?
And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28). Notice, He doesn’t say that all things are good, but that He can redeem the difficult situations in our lives by bringing good out of them!
Lately, we have seen God show up in BIG ways through the struggles we have faced. We have watched Him provide for our needs in amazing, often surprising, ways through people and methods we could not have predicted. I have often said we are learning MANY lessons and growing in our relationships with God and with others, and I wouldn’t trade those lessons! Sometimes, though, we don’t like the classroom in which He teaches us these lessons. The “classroom” phase can be painful, but we can be thankful for the lessons, themselves. Pastor Steven Furtick has a great take on this! He says…”I wouldn’t choose it…but I wouldn’t change it.” God is teaching me to be thankful for the lessons He wants to bring about in me, whether I like His methods or not!
By now, my readers know that there is a song for every word, every concept…almost every situation…of life! This song speaks volumes to the depths of my heart! My God is bigger than any mountain, any struggle, any fear, any disease, any adversary, and any doubt we encounter in this world…but we can take heart, because our God has overcome the world!
Lord, we thank you that there is a reason and a season for everything. We thank you that you see our pain and our struggle, even before we encounter it, and that you go ahead of us into it! We thank you for your boundless love for us. We praise you for growing us through our trials. Please help us to be aware of you and to be perceptive of your voice in the storms of life. We pray that we would allow your purposes to come to be, in our lives and in our hearts. Help us to grow in our walk with you and to look to you in every moment of our lives for the sustenance you promise us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!