Trials are challenges God uses to develop spiritual strength and maturity in believers, forging character like steel tested for reliability (James 1:2-4). They often appear as burdens or storms that, when borne faithfully, lead to blessing and testimony, reminding us that present sufferings are temporary compared to eternal joy (Romans 5:3-5).
God shapes us through trials so we will fit for glory in heaven.
During the Great Depression, a good man lost his job, exhausted his savings and forfeited his home. His grief was multiplied by the sudden death of his precious wife. The only thing he had left was his faith-and it was weakening.
One day he was combing the neighborhood looking for work. He stopped to watch some men who were doing the stonework on a church building. One of these men was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing a spot where it would fit, he asked, "Where are you going to put that?" The man pointed toward the top of the building and said, "See that little opening up near the spire? That is where it goes. I am shaping it down here so it will fit in up there."
Some of you are going through terrible troublesome times. You may be experiencing some heartbreaking sorrow. Or perhaps you are enduring some painful physical illness. Or it may be something else-maybe even too excruciating to talk to anyone about. The blows of the hammer and chisel hurt.
But hold on to your faith. These difficulties will not get you down. They are only temporary. Glory is coming. It is the harsh blows to the outward man that often bring the greatest strength to the inner man.
Keep praying. Keep believing. The Master has to do some shaping of us down here so we will fit in up there. The Great Divide of Life
High in the Canadian Rockies is a rushing stream called Divide Creek. At one point in its course, the waters reach a large boulder.
The water which travels to the left of the boulder rushes down into the Kicking Horse River and finally into the Pacific Ocean.
The water which travels to the right of the large rock makes it down into the Bow River which empties into two more rivers and then into the Atlantic Ocean.
Once the water divides at that boulder, its ultimate destiny is decided. Downstream from that great rock the course cannot be altered. The left side goes to the Pacific and the right side goes to the Atlantic.
Every person meets his divide point. It comes when one decides to accept Christ or to reject Him. This Great Divide determines one's eternal destination and whether that one can have abundant life here on earth.
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him" (John 3:36 RSV). The Flood Releases the Fruit
Do you know how cranberries are harvested? When the fruit is ripe, the cranberry bog is flooded with water. As the water covers the bush, the ruby red berries separate from the bush and float to the surface where they are gathered and distributed to cranberry lovers around the country.
When the flood waters of trouble and trials sweep over your soul, what is the result? Is fruit "meet for the Master's use" released to bless and meet the needs of the hungry world around you?
In grief and hardship, turning to God and faith brings comfort and strength.
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was a black jazz musician from Atlanta. In the twenties he gained a certain amount of notoriety as the composer of jazz tunes with suggestive lyrics, but he gave all that up in 1926 to concentrate exclusively on spiritual music. "Peace in the Valley" is one of his best known songs, but there is a story behind his most famous song that deserves to be told.
In 1932 the times were hard for Dorsey. Just trying to survive the depression years as a working musician meant tough sledding. On top of that, his music was not accepted by many people. Some said it was much too worldly-the devil's music, they called it. Many years later Dorsey could laugh about it. He said, "I got kicked out of some of the best churches in the land." But the real kick in the teeth came one night in St. Louis when he received a telegram informing him that his pregnant wife had died suddenly.
Dorsey was so filled with grief that his faith was shaken to the roots, but instead of wallowing in self-pity, he turned to the discipline he knew best-music. In the midst of agony he wrote the following lyrics:
Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand.
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light;
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.
If you live long enough, you will experience heartache, disappointment, and sheer helplessness. The Lord is our most precious resource in those hours of trauma. "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble (Psalms 9:9). Tom Dorsey understood that. His song was originally written as a way of coping with his personal pain, but even today it continues to bless thousands of others when they pass through times of hardship.
God uses our afflictions to produce beauty and blessing through us.
A piece of wood once bitterly complained because it was being cut and filled with rifts and holes. But he who held the wood and whose knife was cutting into it so remorselessly, did not listen to the sore complaining. He was making a flute out of the wood he held, and was too wise to desist for such an entreaty.
Instead, the flute carver said, "Oh, thou foolish piece of wood, without these rifts and holes thou wouldst be only a mere stick forever-a bit of hard black ebony with no power to make music or to be of any use. These rifts that I am making will change thee into a flute, and thy sweet music then shall charm the souls of men. My cutting is the making of thee, for then thou shalt be precious and valuable and a blessing to the world."
David could never have sung his sweetest songs had he not been sorely afflicted. His afflictions made his life an instrument on which God could breathe the music of His love to charm and soothe the hearts of men by such an entreaty through the ages.
Determined faith and effort overcome obstacles and lead to achievement.
Nothing can stand in the way of a determined soul that obeys God. Helen Keller, deaf, dumb, and blind, joyously welcomed those who tunneled into her imprisoned soul by means of the single nerve of sensation in the palm of her hand, allowing her to conquer vast fields of knowledge. At 14 years of age, she received $250 for a magazine article. How this ought to shame some of us who lie down lazily in front of obstacles, which a little pluck and self-denying exertion would carve into a stairway for higher achievement. The Value of Afflictions
There is a legend about a grandfather clock that stood in a corner for three generations, faithfully ticking off the minutes, hours and days-its means of operation was a heavy weight suspended by a double chain. One of its new owners, believing that an old clock should not bear such a load, released the weight. Immediately the ticking stopped. According to the legend, the clock asked, "Why did you do that?" The owner replied, "I wanted to lighten your burden." "Please put my weight back," replied the clock. "That is what keeps me going."
Life's pressures are necessary for spiritual growth and proper development.
A young man was fascinated by a moth and performed a little experiment to see what would happen when it was released from its cocoon without a struggle. Using his pocketknife, he slit the enclosure, allowing the insect to emerge freely. However, it had none of the expected color, it could not fly, and it soon died. As he thought about this, he concluded that the pressure exerted on an emerging moth is essential to its proper development-yes, to its very existence. He later learned that through the moth's struggle to free itself, its body fluids are stimulated, and the luster is developed on its wings. So too for the Christian, life's pressures can produce positive results.
It is unwise to desire trials; trust God's timing and wisdom in discipline.
"I have read in the lives of the fathers of a devout man that, being one year without any trial, cried out, 'Domine, reliquisti me, quia non me visitasti, hoc anno,'—Lord, thou hast forgotten me, and for a whole year hast not appointed me upon any exercise of patience." We would not recommend any one of our readers to unite with this devout but mistaken expression. We should count it all joy when we fall into divers trials, but, at the same time, we ought to be thankful if we do not fall into them. If a cross be laid upon us, let us take it up cheerfully; but it would be folly to make a cross for ourselves, or go out of our way to look for one. He must be a very foolish child who begs to be whipped. "Lead us not into temptation," is a prayer of our Lord's own teaching, and we prefer to keep to it rather than follow this devout man in what reads very like a prayer for temptation. Those who cry for chastisement will have enough of it before all is over. Be it ours to leave our correction and probation in our Lord's hands, and never let us be so unwise as to desire more trials than his infinite wisdom appoints us.
Trials remove barriers, bringing believers into direct, raw contact with God.
Trial brings man face to face with God, — God and he touch; and the flimsy veil of bright cloud that hung between him and the sky is blown away; he feels that he is standing outside the earth, with nothing between him and the Eternal Infinite. Oh! there is something in the sick-bed, and the aching heart, and the restlessness and the languor of shattered health, and the sorrow of affections withered, and the stream of life poisoned at its fountain, and the cold, lonely feeling of utter rawness of heart which is felt when God strikes home in earnest, that forces a man to feel what is real, and what is not.
— F. W. Robertson
God uses painful trials to prevent believers from falling into unseen dangers and sin.
We never know how near we are to danger. We are like blind men wandering near the edge of a precipice, the mouth of a well, or the margin of a deep pit; and then God, by a severe wrench it may be, and a violent jerk that puts us to some pain and gives us a severe shock, plucks us from the ruin that we saw not. Oh! what hair-breadth escapes from destruction, effected, perhaps, by some distressing visitation, shall we in eternity be made to understand that we experienced on earth! We now often stand amazed at some sore trial; we cannot conjecture why it was sent; we see no purpose it was to serve, no end it was to accomplish: but there was an Omniscient Eye that saw what we did not and could not see; and He sent forth this event to pluck our feet from the net which had been spread for them. How we shall adore God in heaven for these preventing mercies that came in the form of some dark and inexplicable event, but which filled us at the same time with lamentation and woe! J. A. James.
Repeated fiery trials purify believers, making them transparent and clear like glass.
When I was at Shields, I went into a glass-house; and, standing very attentive, I saw several masses of burning glass, of various forms. The workman took a piece of glass, and put it into one furnace; then he put it into a second; and then into a third. I said to him, "Why do you put this through so many fires?" He answered, "Oh, sir! the first was not hot enough, nor the second; and therefore we put it into a third, and that will make it transparent." Whitefield.
In eternity, believers will see trials as necessary for receiving their crown of glory.
Madam, when ye are come to the other side of the water, and have set down your foot on the shore of glorious eternity, and look back again to the waters and to your wearisome journey, and shall see, in that clear glass of endless glory, nearer to the bottom of God's wisdom, ye shall then be forced to say, "If God had done otherwise with me than he hath done, I had never come to the enjoying of this crown of glory."
— Rutherford
Trials test and reveal the true quality of our faith like fire tests gold's purity.
The surest way to know our gold is to look upon it and examine it in God's furnace, where he tries it for that end, that we may see what it is. If we have a mind to know whether a building stands strong or no, we must look upon it when the wind blows. If we would know whether that which appears in the form of wheat has the real substance of wheat, or be only chaff, we must observe it when it is winnowed. If we would know whether a staff be strong, or a rotten, broken reed, we must observe it when it is leaned on, and weight is borne upon it. If we would weigh ourselves justly, we must weigh ourselves in God's scales, that he makes use of to weigh us. Jonathan Edwards.
All people, regardless of status, face trials and pain in life.
Let a man be in the most propitious circumstances, he is sure to have something to pain his heart. Naaman was a great man, but he was a leper; Paul a great apostle, but he had a thorn in the flesh; David a mighty sovereign, but his house was not right with God. Man looks to new relationships, and fancies they will be a beautiful garden, on which the sun will shine, and the dews descend; but he will find a grave there. He looks to new departments of business as a garden; but he will find a grave there. There is some cloud on every landscape, a mildew on every flower. Dr. Thomas.
External troubles strengthen Christians, rooting them deeper like storms strengthen an oak.
Outward attacks and troubles rather fix than unsettle the Christian, as tempests from without only serve to root the oak faster; whilst an inward canker will gradually rot and decay it. H. More.
God uses affliction to make believers better and prepare them for eternal life.
As the musician straineth his strings, and yet he breaketh none of them, but maketh thereby a sweeter melody and better concord; so God, through affliction, makes his own better unto the fruition and enjoying of the life to come. Caedray.
Human life is marked by trouble from beginning to end.
Men are born to trouble at first, and exercised in it all their days. There is a cry at the beginning of life, and a groan at its close. Arnot.
God's shining like the sun disperses our troubles, bringing peace and clarity.
In autumnal mornings, mists settle over the Connecticut Valley, and he cold and damp upon the meadows and the hillsides; and it is not till the sun rises, and shines down warm upon them, that they begin to move: and then there are swayings and wreathings and openings, till at length the spirit which has tormented the valley can stay no longer, but rises, and disappears in the air. So it is when the Sun of Righteousness shines upon the troubles which brood over our souls. Shining but a little, they only fluctuate; but, if the sun will shine long, they lift themselves, and vanish in the unclouded heaven. Beecher.
Everyone has troubles; even a shepherd's black ewe disrupts his peace like our trials.
A gentleman was passing by where a large flock of sheep were feeding. Seeing the shepherd was about to eat his dinner, he stopped his horse and entered into conversation with him to this effect: "Well, shepherd, you seem to be contented, and have few cares to perplex you. I, who am a man of very large property, cannot but look upon such as you with envy."—"Why, sir," replied the shepherd, "tis true I have no troubles like yours: I could do well enough were it not for that black ewe there; that is the plague of my life. I no sooner sit down to take up my book or my dinner, than off she goes, and takes the whole flock with her."
