Trials (Problems, circumstances, situations) come up in our life regularly. In fact, if you are a Christian, you are not immune to trials. They visit us despite our belief system. So, if trial seem to come around regularly, how, are we to deal with them? There is a humanistic way to deal with trials and spiritual way. We will explore both in this study.
The humanistic way is to try to handle them on our own. It seems logical. A problem arises and we are supposed to meet it, tackle it, subdue it and move on. But there is an inherent flaw in this thinking. It is at the core of how we look at problems. In the humanistic viewpoint, trials are anomalies. They shouldn’t exist in our space, and when they do they, they must be overcome, smashed down, obliterated. In other words, they are issues that get in the way of our life.
But the spiritualistic viewpoint is different. Instead of looking at trials as things that rise up and get in our way of progress, what if we saw them as constant opportunities we could learn and grow from? James 1:24 says this:
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
OUR JOB
James tells us to consider trials pure joy. What? How can we possibly do that? Trials are problems and problems are always bad, right?
This is one of the most complex and necessary passages in scripture. So we need to understand what James is trying to say. If we dismiss the “pure joy” part first, and start at brothers and sisters, it may make it clearer.
Brothers and sisters... This tells us who James is talking to. He is talking to Christians. This is important because salvation isn’t the issue here. Salvation is already given through an authentic relationship with Christ. So this is a behavior he is talking of.
Whenever you face trials of many kinds… He doesn’t say if we go through trials, but when. We have to understand that life isn’t about getting through without adversity. Life itself is adversity. We don’t learn any other way. But why would God have us live life like this?
because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. The trials in our life are there for a reason. It isn’t to torture us, but to teach us. Temptations also come into our life. God wants to teach us how to be stronger. A trial teaches us temperance. It teaches us patience. Every trial is teachings something, perhaps many things, and when we may go through a similar trial or know someone going through the trial we have been through, it equips us for strength for ourselves and others. Perseverance roughly means patience. Endurance. We have to weather through the trial to learn what God wants to teach us.
Our faith is tested through trials. To make something stronger means it has to go through stress. Faith is revealed through trials, not produced. A trial shows us what faith we have. So, if trials don’t produce faith, what does? (Romans 10:17). Our diligence in seeking God is what produces our faith.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. Why does God want to produce perseverance in us? To make us mature in our faith. To make us fully the person we are supposed to be.
How are we supposed to view this process? With pure joy! The mature response is to understand that God cares to build us during our trials. It is a loving God who takes such an active role in our lives. He wants us to be strong, tempered through fire to become steel, so we can stand mightily for him. God doesn’t allow trials to break us down, but to build us up.
With trials, however, there is an inherent problem. A trial can produce in us a return to sin, a chance to soothe and shut off our responses to God. This is the physical response to dealing with hurt. James reminds us to turn toward God to remember the source during a trial, and it will help us to focus on why we are going through it.
Moving a little further along to James 1:12, he completes the thought:
12 Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
There is a blessing for moving through a trial, learning and growing from it. Not only do we become stronger in this life and more mature in our faith, but the blessing in eternity is also there. God wants us to persevere through our trials in order to achieve all this, including the great blessing we receive after this life. This is a promise from God.
Our job is to patiently endure trials. We are to pass the test to ultimately receive the reward.
OUR UNDERSTANDING
Peter, the apostle, says it this way:
10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Peter’s assessment of trials is of interest because he reminds us that if we have been called by Christ, our suffering is temporary. Often times, when in trial, we can’t see the end. Therefore we are often discouraged about the timing of our trial. We want it finished in our own terms. But we can’t control the timing of the trial any more than we can control the length of a season. When we know we are going into winter, we know the weather will get colder. We can accept the season and understand what the weather’s going to be like, but we really don’t know when exactly, the air will get warmer. We have to let it happen. It’s the same thing with spiritual season or trial. We have to patiently endure it until we learn from it, grow through it.
Peter’s verses are also important because he reinforces James’ words. At the end of the season or trial, if we have endured it, grew from it, learned from it, then we gained strength to move forward. We understand things about ourself and God and move forward with them.
Romans 12:12 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Paul tells us how to act throughout a circumstance. First, hope. Hope is one of those things we first lose in a trial. If we lose hope, then we have to return to our faith. Have we forgotten about God’s provision? Second, patience in affliction. Again, our human nature tells us to take care of it, get it out of the way, but we can easily see that approach is the antithesis of how God wants us to react to a situation. Our patience builds hope, it builds strength and maturity. Third, prayer. Prayer is the way we connect with God personally. Our connection is important because if we aren’t connected to our power supply, then we have no current running through us.
Understanding is key: we must realize our place in God’s kingdom, be restored through testing and connect to God through trial. OUR PLACE
John 16:33 33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Jesus himself tells us that we will have trouble in this life. Just because you may be Christian doesn’t change this fact. It’s all in how we deal with the issues in front of us. The advice that Jesus gives us is this: He’s overcome the world. What does that mean? It means that the trails, circumstances and seasons we go through in this life are smaller than the eternal truth that God is still in charge. If God is in charge still, that means He allows troubles in our life for a reason. The reason is to strengthen us, make us more mature in our faith, to grow us into people who resemble Christ.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Here is the evidence that trails are allowed by God. All things work how? For the good of those called to God’s purpose. This includes the troubles we go through. Even the self-inflicted problems have a purpose in building us, and they are allowed by God to happen. Could God shut these down? Absolutely. But of those he allows, they are in our lives for a reason, just as the people that surround us are. These aren’t cosmic accidents but an invisible symphony.
God doesn’t guarantee a trial-free life, but He is in charge of the trials, and each one of these trials work for the ultimate good of us and others.
Psalm 34:17-18 17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
When we are in trial, the best thing to do is to call out to God. Why? Because God will hear your cry. He delivers you from the trial. It may not be in your timeline, but will be in His. When we cry out to God honestly, from he heart, we experience a closeness to him. When our heart is broken is often where we find God. The reason is because when our life is cracked into a million pieces, we are vulnerable, honest, our true self. If our spirit is crushed, He will save us. This is all about connection in the hard times.
And that’s the whole point. Connection is where we need to be in the difficult times. If we aim to improve our connection with God through trials, then we will have the ability to find that joy that He offers during trial.