Trials

As I sit here on a comfy couch eating Korean food, tea brewing, and Ponyo playing in the background life seems peaceful and easy. Yet all I have to do is let my mind wonder in almost any direction and the cares of life, with all its worries and heartaches, come rushing in. Trials I thought I would never have to face I find myself in the midst of, but through these trials God has shown himself mightly.

As many of you now know, I am no longer engaged. The events and details of the break up is not going to be put on this blog but if you are interested you may ask me in person. It is a sad thing for me and something that I will be grieving for fiercely. But with that grief has come a peace that I cannot fully understand and I have come, at last, to rest in my Father's arms.

I hope in this post to encourage you that there are reasons for the trials that God sends your way. Remember that no trial can reach you before it first has gone through Jesus. "There is no circumstance, no trouble, no testing, that can ever touch me until, first of all it has gone past Christ and if it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose."

Reasons For Trials

1. To test/reveal the strength of our Faith. 2 Chronicles 32:31 says "God left him to test him that he might know all that was in his heart." The first thing that sturck me about this verse was that God does not need to test us to know what is in our hearts. He already knows and knows better than we do. So God tested him and tests us not so He, God, can know all that is in our hearts but so that we might come to know what is in our own hearts. How many movies have you seen or Bible stories have you read where the main character started out wimpy or normal (Gideon, Moses) or thinking that they could never do the task that was set before them (Frodo) only to come to find their true strength in the trials and tribulations that they faced. Like in Alice in Wonderland where Alice found the "impossible" task set before her of slaying the Jabberwalkee. How many men in the armed forces have gone in thinking themselves weak only to prove to themselves their strength for their country and families. The same goes for us when we face trials. Sometimes God sends us trials so that we may take a "spiritual inventory" as it were, to see how we have grown in Christ, and to reveal the strength of our faith.

Until the very moment I told my fiance I couldn't marry him I did not think I had the strength to do so. I looked into his tear filled eyes and thought "I cant tell him, I just can't. I can't hurt him like this." But I had faith that God would see me through this situation and I had faith in His perfect plan. It was only by this faith and His strength that I was able to say goodbye. This trial has helped me realize the strength of my faith and my love for God, I only hope that with enough practice I can confidently say that "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

2. To humble us 2 Corinthians 12:7 "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me." This one is a hard one to swallow but I think it goes hand in hand with the first purpose. Not only do you find out your strengths when you go through trials but you also find out your weaknesses. From this trial I know that I am far from being where I need to be with Christ. I see more clearly now my shortcomings and feel more certainly the chinks in my armour.

3. To wean us away from worldly things Can you think of a better way to wean a child of God off of the things of this world than by trials? When trials come and we try desperately to cling to the things of this world we can only be dissapointed in them. We find out that nothing in this world works at lessening our despair or curing our discomfort. We are like a child who crys heartily for a toy but when we are hurt we learn all to quickly that the toy cannot comfort us and instead we reach for our Father.

4. Call us to an eternal hope, makes you want to go to heaven. Again, God shows His eternal wisdom and understanding of the human heart. If we find ourselves in a place that brings us nothing but pain and persecutuion why would we want to stay in that place? Trials bring about a new disinterest in the passing world. For those who are in pain they can look forward to a place with no pain. For those who have lost someone dear to the they can look forward to seeing them again in heaven. As you get older and closer to Christ, more and more things are being stored up for you and the more and more people will be waiting to see you again in heaven. "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Romans 8:22 -23

5. Reveal what we really love. This one kinda hits me right in the gut. I mean how often do we say that we love God above all things and then live our lives with ourselves first or our spouse or our children. If you claim that you love God first and foremost in your life you better be ready to prove it. Like Abraham was tested to see if he loved his son Isaac more than he loved God, so will you be tested. I remember telling my fiance that God would always be first in my life. I told him that but I wasn't really sure I believed it myself. When God asked me to choose I struggled harder than I ever have with a decision in my life. God knew who I loved more but now He wanted me to find out who I loved more. I once told my youth group that God is a jealous God and that if there is something in your life that you love more than Him He will remove it. He has to be first and I have found that trials are most often in the form of letting go of something you hold very dear or God taking away something very dear. Deuteronomy 13:3 "you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God is testing you to find out if you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me, and does not [a]hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple." If you do not love God to the degree that you are willing, if necessary, to obey God despite the opinion or petitions of your mother, father, spouse, children, and your own feelings then you do not love God supremely and are not worthy to be the disciple of God. Ouch!

To be continued...