Trials and Tribulations

9/17-18/2011

Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.

Bible Verse of the day: James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

I have often wondered why God allows painful trials in our lives. Wouldn't our lives be better off if everything was smooth sailing and we never had to endure physical, emotional and spiritual pain? Can we just skip the heartache, unfaithfulness, false accusations, drug or sexual abuse, addictions and whatever else we want to add to the list? But then I realize that if every day were a good day, there would be no good days, because without bad days, or trials and tribulations in our lives, there would be nothing to compare the good days to. While very painful and exhausting, I firmly believe that trials and tribulations in our lives can ultimately help us become the finished products that God desires for us to be. God uses trials in our lives to draw us closer to Him, and the length of the trial many times is directly correlated to how quickly we submit to His will or enact His desired change of direction in our lives. Usually their is some sin in our lives that is hindering our relationship with God and He needs to cleanse us of that sin, before we can move forward in our relationship with Him. The sooner we identify the sinful condition in our lives and repent, the sooner we can expect Him to be able to hear and respond to our right-minded prayers. Isaiah 59: 1-2 sums this up pretty well, " Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear to dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God." I don't believe that God delight's in our painful experiences, but finds our sin intolerable in His eyes. Many times the lesson's that I have been taught and will continue to be taught are around areas of my life that need to be deeply cleansed. Patience is an area where He is working in my life consistently, teaching me to learn to wait on His perfect timing instead of moving ahead of Him. We live in a fast- paced world where everything is instant gratification and instant response. I am a victim of that mentality quite often. I want everything to happen fast and on my schedule. In the long run, I am sure I will be most glad that He did not grant my wishes or requests on my timeline. C.S. Lewis said in his book Letters to Malcolm that " someday we'll be more grateful for our prayers that didn't get answered than the ones that did." God uses trials and tribulations to teach us many things, and each person's journey is unique and filled with their own obstacles. I am being taught through various trials in my own life right now how to trust God more, how to be more patient, how to forgive others with the same level of grace that I have been forgiven, how to be more honest with myself about who I really am, about subtle self-righteousness and pride in my heart and the list goes on and on. But I have come to realize two things about God: In all things God works for the good of those who love him( Romans 8:28 ) and God will not tempt us beyond what we can bear and when we are tempted, he will give us a way out so that we can stand up to it. ( 1st Corinthians 10:13 ) When we are going through difficult trials the only things that we can control are our attitudes and our focus. When we focus on our problems, it is easy for us to get fearful, discouraged, angry and resentful. The main problem with our sin is it always cost more than we want to pay, and it always stays longer than we want it to stay. Many times we wonder if the trial will ever end and we just want to scream out enough, or we want to give up. That is when we need to persevere as James exhorts us in the scripture of the day above. We can only do that by focusing on God's promises. He is the deliverer ( 2 Cor. 1:10 ) He is the healer ( Deut. 32:39 ) He is the guide ( Prov. 3:6 ) He is in absolute control ( psalm 103:19 ) and His plan is always for our good and His glory ( Jeremiah. 29:11 ) No one suffered more than the apostle Paul in his lifetime and yet he always was able to "rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." ( Romans 5:2 ) We know Jesus told us that "there will be trials and tribulations in this world, but take heart for I have overcome the world." We best believe him and keep our focus on him or we will get rolled like dice in this world. Job, after going through the longest trial that any of us could ever imagine, finally saw the purposes for his long suffering and was amazed at how God had revealed His glory to him in his later years and blessed him beyond his wildest imagination. It caused him to say " surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know." ( Job 42:3 ) There are many things that happen to us in our lives that we will not understand until we are face to face with our maker in our eternal home. Until then, we must persevere so that someday we can gain the crown of life from our Lord and Savior whom we love.