JAMES 1:2-4 – Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
THEME OF THE DAY. WHEN GREAT TRIALS COME. We know them by personal experience. We know them because God’s Word tells us so. We know them be watching other people go through them. We know them also by a popular modern hymn written by Keith and Kristyn Getty – When Trials Come. Yet, sometimes, maybe more than sometimes, we forget what the Apostle Peter writes, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). I have read that passage and asked, “Why did Peter tell these believers not to be surprised when fiery trials come?” Then, I quickly remembered. They were surprised about the presence of trials. Then I further remembered that I sometimes act surprised when difficulties in my life come; when trials knock on the door of my heart; and life tends to get hard.
All of us need to remember three things about trials. First, they are inevitable. It has been wisely said about life and trials, “We are either in a trial, coming out of a trial, or preparing to enter a trial.” That sums up life well. Don’t be surprised when they come. Accept them, even learn to do what today’s scripture tells us – count them all joy.
Another thing to remember about trials is they don’t just “pop into our lives.” They were sent into our lives by the Lord. Is He sovereign over all things? Of course. That is our great comfort in life, but make sure our theology extends into the presence of trials. The sovereign Lord sent them for good purposes. He is the Refiner and He refines us in the furnace of trials – Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction (Isaiah 48:10).
A third thing to keep before our minds when trials come is that God does His greatest work in us through trials. But there is a qualifier. We need great trials for His work to be done in us. Little trials, the ones we handle on the strength of our personal resolve and personality, will not do deep spiritual work in us. We need great trials in life we cannot handle on our own. We need the Lord, and He will, to put us in situations, circumstances, relationships, and environments we cannot control or change. Underlying all great trials is the work of God emptying us of ourselves and that primarily in the areas of self-sufficiency and the sinful bent to control everything and everyone that is making life difficult and contrary to what we want. And great trials will do this purging work.
When it come to the greatest spiritual development in the lives of God’s children, this maturity only occurs in the greatest of trials. It is in the great trials, we truly see our great need for the great power, grace, and all sufficiency of the Lord Jesus.
PRAYER: “Father, help me to see the greatest work You do in me will come through the greatest trials sent me.”
QUOTE: “We need great trials to show us our great need of the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus and His grace.”