In this world of sin and suffering, even believers experience hardships. Sometimes it seems like the strongest Christians we know are hit with the hardest life circumstances and we question why. Why does a good God allow such hard things to happen? Some of the hardships we must go through are specifically allowed by God to refine our faith (1 Peter 1:3-7). As we grow spiritually and advance in our Christian walk, God allows harder testing to come our way.
We should not allow the thought of testing to discourage us. God has promised to never leave us (Hebrews 13:5).What if we can’t seem to handle what we’re going through now? We must have complete trust that God will prepare us for all we must face (now and in future testing) and give us His strength as we use our free-will to respond to Him (Philippians 2:13).
We are told to consider it pure joy when we face trials (James 1:2-4). Why? Trials produce perseverance of our faith. And faith in Jesus is our entire life, our victory over this sinful world (1 John 5:4). In the passage about the armor of God, (with every principle listed essential to warding off the attacks of the enemy) our faith is called a shield “with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:10-17). Faith is trusting God, even when we don’t understand or can’t see the plan.
Jesus – Our Role Model
As in all things, we can look to our Savior and role model, Jesus. He was tested more intensely than anyone else in human history. When confronted with the lies of the enemy, He responded with God’s Word (Matthew 4:1-11). This should encourage us in many ways since:
- The Bible contains only truth. (Titus 1:2)
Jesus directly quoted Scripture with every response. He used only God’s Word to knock down wrong ideas.
- The Bible contains all the truth we need. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Jesus was sufficiently prepared for every attack, since the Bible has all the truth we need to defend against every lie. Jesus had a perfect understanding of the truth (through much diligence and study on His part), and this should encourage us to grow spiritually so that we are more prepared to handle attacks.
- The Bible can be trusted and acted upon. (James 1:22)
Jesus demonstrated the importance of knowing Scripture, and also trusting it is true and applying it to our lives. Knowing the Bible does us little good if we don’t act on what we know.
God’s Provision
When we are tested, we must never underestimate God’s loving provision. Unlike people, even the people who love us the most, God always works in our lives with goodness. His goodness is untainted and perfectly consistent (Hebrews 13:8). We are assured in Romans 8:28 that whatever God allows in the life of a believer, it is for our good.
Many circumstances in this life don’t seem good. Illness, financial strain, damaged relationships, the death of a loved one. Often we look at the world through the eyes of our fear, doubt, selfishness, and sin nature. We have to train ourselves to look at the world through God’s point of view. How is this accomplished? Through learning and believing the truth (Romans 12:2). The more Scripture and Biblical principles we store in our hearts, and apply these to our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit, we start to see our circumstances through an eternal perspective. Every day is an opportunity for spiritual growth and eternal reward.
God’s Deliverance
Testing is a sign that we are growing in the truth. While testing can push us outside our comfort zone, even stretch us to our limit, we should keep our thoughts NOT on our problems or pain, but on our response. The apostle Paul wrote the epistle of 2 Timothy from jail, shortly before he was executed, and he knew he was going to face death (2 Timothy 4:6). Yet he still said with confidence that “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (2 Timothy 4:18).
When we consider Paul’s martyrdom, it could be tempting to ask, “How did God deliver him? Paul still died a violent death. How is that rescuing him from every evil attack?” We are told not to fear men or what they may do to us (Philippians 1:27-28, Luke 12:4-5, Psalm 56:11). Although to our human eyes and emotions it is a terrifying thing to die a death like Paul, we don’t know how God provided for them in their time of testing. We don’t know the strength, reassurance, peace or sound mind He gave those believers. We do know that God will perfectly provide in all situations (2 Peter 1:3). Just as long as we choose the right path, God will give us strength to endure all things through the power of the Holy Spirit within us (Philippians 2:12-13, Zechariah 4:6, Philippians 4:12-13).
Joy – An Eternal Perspective
When we are tested, we can rest assured that God knows exactly who we are and how much we can take. Handling pressure is not simple. Joy is not automatic. God is gracious and merciful to us and will not give us what we cannot take (1 Corinthians 10:13). When we are tempted to give up, to doubt God’s promises, to mitigate the pressures through our own human efforts or sinful actions, we must choose to stand on God’s Word. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The Holy Spirit is our comforter and guide (John 14:16-17). Testing should not undermine our faith – rather, we should call to mind the eternal, perfect character of God and continue to walk as God would have us to (1 Peter 4:19).
The apostle Paul, who suffered intensely for Jesus Christ, calls his suffering “light and momentary troubles”. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18). He endured this suffering without giving his attention to this world and its worries – rather, he sought to keep his mind on eternity. When we trust that our faithful endurance of trials will not fail to lose its due reward in eternity (Matthew 10:42), we take our eyes off the pain here and we hope for the glories to come.
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. – Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)