Trials # 4

Trials # 4

"We count them happy who endure" (James 5:11). But the class of people I am describing, cannot look upon endurance in this light. There is no happiness in it to them. There is no pleasantness to them. No matter what good comes to them through trials - they want it some other way. But trials will come anyway. They cannot escape them. The only thing by rebelling, will be to increase their suffering in the trials and prevent themselves from getting the blessedness out of them. We ought to be willing to suffer when it is God's will for us to suffer, or when He sees it is necessary for us to suffer. Our Master drank the cup of suffering even though it was bitter. Are we better than He? Shall we refuse to go by the path that led Him to glory? 

Another thing that makes trials hard to bear, is fear of being overcome by them. When trials come to some, the first thing they think of is, "Shall I be able to endure them? Shall I overcome in it? They are all the time fearing and worrying, lest they should not be able to go through it. This fear itself is a source of weakness. It also increases the suffering that results from trials. When you add fear to your trials - then you double their size and weight. Why should you fear? Is not God upon His throne? Is He not watching over your life? Does He not know just how much you can endure? Will He let the fire be too hot? Will He let distress be too great? Will He fail you in anything? He says, "Fear not, for I am with you."

If you are disposed  to fear your trials, a good thing to do is to collect a large number of the promises of God's help from the Bible. Write them down on a piece of paper, and keep them handy, and when you see a trial coming or realize that it is already upon you, and your fears begin to arise - then get your list of promises and begin reading them over. Read them carefully and thoughtfully. Read them as being true. Remember that God stands in back of each of them, and stands in back of it to make it true for you.

The trouble is that when people get to viewing their trials - they keep looking at their trials and not looking to God. They do not look at the promises. They forget all about them. And so the more they fear - the more troubled they become. There are a thousand promises that apply to your case. There are a thousand promises that meet your daily need - and not one of all those promises will fail.

Another thing that makes trials hard to bear, is unbelief. God's promises will amount to nothing for us, unless we believe them and appropriate them unto ourselves. They are true for us whether we believe them or not - but they do not become effective for us, until we believe them. If you do not believe that God will help bear your trials - then you must take the whole weight of them upon yourself. If you do not believe that He will give you victory in them, then you must fight through to victory in your own strength. If you do not believe that victory is to be the outcome for you - then your belief will be a source of weakness to you, so that you will not have the confidence that you need to carry you through.

Unbelief is your greatest enemy. Unbelief will cloud your whole sky, and shut out the sunlight, and will close the channel of God's grace - so that it cannot be supplied to meet your needs. Unbelief will darken your mind and your heart. It will whisper in your ears that the situation is hopeless, that it is of no use to try.

Unbelief is satan's strongest ally. Shut your heart to it, and believe with all your strength that God is true and that God is true to you. This is only asserting the truth; there is no make-believe about it. His trueness is just as real as your existence. You may have His help if you will believe, but if you will still abide in unbelief - then you must fight your battles and get out the best way you can. And that best way will often be a hard one. How much better to believe God, and take His way and His help!

Another thing that makes our trials hard to bear is struggling to escape from them. The question with so many when they are in trial is: "How can I get out of this? How can I get to the end of it?"  They will take almost any way out of it, just so that they get out quick. The easiest way out, is not always the best way out. Trying to get out in what seems to be the easiest way - often gets us in the deeper, and makes the trial the more bitter.

The only safe way is to submit to God and let Him bring us through in the way that He sees fit. He knows the best way. He knows just what we can endure. He knows just what is needed. He sees the end from the beginning. He knows how we are going to get through it. He knows what the outcome will be and what a blessing He has in store for us at the end of the trial.

~Charles Naylor~

(continued with # 5)