I have been reflecting a lot lately on the importance of trials and suffering. They may bring periods of difficulties in our lives, but they also lead us to learning more about the character of God. If we are sick, He is our Healer. If we are in lack, He is our Provider. If we feel that our enemy and everything else are coming against us, He is our Shield, Refuge, Strength and Defender. We get to know more about God and His mighty ways when we are afflicted.
Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works. Psalm 73:25-28
Many of us may grow closer to God during our afflictions and learn to trust Him more with a greater ability to testify of His goodness no matter the hardship. But there are those who run away from God during challenges blaming Him for their predicament. They forget that God has a purpose for everything and is fully in control, working all things for good for those who love Him and who are called to His purpose. If you don’t love God and you are out of His will then your afflictions may not work out that well for you. But when we trust God and walk according to His ways then our suffering has an eternal purpose which we may not understand now. The dark periods in our life can be a great time of faith building. Oswald Chambers wrote this about the clouds in our lives.
In the Bible, clouds are always connected with God. Clouds are those sorrows or sufferings or twists of providence that seem to challenge his rule. Seen apart from God, clouds look like accidents. But by these very clouds the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. Without clouds, we would not need faith.
We may feel like we are engulfed in clouds of darkness. However, the storm was not meant to break us but to build us and our faith in God. The pruning that comes with the high winds will feel painful when it happens, but later we will be more fruitful as long as we stay rooted in Christ. God uses the storms to cut away the parts of us that are not pleasing to Him and that may obstruct us from having a deeper relationship with Him. And His desire for us is to accept and overflow in His love, while letting it spill over in abundance to those around us. He understands that the way we see love may be wrong, so He may use conflict in earthly relationships to help us have a more heavenly view of love. God could be cutting away our bad beliefs and thought patterns during our struggles. He may even be getting rid of traditional beliefs and manmade doctrines that are not of Him, which robs us of proper relationship with Him. Oswald Chambers expressed more about this point.
It isn’t true that God wants us to learn something in our trials. Through every cloud he brings, he wants us to unlearn the things that are keeping us from a simple relationship to him. Sometimes we have to leave certain forms of religious activity and testimony alone until our relationship to God is simplified—until we have learned to turn to God, not to other people, for all our needs. The thought I should have is, “God and my own soul; other people are shadows.” Until other people become shadows, clouds and darkness will be mine every now and again. Is my relationship to God getting simpler than it ever has been?
No one could help Hannah when she was barren, so she had to turn to God to ask Him for a child and she vowed to give her first born son to Him, who became the greatest judge of Israel. Joseph went from pit to Potiphar’s house to prison, and may have felt forgotten by people, but knew that God was with him and so he never compromised his beliefs. Then later, he became second in charge to Pharaoh in Egypt which positioned him to save his family and many others during a period of famine. Whatever the trial we are going through it can become a triumph. We just need to understand that God is in control and let Him have His way with us through the problems as He is using them to prepare us for His purpose.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes. The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of coins of gold and silver. Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. Those who fear You will be glad when they see me, because I have hoped in Your word. I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Psalm 119: 71-75
Our affliction gives us the opportunity to delve deeper into God’s truth knowing they are better than material possessions. During our challenges, we learn to hope in the Lord more and as people who look on see this, they become encouraged, so then our trials don’t only become a triumph for us but also for those around us.
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