Why are we told that God will use our trials for good? What if someone has hurt us terribly or meant it for evil? What good can possibly come from those kinds of trials? And what is required of us for good to come from them?
Also, why is it so important to guard what we put into our hearts and minds? And what did Jesus mean when He called us to “take up our cross” and follow Him?
We’ll look at these important subjects in today’s post.
Have you ever reached the point where you thought, “I just don’t know how much longer I can do this”?
Maybe you’re exhausted from dealing with a strong-willed child.
Maybe your marriage has become a source of constant hurt and discouragement.
Perhaps you’ve experienced a devastating loss, and the holidays only made the empty place more noticeable.
Maybe you’ve lost a job, suffered a financial setback, received a frightening medical diagnosis, or you’re simply weary from one problem after another.
You’ve prayed.
You’ve tried.
You’ve kept going.
But now you’re tired.
What do you do when you don’t feel as though you have enough strength for one more day?
The people in Zechariah’s day knew something about discouragement.
They had returned to Jerusalem with a job to do. But sixteen years later, the temple still wasn’t finished. Opposition and difficulty had worn them down until the work had nearly stopped.
So God sent Zechariah with a message for Zerubbabel.
It wasn’t:
“Try harder.”
It wasn’t:
“You should be stronger by now.”
Instead, God reminded him where the strength to continue would come from:
“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the LORD of hosts.
Perhaps that’s exactly the reminder some of us need today.
Because sometimes God allows us to reach the end of our own strength so we’ll stop depending on it.
So how do we keep going when we’re discouraged, worn down, and tempted to give up?
What if next year really could be your best year ever in God’s Word?
Not because you found the perfect app.
Not because you heard better sermons.
And not because you squeezed in a verse or two whenever you had a spare minute.
But because you finally decided to wade in deeper.
In Ezekiel’s final chapters, the prophet sees a remarkable river flowing from the temple.
At first, the water is shallow.
Then it rises.
Ankle deep.
Knee deep.
Deeper still.
Until eventually it is water deep enough to swim in.
It’s a beautiful picture for thinking about our own relationship with Scripture.
Some truths are easy to grasp.
Others require more time, study, prayer, and careful thought.
And some remind us that we will never exhaust the depths of who God is.
So here’s the question:
Are you content to stay where the water is shallow?
Or could this be the year you finally wade in?
We’ll also look at Peter’s words to believers facing trials and persecution and four attitudes that can help us respond faithfully when life gets hard.
Where is God when life gets hard?
When circumstances become painful, prayers seem unanswered, or a trial goes on much longer than we expected, it can be tempting to wonder:
Is God angry with me?
Have I done something wrong?
Or even:
Does He still love me?
But what if some of the very circumstances we want God to remove are circumstances He intends to use?
Hebrews 12 says something surprising about hardship, God’s love, and the way a perfect Father deals with His children.
And our response matters.
Will hardship produce growth—or discouragement and eventually bitterness?
There is also a character quality that has everything to do with how we respond to God and to other people.
Without it, we cannot come to God rightly, love and serve others well, lead biblically, communicate as we should, or resolve conflict God’s way.
And its opposite can quietly interfere with every one of those things.
What is that quality—and could its opposite be showing up in ways we don’t recognize?
We’ve all been there. Maybe you’re there right now. You’re going through a trial yet God seems nowhere to be found. And you find yourself wondering why.
You believe His promise to never leave you or forsake you. You believe God answers prayers. But … silence.
We’ve all been there. Maybe you’re there right now. You’re going through a trial yet God seems nowhere to be found. And you find yourself wondering why.
You believe His promise to never leave you or forsake you. You believe God answers prayers. But … silence.
Suffering … we don’t like to think about the possibility that we might suffer. Yet, tests, trials, tragedies, suffering, and persecutions come to us all. We will probably never be completely prepared for tragedies and intense suffering. Those things often knock the wind out of us at least for a while. But is it possible to have the kind of spiritual foundation that will keep us from being completely knocked down by suffering? If so, what can we do to prepare?
It’s been said that either you have just come out of a trial, are presently in a trial, or are about to go through one. Trials expose our hearts. They remove the dross from our lives–those things which keep us from bringing glory to God as we should. But there are things we need to understand about trials and our responses.
It’s been said that either you have just come out of a trial, are presently in a trial, or are about to go through a trial. That thought can stop us in our tracks because we don’t like trials. At least I don’t and I don’t think I’m alone. But God uses tests, trials, and suffering in our lives as a divine squeeze to let us and others see what’s in our hearts. J.C. Ryle said, “What you are in the day of trial, that you are and nothing more.” Trials show us what we are really made of!
Welcome once again to Mondays @ Soul Survival. Each week I’ll feature a book that I consider a valuable resource. This week’s selection is When Life Is Hard by James MacDonald, one of the best books I have ever read...
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