Don't Waste Your Trial

In every trial you face God is seeking to teach you something. When you are hurting you can be sure that God has something to tell you - something for your good and His glory. The Bible consistently points us the truth that God uses suffering and pain (trials) to make us more like his son (sanctification). While it is appropriate to pray for healing and/or deliverance from your pain, it is possible to waste so much of what God is trying to teach you in the midst of your trial. 

1.  You will waste your trial if you don't see it as a gift from God.

• "He (Job) said,'Naked I came from my mother’s womb,And naked I shall return there.The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.Blessed be the name of the Lord.'Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God." (Job 1:21-22)
  
• "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me,“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:7-10)

God has purposes for trials that we will not always understand until we get to heaven.But He has told us the one and only purpose we need to know – God gives us trials to refine our faith. He gives us trials to grow us, to make us more like his Son. Your trial is a gift from God to help you in your journey sanctification journey. You will waste your cancer, the loss of a loved one, your financial struggles, or any other trial if you don't see it as designed for you by God. 

2.  You will waste your trial if your focus is on getting through the pain. 

• "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ." (Phil. 3:8)
  
• "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions." (Col. 1:24)

God's purpose for your trial is complete when he is finished. You may feel like you have reached the end of your rope physically and emotionally but that may just be where God wants you to be so that you will completely rely on Him. You will waste your trial if your focus is on getting past the pain rather than on cherishing Christ.

3.  You will waste your trial if you grieve as though you have no hope.

•  "But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope." (1 Thess. 4:13)
  
• "We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." (2 Cor. 5:8)
  
• "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." (Rom. 8:18)
  

Your hope is Jesus. In the midst of your pain you tears must never blur your vision so much that you can't see God in your trial.Yes, we know that God works all things together for His good (that you be conformed to the image of His son); but that does not mean all things feel good. We live in a fallen world where everything is not as it should be and suffering is an unwelcome invader. Paul is not saying in these verses that you must suppress all emotion and live as a stoic. Rather, Paul is saying that there is a different way that Christians handle the pain of loss than the world does. 

4.  You will waste your trial if you treat sin as casually as you did before.

• "Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word." (Psalm 119:64)
  
• "Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God."(1 Peter 4:1-2)
  

Sin is sin no matter where you are in life and no matter what the circumstances are that you find yourself in. Many times in the midst of our trial we give ourselves license to grieve wrongly. We lash out at those who are helping us. We cut ourselves off from those who love us most. God has made it clear - sin is sin. Just because things don't seem to be going "your way" does not give you a license to handle your problems unbiblically.

5.  You will waste your trial if you let it drive you into solitude.

• "But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith." (Phil. 1:23-25)
  

In the midst of a trial it's easy to become selfish. We look at our pain and focus only on ourselves. The truth is that God created you and saved you to be in fellowship with other fellow believers. You do not exist on an island and frankly your trial did not come for your growth alone. You will waste your trial if you let it drive you into solitude rather than deepen your relationships. 

Posted by Caleb