Last night I heard a sermon that really spoke to me and I hope that it can help you too. Here are my notes from the sermon with my own thoughts mixed in:
WHY DO WE HAVE TRIALS?
- Trials test the strength of our faith.
- 2 Chronicles 32:31b God left him and to know everything that was in his heart.
- This is a piece of scripture where Hezekiah was king over Israel and was very rich and successful. The Lord left Hezekiah in order to test him and know everything that was in Hezekiah's heart. This seems strange because we know that God is omniscient so this must be to prove to Hezekiah his own strength of faith. In this same passage, start back at verse 24 you read where Hezekiah was very proud and became ill. Because of his pride, God chose not to help him and waited until Hezekiah repented to heal Hezekiah. The Lord then blessed Hezekiah greatly in verses 26-30. So then in verse 31, representatives of Babylon come to Israel to ask about the success. At the end of verse 31, it says where God leaves him and tests him. But it doesn't say Hezekiah's response, but apparently he did alright because it goes right in to talking how he was buried with honor among his ancestors.
- Habukuk 3:17-19 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of the deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.
- These three verses are at the end of Habukuk's prayer that can be found in chapter three. The whole prayer is just really, really sad. He talks about the nation being invading, his health is starting to fail, and he is waiting for the Lord to come through for him. He describes a situation where only the Lord can deliver. Then, he goes into detail about how bad their situation is. They have no food today and they will not have any food tomorrow if something doesn't change. But he chooses to praise God. Habukuk passes the test as well because he chooses to trust the Lord despite his trials. He could have despaired and rolled around in the dirt and focused on his problems but that wouldn't have changed his circumstances. It was that chancing trusting the Lord to have it under control (it is really more of a guarantee but sometimes to our humanly minds it seems chancy) that afforded Habukuk true joy.
- Psalm 13 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, "I have overcome," and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord's praise, for he has been good to me.
- I find myself returning to this passage over and over because I feel it describes my feelings very accurately when I am feeling down. I also really like it because it says why David is praising God whereas other passages feel rather ambiguous as to what they are praising. David says he is rejoicing for his salvation and his blessings. I think many times I take seemingly basic regular life things out of the blessing box and move them over to the entitlement box. I think I deserve things I have. I don't deserve to have those things taken away. So no matter how hard it gets, I can still praise God for his salvation and for the breath in my lungs.
- Trials humble us.
- 2 Corinthians 12:7b Therefore, in order to keep me from being conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh.
- In chapter 11 Paul has described all of the reasons why he had the right to minister to people. He has many qualifications that certify him. He has every right to brag it would seem by humanly standards but he realizes that if he brags he will not be pointing people to Jesus but will only be gathering people to himself. This makes me ask myself would I truly be okay if everyone remembered what I said and drew closer to God because of it yet couldn't remember a thing about me? The Sunday School answer should be no but is it really?
- So, Paul had a thorn in his flesh that is always bringing him back to the realization of his weakness.
- "When we are at our weakest, He is at His strongest."
- 2 Corinthians 12: 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
- Trials wean us from worldly things
- John 6: 7 Philip answered him, "It would take almost a year's wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
- If the disciples had had enough money or resources to provide for all of the people gathered when Jesus fed the five-thousand, then they would have missed on one of the greatest displays of God's glory and providence. In verse 5 Jesus asks how are they going to provide for the people. This is another case where Jesus already knows the answer but asks the question so that his disciples can show where their heart is and if they trust Jesus to provide for them.
- After going through trials and being delivered and taken care of by God, we will develop a habit and lifestyle of depending on Him and not depending on temporal worldly things to make things happen.
- Trials lead us to eternal hope.
- Romans 8: 37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is Christ Jesus our Lord.
- When we go through trials on this earth and the Lord delivers us through our trials, the gratefulness that we develop gives us a hope for how awesome eternity is going to be living with the God who loves us.
- "Trials give us an affection for the eternal."
- When we are thinking long-term and big-picture, it makes short-term trials bearable.
- Trials reveal what we truly love.
- Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes even life itself - such a person cannot be my disciple."
- In Matthew 22:37-39 the Bible says the second greatest command is to love your neighbor as yourself. However, the first greatest command is to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. I think the intensity of love that is expected for God is so much higher that the love that we are to have for one another must seem like hate as it pales in comparison.
- Whatever we put first in our lives, we love the most. Our priorities will be revealed when we are forced to make choices. We wade into very dangerous territory when that first billing spot is not God.
- "If anything is dearer to us than God then He must remove it for us to grow spritually."
- Trials teach us to value God's blessing.
- Psalm 63:3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
- We know that trials will not last forever. So that means that we will at some point reach a mountaintop experience again. How many times have you heard someone who traveled to a third world country on a mission trip say that seeing how the people they went to serve taught them to value all of the things they had taken for granted? Countless. It is so much easier to think we are responsible for our success when our successes come right after the other. When we have little reminders along and along that all things are gifts from above (James 1:17) it is easier to keep the proper perspective.
- Trials enable us to help others when they are suffering.
- Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet he did not sin.
- How many times have you heard a teenager whether in a movie or real life yell? YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW I FEEL!!!! I know I certainly hurled that insult at my mother plenty of times. What I am learning is that my mother has indeed experienced much of what I have gone through and there are other things that she hasn't but she is compassionate toward. But having dealt with a lot of depression, it means so much more to sit down with someone who has dealt with the same kind of mental and emotional agony. Having both of my parents and them still being married to one another, I can listen and sympathize with someone who has lost their parent or gone through a divorce, but I wouldn't be able to truly and honestly say I understand or I know where you are coming from. I wouldn't.
- Recently I was on a mission trip and in getting to know each of my fellow missionaries, I became friends and learned about their lives. One night I got to talking and found out one of my new friends was going through a lot of the same things I was going through. We talked about how the depression affected our lives and there was somewhat of a salve to the soul for me to know that I wasn't alone. On the last night of the trip, the whole team went around and talked about the things we had been struggling with and were trying to get rid of in our lives. When it was my turn, I talked about the battle against my mind and the negative thoughts dwelling there. After I finished speaking, the team prayed for me; it was so encouraging for me that they cared so much. As I am on the verge of tears and am looking down at the two people holding my hands seemingly for dear life, I hear, "Crap, if Jessica can do it, I guess I can do it." They went on to talk for the first time about their struggles as well. We all prayed for a transformation of mind for our teammate. The bonding that happened among our team was tangible and I was happy to be friends with these amazing people. Over the last week, I have been hearing reports of how God has answered our prayers. I do not presume myself to have any responsibility for the transformations God is making. I simply count it as a blessing to be able to have a front row seat to his hand at work. It meant so much to me to see that all of the things that I questioned and railed about for so long possibly being worth something. If I could reach out to someone and encourage and empathize with them, then it will all be worth it the end. It doesn't lessen the severity of the pain, it just raises my pain tolerance.
- Trials produce endurance and strength.
- James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you might be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
- Each time we are stretched to our limits and then some, we are better able to handle the next situation. When we wait in a really long line or put up with a really annoying person without reacting, we can think back the next time "well at least it isn't as bad as that one time. I can do this." Everyone has heard the phrase "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger." I would agree with that on most occasions.
- Being a plant science major, I find many metaphors within the Plant Kingdom. One that feels particularly relevant for this point is one from a study by Columbia University. They built a biodome and created a synthetic environment within it. Among their many discoveries, they found out just how important wind is for plants. In the synthetic environment, the rapidly rapidly shot up. However, they often fell over before they were mature enough to produce fruit. So basically the plants had a perfect life with everything provided for them and without any troublesome winds to toss them around. However, they were not able to produce any fruit. These plants were not able to fulfill their purpose in the absence of wind.
I think this is what trials afford us. They knock us around a little bit but they give us sticking power. We can stick around and produce fruit. We will have the endurance and strength to stay the course. But if we have gathered all the other benefits such as empathy, gratefulness, putting God first, looking at the big picture, trusting in God alone, humility and ultimately a strong faith, then will be able to take anything that the devil might throw at us and be able to conquer any calling God puts before us.
As much as it pains me now, trials are good.
No comments:
Post a Comment