Why Does God Allow Trials in our Lives?

[Ncdataman]

Why Does God Allow Trials in our Lives?

There are many things that could be said in response to that particular question, but here is one you may not have considered: God allows trials and hardship in your life so you can help others. As a result, whatever difficulty, challenge, or suffering you may be going through need not be wasted.

Paul writes, "He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer" (2 Corinthians 1:4-7).

James MacDonald at Harvest

For the last few weeks, Pastor James MacDonald has been speaking at our church on the topic of turning your trials into gold.

What makes this series especially poignant is the fact that James is delivering these messages while undergoing treatment for prostate cancer.

Therefore, there is a power and authenticity to his messages that has powerfully resonated with all who have heard them. That is because he is giving them in "real time," personally living the truths he is proclaiming.

But James has also found that there is no better time to minister to others then when you are hurting.

That doesn't make sense!

It seems that when we are in need, when we are facing crisis, the world should just stop what it is doing and think about us. We think that we need to be cared for, encouraged, even catered to.

But the reality is that when you are hurting, if you will reach out to someone else, you yourself will be replenished and helped.

Jesus said, "If you give, you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use in giving–large or small–it will be used to measure what is given back to you" (Luke 6:38).

There is always someone worse off than you

People have commended me and our family for continuing to minister, despite our pain over the death of our beloved son Christopher. While I appreciate those kind words, I must tell you that it actually helps me to help others.

My heart goes out to other people who are suffering like it never has before, especially if it is the death of a child. So it helps me to help them. Even writing these words help me, knowing that they may minister to someone, somewhere.

I'm sure you know of someone who is hurting right now. Perhaps they have cancer, or have recently lost a loved one, or their marriage has unraveled. Go to them and seek to be a friend and encourage them today.

Don't waste your experiences

God is in control of your life, and allows trials to come our way in order to strengthen us spiritually and make us more like Jesus.

Whatever you are facing, know that someone else is facing it too. Perhaps you could share with them some of the things the Lord has shared with you, and "be able to give them the same comfort God has given us."

from Harvest

 

[Coconut]

"Turning your trials into gold..."


Beautiful expression!

If you ever fell into a ditch - you are just the person to help someone else out of a ditch

If you ever wallowed in the muck and mire of life - you are just the person to help someone else out of the muck and mire

If you have ever been battered and beaten by life - you are just the person to help another who is being battered and beaten


God allows us to experience all these things- to produce in us the gifts of mercy and compassion.......these are worth their weight in gold in Heaven ~ just look at Christs example!


Mat 9:13 Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."


Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Php 2:4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Php 2:5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
Php 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
Php 2:7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
Php 2:8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.


Or you can go sit sit in your hut and feel sorry for yourself like Jonah, and God will comfort you in your self-pity, but not for long...soon He will send a worm ...
[Jonah 4:6-7]

 

[Coconut]

Are You Being Made Perfect?


Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. (Heb 5:8-9)

There is a positive aspect to suffering. We all endure suffering to some degree, but the good news is that through it we can become like Jesus. Are you willing to pay whatever price is necessary in order to become like Christ? There are some things that God can build into your life only through suffering. Even Jesus, the sinless Son of God, was complete only after He had endured the suffering His Father had set before Him. Once He had suffered, He was the complete, mature, and perfect Savior through whom an entire world could find salvation.

If you become bitter over your hardships, you close some parts of your life from God. If you do this, you will never be complete. Some places in your soul can be reached only by suffering. The Spirit of God has important things to teach you, but you can only learn these lessons in the midst of your trials. King Saul was made king without ever enduring hardship, but he never developed the character or maturity to handle God’s assignment. David spent years in suffering and heartache. When he finally ascended the throne, he was a man after God’s own heart.

Don’t resent the suffering God allows in your life. Don’t make all your decisions and invest everything you have into avoiding hardship. God did not spare His own Son. How can we expect Him to spare us? Learn obedience even when it hurts!

- Blackaby