Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Edmund Clowney
Devotional: 7 Ways Trials Strengthen Our Trust in God
The one misconception among many Christians when they get into a relationship with Jesus, is that their problems will disappear and life will become easier. In many cases, instead of your burdens decreasing, you would notice that the devil starts waging a war on you and your problems become worse. Getting closer to Christ could even mean problems arise for you and your family. But make no mistake about it; God sends trials to strengthen our trust in Him. Here are seven ways trials strengthen our trust in God:
Trials Bring Perspective
If everything in your life went smoothly, it could be very easy to get your priorities all screwed up. Instead of becoming a person that lives for others and seeks out others, it would be easy to become selfish and self-absorbed. When trials happen, it helps bring things into perspective and helps us focus on what truly is important, which is our relationship with God.
Trials Show Us Our Weakness
Usually, the concept of weakness is something viewed as negative by most people. But when trials happen in our lives and they basically strip us of the things that we used to be confident of, we gain a very welcomed appreciation of our weakness. Why is this important? Because the weaker we feel, the more we realize how strong Jesus Christ is and how much we need Him in our lives. Because deep down, all human beings know that we are weak. And that as powerful as we imagine ourselves to be, when it comes down to it, we have nothing. This is precisely the kind of realization that can strengthen our trust in God and our relationship with Him.
Trials Show That There is Only One Person We Can Trust
There is nothing like a personal trial, whether it is a health trial or a matter of financial issues, to make us realize who our real friends are. In fact, if things get so bad, it is not impossible for our friends to disappear. During that moment of clarity, we see the only real person we can trust, and that is our Lord and Savior Jesus.
Challenges Melt Away Our Pride
There is nothing like good times to give us an unhealthy picture of ourselves. We can get full of ourselves and think that we are all that. And we think that all the blessings in our lives are due to our own efforts, our own planning, and our own skills. But when challenges come and blow that all away, we are left naked, and all our pride melts away. This is a blessing because the more pride there is wrapped around your heart, the further your heart is from Jesus. In many cases, it often takes a disaster to melt all that pride away and for us to regain true understanding of what truly matters.
Trust in God Dissolves Our Fear
The Bible is clear that love casts out fear. Unfortunately, it can be easy to live our lives in a very frustrated manner because we are so scared of what the people might do or what other people might say. When trials happen, we are forced to get out of hiding and confront our fears head on because we feel that there is really no other alternative, and this is precisely the opportunity to trust in God more. Because the more we trust in Him, the less we have to fear. At the end of the day there is only one person that can judge you. Not your neighbours, not your family, not your friends, but Jesus Christ.
Trials Give Us the Opportunity to Draw Our Strength from God
Just like the discussion above about pride, it is easy to base our strength on things that just don’t matter. When challenges destroy those things, we are left feeling naked. When this happens, we are left with two choices: We can choose to feel hopeless and bitter or we can choose to draw our strength from God.
Trials Obliterate False Idols
Christians think that just because they do not venerate graven images of human beings or anything created, they are keeping the second commandment. But there are other ways we can set up false idols in our lives. We can idolize money, fame, or other people. When trials come, they can be a tremendous blessing, as a way to free us from the false assurances that we get from these false idols. This is the kind of liberation that we need to go through to strengthen our relationship with God.
The more idols you place in front of you, the further away you get become from God. And when you let trials question your idols, you are given the opportunity to question your idols and do away with them, and the clearer the path will be to God.
