August 12, 2020: The Trials of Life...How Do They Effect the Way We See Ourselves?

James 1: 2-4l (NIV)

2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds,3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

All of us as Christians go through trials in our lives, that's why the book of James say to "consider it". We are going to go through trial, but it is how we respond to these trials that makes a big difference in our life. Do we go through the trial holding on for dear life waiting for the trial to be over, or do we allow God to show us what He is trying teach us in our life to make us a better person?

Many times, we must go through the dark side of a trial to be able to see the light of God's lesson He wants to teach us and change the character flaw He is trying to change within us. This character change is necessary for our well-being to be able to be used by God for His glory.

As we go through the darkness of our trial, we must turn to the Lord for His guidance and direction. We must be willing to "surrender" our own understanding of what is happening around us and "surrender" to God's control in the trial. It is only through our giving up our control of our self-will, will we come to learn the lesson that God is trying to teach us.

It is through our brokenness that God can begin to mold us into what He wants us to become, not what we want. But here lies the problem. If we choose not to surrender to learn what God is trying to teach us, be assured, we are going to go through the same trial again and again, maybe not in the exact same way, but we will go through it again until we learn the lesson.

I know this in my own personal life far too well. Why does God allow this to happen to us you may ask? It is because of His unchanging love for us that He allows these trials to continue so that we come to learn the lesson He is trying to teach us, so that by learning these lessons, God is able to use us for His glory and purpose in other people's lives and to help us as well to be at peace with Him.

PERSONNAL COMMENT:

Let us not be stubborn to learn what God is trying to teach us through our trials. Let us allow God to show us our character flaws so that He may receive the glory and purpose in our life.

If you want to see how God works behind the scenes in our lives, read the Book of Job, this will help you get a better perspective in the purpose of trials.