The Beauty of Trials

Some people think they are tried more than other people. If you knew the value of them, you would praise God for trials more than anything. My hope is to expose the beauty of trials in this post.

Life sometimes hits us with hard times, and I’m talking about fire-blazing, life-threatening and life-transforming hard times! We begin to ask what or where we may have gone wrong to deserve such disaster.

It’s funny how people want to have faith like Abraham but never want to have to wait so long for a blessing, people want God to brag about them like he did of Job but never want to lose as much as Job lost, they want to be a great leader like Moses but never want to face the challenges he faced, they want to be called a man after God’s heart but never want to face a Goliath, they want to be the Daniel of our age but never want to be thrown in the lion’s den.

“It is the trial that God uses to purify us; it is the fiery furnace of affliction that God uses to get us in the place where he can use us.”

A life with no resistance produces little strength. God does not waste the trials He permits. Before God puts you through the furnace of affliction, he knows you will go through it. Frankly put, you must be tried if you want to grow.

A trial is not automatic proof that you have done something wrong. When faced with trials, difficulties, hard times, I rejoice! I count myself privileged. Because I know something great awaits me after it. I keep the aftermath in mind even during the storm. Some people say “Oh, I don’t know why my lot is such a heavy one,” and God puts them into the fire again. He knows how to do it. There is no such thing as a groan when God gets hold of you.

So often we look at people who are going through hard times, people who have lost their family, lost their jobs, and we begin to pity them. No! We should not despise a trial. It may become the ground of our growth. If we all knew the glory that awaits us after every trial, we will always pray to be tried.

There’s a song by Taya Smith of Hillsong worship called Oceans that I love because the lyrics are a prayer for a time of trial:

Taya Smith’s ‘Oceans’ contains the prayer, “Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders.”

To pray for the Spirit to take you deeper than your feet could ever wander is asking to be put in an uncomfortable place, an unfamiliar spot, an area of great uncertainty. But you know what happens after you’ve been there? Your faith becomes stronger, you become bolder, you become a testimony. Many people begin to envy you but they never want to go deeper than their feet could ever wander.

Oh, what a blessing it is to know you are tested! It’s the greatest thing in the world to be tested!