It is not unusual for us to go through a season of trials and affliction. The Lord alone knows what all He is using those season(s) of trials to accomplish in our lives. However, I do know that so many times He is taking the knowledge we have about Him from our head into our heart, so that the knowledge ceases to be academic and becomes experiential; and, as such, becomes part of the fabric of our person, part of who we really are and how we really live. It is one thing to know about the fact that His grace is always sufficient, and then quite another to know the sufficiency of His grace because you have experienced it and lived it through a season of trial and affliction.
Being very obvious or even very subtle, all of us have a very strong strand of self-sufficiency, and are very good at taking care of things and getting things done for ourselves and by ourselves. Because of this the Lord has to get us in a situation where we are past the point of being able to handle it by ourselves, where the situation is bigger than us and our own abilities, and, to top it off, keep us there for a while. This shatters the popular, but false, "taughtism" that God will not give us more than we can handle. He will allow or cause us to be in situations beyond our limits because He wants us to understand that He is bigger than we are, and that He is absolutely in control, not us.
So many times the season of trial we are experiencing is comprised of many trials, sort of trials within a trial, and they are all related. During this time they tend to hit us like waves from the ocean, so as soon as we get our head up from the prior wave a new wave engulfs us. He wants us to not just become dependent on Him, but to learn to stay dependent on Him. Again, it is one thing to know that, and another to experience it to the point where it affects a permanent change in us. Also, in James 4, He tells us that He is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The root of self-sufficiency is a very subtle form of pride, a pride that says I can do this, I can handle this; and in essence says, “I don’t need the Lord.” So the Lord shows us that we do indeed need Him. He shows us that we cannot handle it, successfully, completely, and consistently without depending on Him...casting ourselves completely upon Him.
My wife and I were talking once, and she told me of a quote she had come across that day. It is “Circumstances are the expression of God’s will.” God is sovereign over your circumstances…all of them. Psalm 103:19 tells us, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.” He is ruling over what you are going through right now, and it did not come upon you without His will. A section in Psalm 119 gives us some insight into His purposes in times of affliction:
1. Notice that God deals well (in a good and prosperous way) with us and that way is in accordance with His word. The word of God is an expression of the will of God, reveals the purpose(s) of God, guides us in the ways of God, and explains the means by which God brings us to the fullness of the stature of Christ, which is for our good and our spiritual prosperity.
So many times the season of trial we are experiencing is comprised of many trials, sort of trials within a trial, and they are all related. During this time they tend to hit us like waves from the ocean, so as soon as we get our head up from the prior wave a new wave engulfs us. He wants us to not just become dependent on Him, but to learn to stay dependent on Him. Again, it is one thing to know that, and another to experience it to the point where it affects a permanent change in us. Also, in James 4, He tells us that He is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The root of self-sufficiency is a very subtle form of pride, a pride that says I can do this, I can handle this; and in essence says, “I don’t need the Lord.” So the Lord shows us that we do indeed need Him. He shows us that we cannot handle it, successfully, completely, and consistently without depending on Him...casting ourselves completely upon Him.
My wife and I were talking once, and she told me of a quote she had come across that day. It is “Circumstances are the expression of God’s will.” God is sovereign over your circumstances…all of them. Psalm 103:19 tells us, “The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all.” He is ruling over what you are going through right now, and it did not come upon you without His will. A section in Psalm 119 gives us some insight into His purposes in times of affliction:
119:65 You have dealt well with Your servant,
According to Your word.
119:67-68 Before I was afflicted I went astray,
But now I keep Your word.
You are good and do good;
Teach me Your statutes.
119:71-73 It is good for me that I was afflicted
That I may learn Your statutes.
The law of Your mouth is better to me
Than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
Your hands made me and fashioned me;
Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments.
119:75-77 I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous,
And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.
O may Your lovingkindness comfort me,
According to Your word to Your servant.
May Your compassion come to me that I may live,
For your law is my delight.
1. Notice that God deals well (in a good and prosperous way) with us and that way is in accordance with His word. The word of God is an expression of the will of God, reveals the purpose(s) of God, guides us in the ways of God, and explains the means by which God brings us to the fullness of the stature of Christ, which is for our good and our spiritual prosperity.
2. One of the purposes/spiritual benefits of affliction is that it brings us back to a state of obedience to God's word (I Peter 4:1,19) This is the goodness of God in action, as trials are a means of spiritual discipline, and all of His discipline is designed for our benefit, and ultimately is an expression of His goodness toward us (Hebrews 12:5-11).
3. The word affliction means to have hardships, to find oneself in a stunted, lowly, humble position; and it is also the means by which God brings us to that stunted and humbled position (James 4:6, Isaiah 66:2). All afflictions have a purpose behind them, and we are strengthened and gain hope when we can see past the afflictions themselves and see God's good purpose in them (Psalm 37:1, Proverbs 29:23).
4. It is during times of affliction that our heart is the most attentive to, receptive and desirous of , the word of God; and it is His word taken in and lived out that bears spiritual fruit (James 1:21-25, Psalm 119:1-4).
5. God is righteous in His afflicting us. He knows just what we need, when we need it, and how long we need it to remove the dross in our lives and properly conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. As the master silversmith will not let the heat of the fire ruin the metal, He will not let the heat and pressure of our affliction be to our ruin, but to our glory (I Corinthians 10:13, Romans 8:18, II Corinthians 4:17,
I Peter 4:12-14).
6. Our afflictions are a sign of God's faithfulness to us, as they are His means of completing the work of salvation which He started in us (Philippians 1:6, 2:13, Romans 8:28-31).
7. So when we pray, let us not just pray for relief from the circumstances, but also for all that God has for us in and through this time of trial and affliction…for we know His grace is truly sufficient, and His mercies are new every morning; and these truths become more precious to us when we experience their fullness during times of trial and affliction.
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