Learning Through our Trials

May 16, 2022

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” Romans 5:3-5

When it comes to trials, none of us receive a free pass that allows us to skip over the struggles, frustrations, remorse, regrets, and anything else that goes along with facing hardships. When we are children of God, why do we have to go through messy situations and heartbreaking circumstances?

When our Lord ministered in the flesh to the multitudes he encountered regularly, those human feelings were experienced by Jesus too. He knew what it was like to be treated wrongly, to be broken-hearted, to have friends walk away, and more. He gave us an example of how to handle the situations with grace. The human side of Jesus felt emotions just like we do.

It is always comforting to know that the Lord never shied away from the experiences that came His way and that He knew we would face them too. Our Savior led by example.

In Romans 5, Paul lets us know hardships we don’t go through hardships in vain and for no good reason. On the contrary! When we face a trial and commit to clinging to Jesus instead of “throwing in the towel” because of the aggravation of it all, our suffering teaches us that Jesus will keep us and no allow us to fall if we rely on His strength. When trials go on for a longer period of time than we anticipate, our endurance builds quality characteristics within us that don’t come naturally for everyone. Kindness, gentleness, patience, longsuffering, and more develop in the lives of those who do not resort to our own fleshly ideas of how to handle our problems. As we’ve allowed God to build our character by being devoted to Him during our trials, hope has the opportunity to bloom in our lives.  

Each new day, let us be encouraged to remember the Word of God and adjust the way we handle the trials that come our way. Instead of angry outbursts or other carnal ways of handling our problems, why don’t we ask the Lord, “God, what do you want me to learn from this? Please help me grow in the areas I am lacking. Please cause me to cease from complaining and focus on the lessons that will enrich my life and cause me to grow and prosper spiritually in the ways that You desire me to.

Trials and painful circumstances are never easy to go through. However, when we look beyond our own strength in handling what comes our way and remember to hold tight to our Savior who guides us, we will look back at how much we’ve overcome and grown with our Lord.

The Word of God shows us the things we need to stand strong in our faith. The armor of God is our sure uniform for survival, being fully engulfed by the weapons God has placed within our reach to use.

Are we ready to learn from the things that want to discourage us and cause us harm? No worries-we never need to handle them alone. God will give us great victories as we allow Him to help us grow. We are never alone in our trials, and great lessons are ours for the taking.

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