Why does God allow trials and sufferings in a Christian’s life?
Does it mean that when we are in deep trial and in deep suffering that God has already forsaken us or that He is punishing us for our sins?
Are we promised a flowery bed of ease once we accept
Christ and after we have been born-again?
Trials are but a normal part of a Christian
life. No one can evade them nor escape them. They come
as a natural part of daily life’s circumstances. Trials are a
significant part of God’s permissive will, to test us and to
bring us into perfection. I Peter 4:12-13 exhorts us,”Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings;
that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad
also with exceeding joy.”
I PETER 1:7 states, “That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
What we ought to do is to face our trials squarely
and sensibly with prayer and supplications and with trust in God. The Bible says that “All
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Trial is a part of the Christian
Heritage. “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing [this], that the
trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:2-4). Blessed [is] the man that endureth
temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him. (James 1:12)
The problems we face will either DEFEAT us or DEVELOP us - depending on how
we respond and react to them. Unfortunately, most people fail to see how God wants to use
problems to perfect our lives. The Bible says that “All things work together for good to them
that love the Lord.” If you love the Lord, your problem was sent to you by God for a purpose.
Some people react foolishly (by blaming others and some even resort to commiting suicide)
and resent their problems rather than pausing to consider what benefit these problems
might bring.
FIVE USES OF PROBLEMS
Here are 5 ways wherein God wants to use problems in our lives:
1. God uses problems to DIRECT you.
Sometimes God must light a fire under you to get you moving. Problems often
point us to the right direction when we are going the wrong way. Problems often
motivate us to change. Is God trying you to get your attention? Sometimes it takes a
painful situation to make us change our ways. Jonah run away from God’s commission
and went to Tarshish. He reap a storm, got thrown away from the ship, and got swallowed
by a fish two days and three nights, instead of smoothsailing to Nineveh.
2. God uses problems to INSPECT you.
People are like tea bags. If you want to know what’s inside them, just drop them
into hot water! Has God tested your faith with a problem? What do problems reveal about
you? When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know
that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.” Look at Job and
Abraham as our example. Job never murmured but thanked God in the midst of his loss
and suffering with boils knowing that God is able to restore him back some day. “The Lord
giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord”, that was his guiding
thoughts. Abraham was promised by God a son to become the Father of nations. Yet later
on He asked Abraham to offer this only son Isaac as a sacrifice on the mountain. Did
Abraham complain? No. He had a revelation that God is able to raise his son back from the
dead. But when they both passed the test, they were blessed by God even greater than
before.
3. God uses problems to CORRECT you.
Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It’s likely that as a
child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove. But you probably learned by being
burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something ...health, money, a
relationship... by losing it. David said, “It was the best thing that could have happened
to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws” (Psalm 119:71-72). David reaped what
he sow when He commited adultery. He even sent Uriah to battle to die and be killed in order
for him to legally take Batsheba for a wife, amidst having 500 wives already. He lost the joy
of his salvation. He was ousted by his son Absalom and his kingdom was divided and
ruined. Yet with deep repentance He was able to gain back the favor of God. His son
Solomon by Batsheba was even considered by God to erect His temple.
4. God uses problems to PROTECT you.
A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being
harmed by something more serious. Last year a friend was fired for refusing to do
something illegal that his boss had asked him to do. He was an accountant and was asked
to cheat on the income tax return of the company but refused to do it considering that He is
a Christian and could not compromise on it. His unemployment was a problem - but it saved
him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later when management’s actions were
eventually discovered. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good (Genesis
50:20). Consider Joseph as an example. He was rejected of his brethren, sold to Egypt for 30 pieces of silver, was imprisoned for a crime he did not make, yet through all these trials
and miseries, He held on to God with faith, and God made him governor of Egypt. He saved
his own family (Jacob his father, and his 11 brothers) at the end, when the great famine in
Egypt took place.
5. God uses problems to PERFECT you.
Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. God is
far more interested in your character than your comfort. Your relationship to God
and your character are the only two things you’re going to take with you into eternity. “We
can rejoice when we run into problems... they help us learn to be patient. And patience
develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until
finally our hope and faith are strong and steady” (Romans 5:3-4). Consider Paul and his
sufferings, which built his character – Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned,
stoned, had a thorn in the flesh) yet all these trials made him stronger than ever.
He said in II Cor. 12:7-10- “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Here’s the point - God is at work in your life - even when you do not
recognize it or understand it. ROMANS 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” It is much
easier and profitable for you when you just cooperate with Him. It is hard to kick against the
pricks.
THE BENEFITS THAT TRIALS AND TESTING BRING US
A TEST OF COURAGE
Some trials test us in one way and some in another. Some test our
courage. Satan sometimes tries to frighten us by making a great show of threatening.
Sometimes he makes things look very dark. He whispers to us that we shall surely be
overwhelmed. If we but have courage to meet these, we shall be able to overcome them.
Often we have but to face them boldly in order to chase them off the ground and to stand
victorious on the field of battle. Other trials test our faith. When sickness or disease
take hold of us, it is then that faith is tested. When the adversary tries to bring doubts in our
minds about God’s faithfulness or the truth of his Word, and the faithfulness of his people,
then faith is the weapon that we need to use to overcome him.
A TEST OF LOYALTY AND FAITHFULNESS
There are trials that test our loyalty. We are brought face to face with the
question whether we will be loyal to God and his truth, or whether we will take some
seemingly easier way and compromise his truth for the sake of getting off easier ourselves.
We are often put in a position where our loyalty is tested, where we have to stand right by
the truth without deviating from it in the slightest degree, no matter what comes. Sometimes
we must make a choice between Christ and our friends. The question is then one of loyalty.
To whom shall we be true, Christ or our friends? To whom shall we submit ourselves, and
whom shall we obey? He has said, “Be thou faithful unto death.” Shall we do it? Shall
we do it no matter what it means nor how long a struggle it means? The battle is half won
when we are fully decided to stand loyal whatever comes. Battles of this sort may be
decided before we enter into them, and then we have only the fighting to do. The result is
certain. The old saying, “Well begun is half done,” is certainly true in the Christian life,
especially when it comes to the matter of being decided to do the right and stand loyally by
the truth whatever comes.
A TEST OF OUR HUMILITY
There are things that test our humility. There are plenty of people who for
their own purposes will flatter us and try to make us think that we are great personages or can let ourselves be tried over trifles if we will, when if we would act as a real man or
woman, we could pass over them quite easily and do it joyously and not suffer to amount to
anything. The trouble with so many is that they are like petulant children, who are hurt or
displeased at almost anything. If someone has really done something on purpose to try you,
you should not give him the satisfaction of knowing that it hurt. Keep the hurt out of sight.
Hide it away and over come it, and, if possible, let it be known to none but God. Bear with
meekness what happens. Pray for your persecutors. That is the surest way to keep God in
your own heart. “Father, forgive them,” is the plea that takes the sting out of persecution.
SATAN AS PERMITTED BY GOD
Some trials come directly from Satan, with God’s permissive will. For
some reason we are left liable to his attacks. He attacked Job, destroyed his children, his
possessions, and his health. God could shut him clear way from the world, just as he has
shut him away from heaven, if he chose. But for some purpose he sees fit to let us be
exposed to his attacks here. Many persons feel like a little boy who once said: “Mother, I
wish God would kill the devil. Why doesn’t he do it? I would if I were big enough.” But Satan
is limited in his work against us, and God is ever on our part, so that he can never go beyond
God’s will for us, so long as we leave ourselves in God’s hands and rely upon him for the
needed help. God does see fit sometimes to let him try us severely, but there never need be
any cause for despair. God will not suffer us to be tempted more than we are able to bear.
If Satan makes the temptation, God makes the way out. Sometimes he does not let us see the
way out, even when he has prepared it, and we have to resist and endure the temptation
until he sees that it has gone far enough. Then he shows us the way out. Sometimes he will
take us and lift us clear out of it by his own hand. At other times he will put our adversary to
flight. Our part is to endure and trust; God’s part is to make the way of escape. We must
endure patiently until our deliverance comes.
GOD’S PROVING GROUNDS
Sometimes God himself tries or proves us. “I will bring the third part through
the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zechariah
13:9). The purpose of God’s trying us is often that we may know ourselves. If we
become self-sufficient, or go to rejoicing in our own works, he will likely send upon us or
permit to come upon us something that will bring us to know our insufficiency and need of
help from him. Danger is often the only thing that can help us to know our own
weakness; so God often lets a danger come in order to bring us to our senses.
We should not let such a thing discourage us, but get the lesson that our strength is from him
and that our best efforts, if merely of ourselves, can avail little. He who trusts in God has
strength enough for his needs.
God sometimes tries us that we may know him better. He wants us to
know just how dearly he loves us, and how earnest is his care for us, and how
faithful he is to us; and so he lets every hope and resource fail us and distress
fall upon us. When everything fails, and we turn to him, how real is his help! how
sweet is his comfort! If, however, when we find ourselves in such a situation, we despair
and give up, we lose the blessedness that he was preparing us for. We grieve his loving
heart and cheat ourselves. Hold fast and wait for him to work out his purpose. He afflicts
only to heal. He grieves only to turn the grief to rejoicing, and to give greater rejoicing than
could come through any other means. Our trials are the root upon which our blessings grow.
These roots may be bitter, but the fruit is sure to be sweet if we patiently wait for its
maturing. Too many want the fruits of joy, but are not willing to have the trial. Many choice
fruits grow on thorny trees, and he who will gather the fruit may expect to be pricked now and then by the thorns.
SELF-MADE TRIALS: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
But the trials that are hardest to bear are the ones we bring upon
ourselves. Many people suffer as a result of their own indiscretion. If you commit
a crime, there is a law to prosecute you. People sometimes act unwisely or unbecomingly,
and people buffet them for their faults. There is the golden rule that say, “Do not unto others
what you want others not to do unto you.” If we break that rule, it’s because of our own fault
that we suffer. In return, we will be ridiculed or condemned; your names will be on the
tongue of the gossip, and you have no one to blame but yourselves. If we do not act wisely
or worthily, we need not expect to have the trust, confidence and esteem of others. If we
are buffeted for our faults, the only Christian thing to do is to endure with meekness and
patience and try to do better next time. Whatever we sow, we shall reap. This is one kind of
trial that is always bitter medicine. It brings no joy. The best thing we can do is to take our
bitter medicine and make no wry faces about it.
We sometimes do things or say things that bring heaviness upon us. We heap
blame and condemnation upon ourselves. We feel regret and sorrow, and cannot get done
chiding ourselves. How many of these self-made trials could be avoided if we would have
been careful always to watch ourselves and to think of the outcome before we speak or
act. When we have brought such a trial upon ourselves, we can only brace up and endure
it manfully. We need to learn well our lesson, but we need not let ourselves be crushed
under it. Do not let yourself brood over it. Brooding will not help matters. Resolve to do better
next time and ask God to help you. Rise above the trial. If you have learned your lesson, God
will help you out. He does not want to bruise you over it. He may chasten you sorely, but he
will do it for your profit, not for your destruction.
Does it mean that when we are in deep trial and in deep suffering that God has already forsaken us or that He is punishing us for our sins?
Are we promised a flowery bed of ease once we accept
Christ and after we have been born-again?
Trials are but a normal part of a Christian
life. No one can evade them nor escape them. They come
as a natural part of daily life’s circumstances. Trials are a
significant part of God’s permissive will, to test us and to
bring us into perfection. I Peter 4:12-13 exhorts us,”Beloved,
think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But
rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings;
that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad
also with exceeding joy.”
I PETER 1:7 states, “That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth,
though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
What we ought to do is to face our trials squarely
and sensibly with prayer and supplications and with trust in God. The Bible says that “All
that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” Trial is a part of the Christian
Heritage. “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing [this], that the
trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have [her] perfect work, that ye may
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:2-4). Blessed [is] the man that endureth
temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath
promised to them that love him. (James 1:12)
The problems we face will either DEFEAT us or DEVELOP us - depending on how
we respond and react to them. Unfortunately, most people fail to see how God wants to use
problems to perfect our lives. The Bible says that “All things work together for good to them
that love the Lord.” If you love the Lord, your problem was sent to you by God for a purpose.
Some people react foolishly (by blaming others and some even resort to commiting suicide)
and resent their problems rather than pausing to consider what benefit these problems
might bring.
FIVE USES OF PROBLEMS
Here are 5 ways wherein God wants to use problems in our lives:
1. God uses problems to DIRECT you.
Sometimes God must light a fire under you to get you moving. Problems often
point us to the right direction when we are going the wrong way. Problems often
motivate us to change. Is God trying you to get your attention? Sometimes it takes a
painful situation to make us change our ways. Jonah run away from God’s commission
and went to Tarshish. He reap a storm, got thrown away from the ship, and got swallowed
by a fish two days and three nights, instead of smoothsailing to Nineveh.
2. God uses problems to INSPECT you.
People are like tea bags. If you want to know what’s inside them, just drop them
into hot water! Has God tested your faith with a problem? What do problems reveal about
you? When you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know
that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.” Look at Job and
Abraham as our example. Job never murmured but thanked God in the midst of his loss
and suffering with boils knowing that God is able to restore him back some day. “The Lord
giveth; the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord”, that was his guiding
thoughts. Abraham was promised by God a son to become the Father of nations. Yet later
on He asked Abraham to offer this only son Isaac as a sacrifice on the mountain. Did
Abraham complain? No. He had a revelation that God is able to raise his son back from the
dead. But when they both passed the test, they were blessed by God even greater than
before.
3. God uses problems to CORRECT you.
Some lessons we learn only through pain and failure. It’s likely that as a
child your parents told you not to touch a hot stove. But you probably learned by being
burned. Sometimes we only learn the value of something ...health, money, a
relationship... by losing it. David said, “It was the best thing that could have happened
to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws” (Psalm 119:71-72). David reaped what
he sow when He commited adultery. He even sent Uriah to battle to die and be killed in order
for him to legally take Batsheba for a wife, amidst having 500 wives already. He lost the joy
of his salvation. He was ousted by his son Absalom and his kingdom was divided and
ruined. Yet with deep repentance He was able to gain back the favor of God. His son
Solomon by Batsheba was even considered by God to erect His temple.
4. God uses problems to PROTECT you.
A problem can be a blessing in disguise if it prevents you from being
harmed by something more serious. Last year a friend was fired for refusing to do
something illegal that his boss had asked him to do. He was an accountant and was asked
to cheat on the income tax return of the company but refused to do it considering that He is
a Christian and could not compromise on it. His unemployment was a problem - but it saved
him from being convicted and sent to prison a year later when management’s actions were
eventually discovered. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good (Genesis
50:20). Consider Joseph as an example. He was rejected of his brethren, sold to Egypt for 30 pieces of silver, was imprisoned for a crime he did not make, yet through all these trials
and miseries, He held on to God with faith, and God made him governor of Egypt. He saved
his own family (Jacob his father, and his 11 brothers) at the end, when the great famine in
Egypt took place.
5. God uses problems to PERFECT you.
Problems, when responded to correctly, are character builders. God is
far more interested in your character than your comfort. Your relationship to God
and your character are the only two things you’re going to take with you into eternity. “We
can rejoice when we run into problems... they help us learn to be patient. And patience
develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until
finally our hope and faith are strong and steady” (Romans 5:3-4). Consider Paul and his
sufferings, which built his character – Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, imprisoned,
stoned, had a thorn in the flesh) yet all these trials made him stronger than ever.
He said in II Cor. 12:7-10- “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the
abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for
thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory
in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s
sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”
Here’s the point - God is at work in your life - even when you do not
recognize it or understand it. ROMANS 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.” It is much
easier and profitable for you when you just cooperate with Him. It is hard to kick against the
pricks.
THE BENEFITS THAT TRIALS AND TESTING BRING US
A TEST OF COURAGE
Some trials test us in one way and some in another. Some test our
courage. Satan sometimes tries to frighten us by making a great show of threatening.
Sometimes he makes things look very dark. He whispers to us that we shall surely be
overwhelmed. If we but have courage to meet these, we shall be able to overcome them.
Often we have but to face them boldly in order to chase them off the ground and to stand
victorious on the field of battle. Other trials test our faith. When sickness or disease
take hold of us, it is then that faith is tested. When the adversary tries to bring doubts in our
minds about God’s faithfulness or the truth of his Word, and the faithfulness of his people,
then faith is the weapon that we need to use to overcome him.
A TEST OF LOYALTY AND FAITHFULNESS
There are trials that test our loyalty. We are brought face to face with the
question whether we will be loyal to God and his truth, or whether we will take some
seemingly easier way and compromise his truth for the sake of getting off easier ourselves.
We are often put in a position where our loyalty is tested, where we have to stand right by
the truth without deviating from it in the slightest degree, no matter what comes. Sometimes
we must make a choice between Christ and our friends. The question is then one of loyalty.
To whom shall we be true, Christ or our friends? To whom shall we submit ourselves, and
whom shall we obey? He has said, “Be thou faithful unto death.” Shall we do it? Shall
we do it no matter what it means nor how long a struggle it means? The battle is half won
when we are fully decided to stand loyal whatever comes. Battles of this sort may be
decided before we enter into them, and then we have only the fighting to do. The result is
certain. The old saying, “Well begun is half done,” is certainly true in the Christian life,
especially when it comes to the matter of being decided to do the right and stand loyally by
the truth whatever comes.
A TEST OF OUR HUMILITY
There are things that test our humility. There are plenty of people who for
their own purposes will flatter us and try to make us think that we are great personages or can let ourselves be tried over trifles if we will, when if we would act as a real man or
woman, we could pass over them quite easily and do it joyously and not suffer to amount to
anything. The trouble with so many is that they are like petulant children, who are hurt or
displeased at almost anything. If someone has really done something on purpose to try you,
you should not give him the satisfaction of knowing that it hurt. Keep the hurt out of sight.
Hide it away and over come it, and, if possible, let it be known to none but God. Bear with
meekness what happens. Pray for your persecutors. That is the surest way to keep God in
your own heart. “Father, forgive them,” is the plea that takes the sting out of persecution.
SATAN AS PERMITTED BY GOD
Some trials come directly from Satan, with God’s permissive will. For
some reason we are left liable to his attacks. He attacked Job, destroyed his children, his
possessions, and his health. God could shut him clear way from the world, just as he has
shut him away from heaven, if he chose. But for some purpose he sees fit to let us be
exposed to his attacks here. Many persons feel like a little boy who once said: “Mother, I
wish God would kill the devil. Why doesn’t he do it? I would if I were big enough.” But Satan
is limited in his work against us, and God is ever on our part, so that he can never go beyond
God’s will for us, so long as we leave ourselves in God’s hands and rely upon him for the
needed help. God does see fit sometimes to let him try us severely, but there never need be
any cause for despair. God will not suffer us to be tempted more than we are able to bear.
If Satan makes the temptation, God makes the way out. Sometimes he does not let us see the
way out, even when he has prepared it, and we have to resist and endure the temptation
until he sees that it has gone far enough. Then he shows us the way out. Sometimes he will
take us and lift us clear out of it by his own hand. At other times he will put our adversary to
flight. Our part is to endure and trust; God’s part is to make the way of escape. We must
endure patiently until our deliverance comes.
GOD’S PROVING GROUNDS
Sometimes God himself tries or proves us. “I will bring the third part through
the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zechariah
13:9). The purpose of God’s trying us is often that we may know ourselves. If we
become self-sufficient, or go to rejoicing in our own works, he will likely send upon us or
permit to come upon us something that will bring us to know our insufficiency and need of
help from him. Danger is often the only thing that can help us to know our own
weakness; so God often lets a danger come in order to bring us to our senses.
We should not let such a thing discourage us, but get the lesson that our strength is from him
and that our best efforts, if merely of ourselves, can avail little. He who trusts in God has
strength enough for his needs.
God sometimes tries us that we may know him better. He wants us to
know just how dearly he loves us, and how earnest is his care for us, and how
faithful he is to us; and so he lets every hope and resource fail us and distress
fall upon us. When everything fails, and we turn to him, how real is his help! how
sweet is his comfort! If, however, when we find ourselves in such a situation, we despair
and give up, we lose the blessedness that he was preparing us for. We grieve his loving
heart and cheat ourselves. Hold fast and wait for him to work out his purpose. He afflicts
only to heal. He grieves only to turn the grief to rejoicing, and to give greater rejoicing than
could come through any other means. Our trials are the root upon which our blessings grow.
These roots may be bitter, but the fruit is sure to be sweet if we patiently wait for its
maturing. Too many want the fruits of joy, but are not willing to have the trial. Many choice
fruits grow on thorny trees, and he who will gather the fruit may expect to be pricked now and then by the thorns.
SELF-MADE TRIALS: YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW
But the trials that are hardest to bear are the ones we bring upon
ourselves. Many people suffer as a result of their own indiscretion. If you commit
a crime, there is a law to prosecute you. People sometimes act unwisely or unbecomingly,
and people buffet them for their faults. There is the golden rule that say, “Do not unto others
what you want others not to do unto you.” If we break that rule, it’s because of our own fault
that we suffer. In return, we will be ridiculed or condemned; your names will be on the
tongue of the gossip, and you have no one to blame but yourselves. If we do not act wisely
or worthily, we need not expect to have the trust, confidence and esteem of others. If we
are buffeted for our faults, the only Christian thing to do is to endure with meekness and
patience and try to do better next time. Whatever we sow, we shall reap. This is one kind of
trial that is always bitter medicine. It brings no joy. The best thing we can do is to take our
bitter medicine and make no wry faces about it.
We sometimes do things or say things that bring heaviness upon us. We heap
blame and condemnation upon ourselves. We feel regret and sorrow, and cannot get done
chiding ourselves. How many of these self-made trials could be avoided if we would have
been careful always to watch ourselves and to think of the outcome before we speak or
act. When we have brought such a trial upon ourselves, we can only brace up and endure
it manfully. We need to learn well our lesson, but we need not let ourselves be crushed
under it. Do not let yourself brood over it. Brooding will not help matters. Resolve to do better
next time and ask God to help you. Rise above the trial. If you have learned your lesson, God
will help you out. He does not want to bruise you over it. He may chasten you sorely, but he
will do it for your profit, not for your destruction.
Comments
Post a Comment