Trials

Let’s talk trials.

Yeah, I mean those hard times that seem to be weighing down on you like bricks, laid one after another on your back until you feel you’re about to be completely crushed. Trials is often accompanied by the word tribulations, a fancy and almost poetic word that means “grievous trouble; severe trial or suffering”.

We could spend all day (and probably all night, and forget about the rest of the week) sharing our problems with each other, and complaining back and forth, wondering ‘why me?’, but let’s be honest folks; the only reason you listen to other people vent is because you know you’ll get your turn to unload.

I’m not trying to be a downer on anyone, but I’m trying to make a point. Trials and tribulations (in our day to day lives, often referred to as bills, issues at work, family troubles, etc), are a part of our life, and sometimes, it can feel like you’re going to be overwhelmed.

Fear not, brothers and sisters; for ours is just a small part of the big picture.

Plus, God has promised us that he will never give us something that we cannot handle:

1 Corinthians 10:13

13For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not [a]adjusted and [b]adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to [c]a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently(Amplified Bible)

Your car broke down? Your family is falling apart? That bill just arrived and suddenly you find you can’t afford groceries? Or something else happens and you feel that sudden wave of despair where you realize, ‘oh dear Lord, I can’t do this!’

Relax.

Seriously; God knows you may not be able to do it on your own. That’s why he’s there, and he loves you more than enough to help you through your tough moments.

There is a poem—titled “Footprints in the Sand” (also made into a song, which is beautiful)—that states it most clearly at the end:

The Lord replied,

  “The times when you have

   seen only one set of footprints,

 is when I carried you.”

Truly, you can rely on the fact that the Lord will carry you through those hard times. Even when it seems like your all alone and in the dark, God forever remains by your side and in your heart.

And let me state something clearly, if only to see myself print it, and to affirm it:

Jesus loves you. And because he loves you, sometimes, he has to give you your medicine. Cherry flavor or no, having to take your medicine sucks.

But you’ll be better for it; ‘trial’, all in all, isn’t a bad word. In the context we’re speaking, of course it can be hard to swallow and can make it seem like we’re drowning, however, in any trial, there is a promise of light.

As 1Corinthians put it, God will always have an escape route for you to follow, and I’ll be honest, that escape route, it right onto your knees, crying out to Jesus and his ever-loving mercy and strength.

Lord knows, it’s a hard enough lesson to learn, but God has faith in you (after all, he sent his own Son to die for you; that’s got to say something for what he feels toward us).

So, I’ll take my medicine—not always quietly—and lean into his arms, all the while, humming a hymn or two.

After all, God’s got all the angles covered, and all I’ll ever need is his love.

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