The Trial of Your Faith

Jesus was formed by his arduous experience in the wilderness, so we should not be too proud, or too surprised, when life puts us there. - Barbara Russo

Peter and James were both well acquainted with the trials that every Christian will face. Peter suffered the guilt of denying his Lord. He was slandered, persecuted, and finally martyred. Tradition says that he was crucified upside down.  James also suffered persecution and was finally put to death for the testimony of his Savior. According to tradition, he was thrown from the a pinnacle of the Temple and beaten to death with a club.

Peter warned his readers not to think it strange when they fell into various trials. Adversity is par for the course for the true follower of Jesus Christ.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. . . . Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. 1 Peter 4:12-13, 19, ESV

Peter also informed us that trials are designed to refine and purify us. They are God’s melding instruments, the sieves He uses to purge defiling elements out of our lives.

You have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6-7, ESV

Daniel understood the same truth:

Many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials. Daniel 12:10, NLT

Note also the word of the Lord through Isaiah:

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. Isaiah 48:10, ESV

James takes it a step further, telling us that in our trials, God seeks to work endurance into us, which is another word for perseverance.

Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. James 1:2-3, NASB

Paul echoed the same, saying,

We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. Romans 5:3-4, ESV

Strikingly, the New Testament writers exhort us to rejoice in our sufferings. I can tell you from personal experience that trying to rejoice while going through the darkest caverns will break your jaw. It takes an earthquake to remind us to rejoice during such times. For me at least, when I’m struggling, it’s easier to make a holy racket than a joyful noise.

Nevertheless, in my darkest days, I read these texts over and over again and acted on them. I had them marked in my Bible so I could return to them repeatedly.

I suggest you do the same.

Why? Because they explain the deeper work that God wants to do inside you right now.

Though you may not understand the origin of your trial, you can trust in this immutable fact: God seeks to use it for His glory and for your gain.

In his remarkable essay “The Pressure of Crisis,” Howard Thurman writes:

When our tree is rocked by mighty winds, all the limbs that do not have free and easy access to what sustains the trunk are torn away; there is nothing to hold them fast. . . . Given the storm, it is wisdom to know that when it comes, the things that are firmly held by the vitality of the life are apt to remain, chastened but confirmed; while the things that are dead, sterile or lifeless are apt to be torn away. 

Our adversities are never in vain. And a great reward awaits us if we endure. Not just in this life, but in the life to come.

Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. James 1:12, NASB

Peter alludes to the same truth when he connects our present sufferings with the future hope that follows this life. 

So does Paul:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. 2 Corinthians 4:17, ESV

The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Romans 8:18, NKJV

The transformation we experience in this life goes through the door into the next life. Scripture is clear that if we suffer with Jesus today, we will reign with Him in glory tomorrow. 

Only eternity will reveal the full splendor of what our trials have produced. That is, if we don’t waste them.

Resentment and rebellion only waste one’s sorrows, whereas humble acceptance and brokenness allow the creation of an “eternal weight of glory.” . . . If one succumbs to resentment, self-pity, and revenge, he has wasted his sorrow. 

As Paul expresses it to the Thessalonians, “All your . . . tribulations that you endure” are so “that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.”