The Gospel is the roadmap to victory for the believer. Based solely on grace, believers receive righteousness by faith, adoption as sons, fellowship with God, authority in the name of Jesus, and access in Christ to all the promises of God.
But we are not yet perfect. Although Paul affirms that our old man has been crucified with Christ (Rom 6:6), it would appear that it can still have an influence on us. As Paul enjoined:
that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man, which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:22 NKJV).
This teaches us how to respond to all that Christ has done for us. We need to recognize that he has given us a new man, a new nature. This new nature is righteous and holy. We need to believe it. As we exercise this faith in what we now are, we are actually putting on the new man. It's easier to put on something that we have, than to get something we don't have. For example, if we lack patience, instead of struggling to become patient we should recognize that our new nature in Christ is patient. We can therefore say
I am patient in Christ
.
As we continue in faith, we are actually calling things that are not as though they were. This is how God operates (Rom 4:17),
and this is how to manifest patience in practice. So, in the same way that we are justified by faith, and thereby have a good standing before God, so also we are holy by faith, and thereby manifest that holiness, in all the forms that it takes.
So, we are still growing, still changing, still being transformed into his image. In addition, we live in a fallen world. The ground itself is cursed (Gen 3:17)
and the whole creation is groaning (Rom 8:22).
Satan is still active, and prowling about (1 Pet 5:8).
All of these issues present us with a challenging environment. According to Paul, this can include
trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword
(Rom 8:35).
Peter and James both talk about going through trials. So the believer is not immune from these troubles. But we do have authority in Jesus' name. We can pray to the Father in Jesus' name. When we do, we may get the immediate answer to the issue, such as when Jesus stilled the storm on the lake (Mark 4:39),
or when he multiplied the loaves and fish for the hungry crowd
(Mark 6:41-44).
But there was also a time, when he himself was hungry, that he knew it was not the Father's will to turn stones into bread (Matt 4:4).
We need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, the Counsellor, to guide us as to what, if anything, we should do in any situation. This was how it was for King David when the Philistines were attacking. He enquired of the Lord (2 Sam 5:19).
And when they attacked again, he enquired of the Lord again (v23).
The second time, the instructions from the Lord were different. We therefore need to be sensitive to discern the Lord's will as to what to do.
When we don't seem to get an immediate deliverance, there is still hope, as Isaiah declares:
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flame will not set you ablaze (Is 43:2).
Paul went on to say that
in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us
(v37).
John states:
This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith
(1 Jn 5:4).
It is faith that saved us. If we can maintain that faith during these trials we can preserve our position of victory and be more than conquerors.
So how do we maintain our faith when troubles come?
Not a Judgement
Remember that a believer does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. A trial is not a punishment. It's important to realise this difference because it affects how we view God. God is for us, not against us (Ps 56:9, Rom 8:31).
God is Sovereign
When we recognise the sovereignty of God in every situation, it bring us peace that all is under control. There are no surprises to God.
Purpose
Confident that God is not out to punish, and that he is in full control, then we ask
Why the trial?
We need to realise that there is an answer, and that God has a purpose for every trial:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance (James 1:2,3).
James tells us to be joyful in the face of a trial. When he does this, it's not just because rejoicing is some sort of spiritual exercise that is good for the soul. He gives a reason for it. He declares firstly that a trial is a test of our faith, and secondly that such a test develops perseverance in us. In other words, there is purpose behind the trial, and it will result in gain for us. Peter states similarly
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials ... that your faith ... may be proved genuine
(1 Pet 1:6,7).
Paul also gives a similar message:
we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
(Rom 5:3,4).
There is therefore a consensus not only that trials will come, but that they have a purpose.
Hebrews tells us to treat such hardships as discipline, because they are for our good:
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. ... Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they though best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it (Heb 12:7,10,11).
In the preamble to this section the writer quotes from Proverbs 3:11-12 and uses the phrase
punishes everyone he accepts as a son
.
However, this letter is written in Greek, and uses a translation of the Old Testament into Greek called the Septuagint, which was available at the time. The Septuagint is quoted accurately, but the original, written in Hebrew, states:
My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in
(Prov 3:11,12).
God is not so much punishing us, but is rather using hardship in our lives to help us share in his holiness and have a harvest of righteousness and peace. Our new nature is already righteous and holy, and will agree that we now want this harvest, which comes as we exercise faith in our own new nature. God is being a good father when he helps us towards this goal and towards our being changed into his image. We can therefore see even a trial as a blessing, coming to us by God's grace like all his other blessings. We are sons in whom he delights.
Adam lived in a perfect environment. But even he had a trial, or test - just one - the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He failed his test. If we lived in a perfect environment, would we grow? If the lights are always green and our family and colleagues always do as we wish, we may never discover that impatient streak within us. It is our circumstances that indicate to us that we need patience, love, humility or courage. Trials are a help, a friend, to help us grow. Others have also seen the good result in the end. Hezekiah said
Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish
(Isa 38:17).
Anguish! He was obviously put through the mill, but in the end recognised the benefit to himself personally. Joseph was mistreated badly after being sold by his brothers, but in the end told them
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good
(Gen 50:20).
All these are examples of the promise under the New Covenant that
All things work together for good to those who love God
(Rom 8:28 NKJV).
There is purpose in all these trials. But we only actually grow as we respond in faith. That faith may be in different areas. It may be in character development, as discussed above, putting on the new man. It may be in stepping out into the unknown. Or it may be that we need to exercise our authority and tell the mountain to move. We will often need to ask for wisdom from above to guide us and illuminate the path ahead.
Hope
Understanding that the trial is not to be seen as a punishment, and that God has a purpose in it, gives the believer hope.
Whenever trouble strikes in any area of life we can get the idea that
God is fed up with me and has left me
.
However, he has promised
I will never leave you nor forsake you
(Heb 13:5 NKJV).
All the scriptures above bear this out. He did not leave Hezekiah, or Joseph, or even Job. Peter, citing Noah and Lot, tells us that
The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials
(2 Pet 2:9).
God came to the rescue of all of these! Trials themselves do not mean God has left us. Referring to the devil, Peter said:
Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast (1 Pet 5:9,10).
So, yes, all believers undergo suffering, but the promise here is that it is for
a little while
,
and that God himself is the one who will restore us. One mindset we can have is to start to believe that God is going to put us, like Job, through all sorts of further trials, one after another, and each one worse than the last. But God knows what we can bear. He knows
us.
Any trials we may undergo will be specifically designed for each one of us personally for the testing of our faith.
As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
(Ps 103:13-14 NKJV).
Matthew, quoting Isaiah, tells us something about the character of Jesus:
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out
(Matt 12:20).
He knows us through and through. He knows our frame. He knows when we are like a bruised reed or a smouldering wick. He will perfectly tailor his loving care towards us in ways that will cause us to grow and bear fruit. He has an agenda for us, and that is to transform us into his likeness with ever-increasing glory
(2 Cor 13:18).
He does this, not with judgement and punishment when we step out of line, but with circumstances and situations carefully arranged for our good that test and strengthen our faith and character. It is the knowledge of this that enables us to have joy and hope even in trials.
The Hedge of the Lord
We read in the first chapter of the book of Job that Satan came before the Lord. There was a conversation, initiated by the Lord, who brought up the subject of Job and how righteous he was. Satan responded by accusing Job of only fearing God because of God's hedge of protection around him. The Lord did not deny he'd placed the hedge. His response was to give all that Job had into Satan's hand. This included, it transpired, his children and servants, as well as his possessions. But notice the condition
but on the man himself do not lay a finger
(Job 1:12).
The hedge is reduced, but there is still a hedge, around the man himself. Again a second time Satan came, and this time the Lord put Job himself into Satan's hands. As before, there is a condition
but you must spare his life
(Job 2:6).
His protection is reduced even more. But the hedge is still there, albeit around his life only.
The Lord did not himself attack Job's family and property, or make him sick, but, after the accusation of Satan, he allowed Satan to do so. Yet it was not just this accusation which triggered the trial. It was the Lord himself who first spoke to Satan about Job. He would know what Satan's response would be, and all that would follow. He had his plan in hand from the beginning, a plan to build Job up and bless him even more.
This gives us a picture of the sovereignty of God in action. Satan in the book of Job is an instrument in God's hand achieving God's purpose in Job's life.
God never left Job. He kept a hedge around Job throughout, preserving his life. In the end, God blessed him more than he had done before
(Job 42:10,12).
So when we do experience pain, discomfort, difficulty or loss, we should not conclude that God has left us, or that the hedge of protection has gone. God is sovereign. He has always had his hedge around us, and he always will. It may be lowered for a season, but as we have seen, only to a level that we can bear, and only to test our faith, and work for our good in the end. Let us take the opportunity to prove our faith to be genuine, and stand firm, trusting the Lord that
His mercy endures forever
(Ps 136 NKJV).
Why did the Lord not keep Job, Hezekiah and Joseph from
all
harm
(Ps 91:10, 121:7)?
We, who cannot foresee the end result, may see all pain, discomfort, difficulty and loss as harm. If God, who sees the end from the beginning, regards a given circumstance as causing an improvement, a betterment, how can we call it harm? Perhaps we need to redefine harm as something that causes the last state of the man to be worse than the first. In the end Job changed his attitude, firstly about the Lord:
I know that you can do all things
(Job 42:2),
and secondly about himself:
I despise myself and repent
(Job 42:6).
And in response:
The Lord blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first
(Job 42:12).
Summary
In summary, trials can come, even under the New Covenant, but they are actually a good thing, and have purpose. They test our faith. So we should not let a trial rob us of that faith.
Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,
Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls
(Heb 10:35-39 ESV).
If we respond in faith trials prove the genuineness of that faith and teach us perseverance. We can contrast this with judgements under the Old Covenant. These were more akin to legally enforceable penalties written into the covenant and invoked as a punishment for breach of contract. The key is to understand that, despite appearances, things will work out for good. There may be a delay, but in the fullness of time it will become evident that he has kept his promises to keep us from harm. Such promises are easier to accept once we are confident in the sovereignty of God. Without that sovereignty, how do we know that things won't get blown off course and defeat any plan that God may have had? This also helps us when we've made a mistake and reaped the consequences. We feel that we've brought the pain on ourselves, and have no-one else to blame. That may be true, yet God is still sovereign. He allowed it to happen, and we know that all things work together for our good. All the truths above about trials that we go through still apply, even when we are the cause. The trial is not a judgement. There is purpose in it, and we still have hope. God is still in charge, still loving us, still watching over us and still planning the best for us.
Joy in Trials
As discussed above, Peter, James and Paul tell us not only to expect trials, but to rejoice in them. Paul expounds further on having joy:
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus
(1 Thess 5:16,17).
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:19,20).
So we are to give thanks in everything, and give thanks for everything, from a heart filled with joy, music and singing! Paul and Silas exemplified this when they were singing hymns at midnight while in prison and in chains (Acts 16:25).
What is all this about joy? Why is it a fruit of the Spirit, and second in Paul's list after love (Gal 5:22)? Why is it a key ingredient of the kingdom of God, along with righteousness and peace (Rom 14:17)? Why is it not just an inconsequential state of mind, but, it would appear, a virtue?
Joy is God's intention. There is joy in heaven when a sinner repents (Luke 15:7). For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross (Heb 12:2). In Jesus' parable, the reward of the faithful servant was to enter into the joy of his lord (Matt 25:21 NKJV). So there is joy in heaven. According to Paul, the believer is raised up with Christ in the heavenly realms (Eph 2:6), where joy is. Joy is the nature of heaven, and should be the hallmark of every believer.
To be miserable, surly, complaining or sullen is the opposite of joy, and contrary to God's plan for us. This was how the Israelites often responded when tested in the wilderness, and why on one occasion it led to their spending 40 years there (Num 14:26-35).
How do we have joy in challenging times? Jesus said that we are to worship in spirit and in truth. There are truths we need to know if we are to worship: truths about our condition and need; and those about God's love, power and supply. These truths foster the attitude of worship within us, with its accompanying joy and thanksgiving. When we know:
the depths of our need (Eph 2:1),
the vastness of God's love in Christ (Eph 3:18),
the abundance of his grace (Rom 5:20),
the certainty of his faithfulness toward us (Ps 117:2),
the extent of his authority in every situation (Matt 28:18),
and that this very trial is a blessing by the grace of God,
then joy can be our natural response. Indeed, whenever joy is lacking we should examine the cause. In some situations it may be legitimate. Maybe it is because we are weeping with those who weep (Rom 12:15).
Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus (John 11:35),
and at the fate of Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).
Such sadness for others is appropriate. Note also that joy is in our inner being. It does not always manifest outwardly in laughter or a smile. It's a quality of the heart. If we are in pain, for example, then our outward emotional response will naturally be governed by the present experience. Nevertheless, if we look into our heart, and are considering our own situation and circumstances, then if joy is muted, perhaps we are missing an appreciation of one of the truths listed above. There was a time when David wept until he had no more strength to weep. But afterwards he found strength in the Lord his God
(1 Sam 30:4,6).
Whatever the setback, we need to turn back to the Lord. Nehemiah tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh 8:10).
As we turn to the Lord and allow the joy of the Spirit to flow into us, this will bring also an inner strength from him, whether to endure the trial or overcome the difficulty. This inner strength is actually the Lord within us -
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world
(1 John 4:4).
As the angel told Gideon when Israel was oppressed by Midian:
The Lord is with you, mighty warrior
(Judg 6:12).
As we stay strong in faith, rejoicing even during a trial, we will receive this strength from the Lord. In Christ, we
are
mighty warriors.