trials – Calvary Chapel Oakville

Proverbs 17:3 says, “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, But the Lord tests the hearts.”

Tests are a part of life. God will lead you into circumstances for the purpose of testing you.

You may be in a challenging situation right now. It may be a relationship gone sour. It may be a stupid situation at your job. Perhaps you are dealing with unmet expectations or some emotional “funk” that you can’t define and can’t shake. You’ve lost your joy and you can’t get it back.

Welcome to the test.

Do you see your same sour reaction surfacing time and time again? God is testing you.

Do you fail to get the recognition that you deserve, or think you deserve? God is testing you.

Are you working a job for which you are WAY over qualified? God is testing you.

Is there an “hard to love” person in your life that you just know God wants you to love? God is testing you.

Remember this. God doesn’t bring tests into our lives so that He can see what’s happening in your heart. He brings them into our lives so that we can see our own heart.

Trials don’t make you angry; they reveal the anger that is already there.

Trials don’t make you sour; they reveal the bitterness that is already there.

God reveals it to you so that you know it’s there and so that you can deal with it.

Lately, I’ve seen some ugliness surface in my own life. I was not pleased with how I was reacting in certain situations. After struggling with the Holy Spirit, I finally prayed. I like to pray with an open Bible. I know the Psalms can be very helpful for our emotions, so I opened to the Psalms and looked for a verse to apply to my life. I found it. Here it is: “My eyes are ever on the Lord, For only He can release my feet from the snare.” Psalm 25:15.

Our tests can be a snare to us. The way to get out is to look continually to the Lord. Keep your eyes EVER on the Lord! And you will pass the test.

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God.” Job 19:25

This past Sunday at Calvary Chapel I continued our “Big Questions of Life” Series by considering the important question. “Why is there suffering in the world?”

I, like you, am no stranger to suffering. My mom died my senior year of high school. My sister died of breast cancer a couple years before that. She was 33. She left behind to young kids. My nephew got hit by a car and died when he was 16. There was foul play in that situation. My middle child has spent a combined several months in the hospital over his first several years of life.

When we look at the world around us, it is painfully clear that something is wrong. Evil is pervasive. Innocent people die. Poverty, crime, terrorism, exploitation, natural disasters.

When we look at our own heart, we also see evil. At the core, we are selfish and proud.

The reason for this is that we live in a fallen world.

Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to everyone, because all have sinned.”

One of the best places in the Bible that digs deep into the topic of suffering is the book of Job.

Here are five observations I have about suffering that were derived from Job and other places in God’s word.

1. God initiates the conversation with Satan about Job.

Job is about to go through a tremendous test, an unfathomable time of human suffering. And it all starts with God asking the devil a question: “Have you considered my servant Job?” God is sovereign in our suffering. He allows it to happen. Previously, Job was shielded by God. Ultimately, nothing happens to us that God doesn’t allow. This should give us peace. We can rest in Him.

2. Satan has a role in suffering.

The passage clearly indicates that Satan caused Job’s hardships. Satan’s goal was to get Job to curse God. Have you ever heard someone curse God because of their suffering? They are playing right into the agenda of the evil one.

3. Man’s explanations will always fall short.

The bulk of the book of Job is his three, then four, friends tell him that he is being punished by God. His friends should have kept quiet. Be careful what you say when you are around people who are hurting, Just be there. Be quiet, pray for them.

4. God uses suffering for the good of His children.

Job was a better man at the end of the book than at the beginning. God brought him through it. Job’s perspective turns on this phrase, “I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:6) He had a greater revelation of God and of himself because of his suffering.

5. Evil is not eternal.

Thank God for that! Something is wrong with the world. But one day, everything will be made right. This is our hope – and it is a certain hope! Job 19:25 says, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God.”

Take heart, dear brother or sister. One day God will destroy evil.