Last week we talked about coping with difficulties. Our focus was mostly on temptations. This week I want to focus on trials.

The dictionary describes trials as, “a person, thing, or situation that tests a person’s endurance or forbearance”. Trials often become temptations, and they put a lot of pressure on us no matter what form they take.

We all experience accidents, sickness, loss of property, and loss of loved ones. There is simply no way to avoid these, but we can see by both example and instruction how we might handle any or all of these.

The first person that comes to my mind when I think of trials is Job. Job was a wealthy man, blessed with land, herds, and family. The devil saw him as the perfect target.

The Lord presented Job to Satan as “a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil” (Job 1:8 ESV). Satan responded by saying, “Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face” (Job 1:10-11).

So God allowed Satan to take away his possessions, take away his children, and eventually cause him physical pain. Even his wife turned against him and God. She wanted Job to curse God and die. Job did not respond the way Satan thought he would. Job said, “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9). With all of these trials, Job did not sin.

Two incidences in the ministry of Jesus come to mind. Jesus was approached by a ruler that asked Him to heal his 12-year-old daughter. The child had died; and the ruler believed that if Jesus could just lay His hands on her, she would live again. As Jesus followed the man to his home, a woman with a blood disease approached Jesus from behind and touched Him. She believed that if she could just touch the hem of His clothing, she would be healed. Scripture says that she had been ill for 12 years, and she had exhausted all of her money going to doctors. The doctors had been unable to make her well (Luke 9:43-44).

The third example is one that gives true meaning to trials. The apostle Paul spoke of his trials in II Corinthians 11. Paul said, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure” (Verses 24-27).

In addition to all of this, Paul said in II Corinthians 12:7, “there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure”. We have no idea what this was that afflicted Paul, but he said that he begged the Lord three times to take it away; and God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”

In the case of Job, God restored Job’s wealth. In fact, He gave Him twice as much as He had before. He also restored his children, giving him 7 sons and 3 daughters.

Jesus healed the woman with the blood disease and then accompanied the ruler to his home where he raised the daughter from the dead.

Paul’s trials were ongoing. He suffered much for the cause of Christ. His reaction was much like that of Job. He said, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Corinthians 12:9-10).

Job’s trials were based on God’s allowing Satan to test Job. The little girl that died and the woman with the blood disease were natural illnesses. Paul’s trials were caused by his standing for the truth.

Most of us will have illnesses and suffer the loss of someone we love. We may suffer trials because of our standing for the truth. Just remember what Paul said in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Sandra Oliver