The Trial of Your Faith, Part 1

As I was praying this morning, my mind was going over several of the burdens that the people under my ministry are bearing. Other than the stresses that are common to everyday living, and the aches and limitations that come with aging, my personal life is going well beyond anything I deserve. But quite a number of the people under my ministry are going through some very sore trials. I endeavour with the help of God to be a pastor to these people after the pattern of the apostle Paul, who wrote this to the church at Thessalonica:

1 Thessalonians 2:7  But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:

8  So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

Being like a nurse to these people and holding them dear to my heart, their burdens become my burdens. What nurse is worth her salt that does not feel burdened for the sufferings of those she cares for? Not that I bear the burdens of my people to the same extent as they, but I do bear great concern, a concern I bring before God in my prayers for them.

As I consider these things, I sometimes wonder why it is that there is so much trouble among the people I serve and strive to bless. I search my own heart and wonder if there is something wrong with me or something lacking in my ministry. Am I being punished? And then I see others who claim to be ministers of Christ with prospering ministries when I know they are promoting glaring errors. I wonder why it is thus? Have I missed something? But as I was praying today, it came to my mind that the Lord is letting all this happen as a trial of my faith. And, it follows, that the faith of my people whom I serve is also being tried. This all took me to this passage that I have preached on several times before, but that I need to be continually reminded of:

1 Peter 1:6  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ….

The believers to whom Peter was writing were “in heaviness through manifold temptations.” Manifold temptations are varied or different kinds of temptations. That is what I see throughout the church I serve. I see all kinds of troubles that the folks are going through. And those are the ones I know of! What must it be were I to add on those I know nothing of?

Now a temptation arises from being tempted. The word tempt as defined in a dictionary and as used in the Bible can refer to a trouble that tries or tests a person, or it can refer to an attraction to do something evil. A temptation might be a sickness, a personal loss, or a persecution. But it might also be some strong attraction to evil. For a Christian, being strongly attracted to something sinful can be an affliction. Let’s face it, unfulfilled desire is vexing and that is exactly what we experience when we are strongly attracted to something sinful that we know we must not give into. And such a temptation also becomes a test. Will we stay true to God and do what is right, or will be forsake the Lord and fulfill our lust? And every trouble you go through, even if the trouble itself is not an allurement to sin, can lead to sinning if you use it as an excuse to forsake the Lord and do your own thing.

Also notice that these manifold temptations were causing these believers to be in heaviness, which suggests that these temptations were a source of pressure or stress. These were hard tests. They were not easy to get through or resist. Some of the troubles my folks are going through are pressing them heavily. They are sore temptations. And inasmuch as I care for my people like a nurse, I am in heaviness as well.

So what is the effect of being “in heaviness through manifold temptations”? The effect is called “the trial of your faith.” Now let’s define the word trial.

Trial - The action of testing or putting to the proof the fitness, truth, strength, or other quality of anything; test, probation.

“The trial of your faith” is a putting of your faith to the test to prove it. “The trial of your faith” will prove whether your faith is true or false. Do you really believe God and what He says in His word? Do you really believe the King James Bible is the pure, preserved word of God? Do you really believe you are in a true church sitting under a true man of God, and is he really telling you the truth? Your trials are going to prove if you really believe what you say you do. For, you see, it would be easy to answer “yes” to all of these questions if everything was going smoothly, if you and all your family were enjoying robust health and plenty of money, and all getting along well. But will you trust God and hold to what you believe is the truth when things are going against you, and you are in heaviness through all kinds of troubles? If you can hold fast your faith in such circumstances, then “yes,” you really do believe all those things. For your trials will prove whether faith is real or feigned. In 1Timothy 1:5, Paul mentions a “faith unfeigned.” That is a faith that is not pretended, that is genuine. It is a faith that runs deep, rather than some superficial believing that might arise over hearing something new. Temptations will prove that superficial faith to be the fake that it is.

Luke 8:13  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

According to the verse we are considering in 1Peter, the trying of your faith works like the trying of gold with fire. The fire purges out the impurities in the gold and makes better stuff of it. So your trial will reveal whatever is defective in your faith. Perhaps you are putting too much trust in the creature comforts God is giving you. In that case, all the Lord has to do is remove those comforts and then it will be seen if your faith rests in Him or in the comforts He gives. The following passage set forth this particular purpose for trials.

Deuteronomy 8:2  And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

The Lord is going to test you to see if you truly believe His word and will obey it even in the face of loss. He will test you to see if you are living by His word, or by what you put in your belly, or what makes you comfortable.

And, furthermore, “the trial of your faith” will test the strength of your faith. If adversity causes your faith to falter, then your faith is weak.

Proverbs 24:10  If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

We should all want a faith like Abraham of whom it is written:

Romans 4:19  And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

20  He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21  And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Abraham believed God even when his circumstances were screaming that what God had promised couldn’t possibly be. If you find your faith caving in under the pressure of your manifold temptations, then let me suggest you pray this simple prayer of the disciples of Christ:

Luke 17:5  And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.

I can see now that this meditation is expanding. So I’ll have more to say about this in another installment. In the meantime, suffice it to say that if you are “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” God is working something in your life that will turn out wonderful in the end. Stay tuned for more.