The Trial of Your Faith, Part 4

We closed out our last meditation pointing out that God tries our faith in order to develop patience. The trial of our faith is distressing.  It is sometimes downright painful.  It is a condition of suffering.  That is why it is called tribulation, since tribulation is something we suffer.

1 Thessalonians 3:4  For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know.

When we know that suffering can be productive of good, it gives it meaning and thus makes it more bearable. People are quite willing to endure goal-directed suffering.  This is why athletes, soldiers, and expectant mothers are willing to undergo suffering.  As they suffer, they have an end in view that justifies what they endure.  In this life we will never understand all that God intends by permitting us to go through tribulation, but this much we can know:  He permits it to develop patience in us.

Romans 5:3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience….

Now we need to define patience.

Patience - The suffering or enduring (of pain, trouble, or evil) with calmness and composure; the quality or capacity of so suffering or enduring. Forbearance, longsuffering, longanimity under provocation of any kind. The calm abiding of the issue of time, processes, etc., quiet and self-possessed waiting for something; the quality of expecting long without rage or discontent.

We can see from this definition that we would never know patience if we had no tribulation.  If we never had any pain, if we never were provoked, if we never had to wait, we would never know patience.  It is in going through disturbing circumstances and having to await a resolution or an outcome that we learn patience. And we are not bearing those circumstances patiently if we lose our composure and collapse into anger and discontent. Therefore, “tribulation worketh patience.” Tribulation provides an opportunity to endure trouble without losing it, as we say. It is interesting to note that the Greek word that is translated patience in Romans 5:3 and James 1:3 is also rendered “patient continuance” in Romans 2:7. 

Romans 2:7  To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life….

Tribulation works patience in that it provides us with an occasion to continue “in well doing,” in doing the right thing and keeping the faith when under pressure to give it up.  In confirmation of this point, notice this important verse:

Revelation 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Patient saints keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus rather than abandoning them under pressure.  They just keep trusting Jesus and doing what God says, even if it seems for the time being to not be worth it.  They hold it together.

Now we’ll let James weigh in on this subject.

James 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

4  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

You can “count it all joy” when you are suffering divers (different) temptations or tribulations because you know what they are designed to accomplish, and that is, the working of patience. You realize that your suffering is goal-directed.  There is something worthwhile to come of it. 

Now whilst we are under the pressure of the temptation, James tells us to “let patience have her perfect work.” Our problem is that too often we let passion have its work rather than patience.  We become angry over what we are experiencing and sometimes take it out on others.  We might even curse the situation in bitter discontent.  We murmur at “how long” it is going on. We ask, “When will this ever end?”  We question God’s reasons for allowing it.  We may not express that in so many words, but the doubt nonetheless lingers beneath the surface.  When this happens, we frustrate the whole purpose of the trial.  It is then that we have to go back to the drawing board, seek forgiveness for our sin of anger and discontent, and then reset our thinking as to what is going on in our life.  We need to come back to the realization of those three things we mentioned in the last meditation.  Those three things are: (1) God is in control and is, therefore, permitting the tribulation, (2) God understands why the tribulation is there, (3) God loves us, and, therefore, cares for us and intends good for us. 

Now James tells us that patience has its “perfect work,” that is, its work is fully accomplished, when we are “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  To be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing” is to be fully mature. Think of your tribulations as growing pains.  They are serving their purpose when you are growing through them, when you are becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ, which is what Christian growth is all about.

Ephesians 4:13  Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ….          

When you are “perfect and entire, wanting nothing” you are standing “perfect and complete in all the will of God.” 

Colossians 4:12  Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

This means you are doing whatsoever the Lord commands.  There is nothing wanting in your obedience. You are a “blameless and harmless” son of God that requires no rebuke (Philippians 2:15).  You are holding “fast the profession of our faith without wavering” (Hebrews 10:23).  You are hanging on to what you believe no matter whatever else you have to let go, be it health, wealth, friends, family, or life itself.  Just as gold emerges purified when it passes through the fire, so the tried, patient believer emerges perfect when he is tried. When you come through a trial with the same faith, only stronger and purer, patience is having her perfect work.

Ah, but you say, I have not as yet arrived at that stage of being “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”  Of course, you haven’t and you won’t arrive at the ultimate perfection until you see Jesus coming again in glory.  And that is why you still experience the trial of your faith!  The work of perfecting you is still going on.  You are, as we say, “a work in progress.”  And until we reach that perfection, we must just keep patiently pressing forward in pursuit of it until at last it is attained. 

Philippians 3:12  Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

13  Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

James 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

8  Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

1 John 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

And when you are bearing your tribulations with patience, you are being like the Lord Jesus Christ. But further comment on that will have to wait until our next installment, God willing.

The Trial of Your Faith, Part 3

I am receiving such encouraging responses to these blogs that I am motivated to submit yet another a bit sooner. I appreciate the encouragement and thank God for any blessing you receive from these meditations.

We concluded our last meditation pointing out that the trial of your faith mentioned in 1Peter 1:7 is “much more precious than of gold that perisheth.” The faith itself is much more precious than gold and so is the trial that purifies and improves that faith. Now it challenges our faith to think of the trying of it as being itself precious. But that it is so may be seen from this passage:

Romans 5:3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4  And patience, experience; and experience, hope….

Before we comment on this verse, let’s define tribulation.

Tribulation – A condition of great affliction, oppression, or misery; persecution, distress; vexation; disturbance of life.

Tribulation is what you suffer when your faith is tried and you are “in heaviness through manifold temptations.” Now there is something about the trial of your faith that is so precious that you can glory it, just as we noted the apostle Paul doing in our last meditation (2Corinthians 12:9). When you glory in something, you rejoice exceedingly in it. Imagine being that excited over tribulation! But why would we glory in something that by definition is a source of misery, distress, vexation, and disturbance? There must indeed be something very precious about it if it elicits that response.

The reason we can glory in tribulations is not because we are masochists that enjoy pain for the sake of pain. If the tribulation were all pleasure, it would not be tribulation by definition. We do not rejoice in the tribulation as a thing in itself. We rejoice in the tribulation because we know what God is working by means of it. We glory in it precisely because it is a trial, a test that our loving heavenly Father is subjecting us to in order to make us better persons.

For us to truly glory in tribulation, we must view it from God's perspective. Our problem is that we all too often only view it from our perspective. As believers there are three things we need to ever bear in mind about God. The first thing is that God’s rule, and thus His control, extends over all things.

Psalms 103:19  The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

Therefore, no tribulation or temptation can enter your life without His permission, which we have already noted from 1Corinthians 10:13. Remember that Satan could not lay a hand on Job or his possessions without God’s permission (JOB 1:12; 2:6). But, alas, it is at just this point that we get stuck. Much of our frustration in tribulation lies in that fact that we want to control what goes on in our lives rather than submitting to God's control. Might it not be that God is permitting a tribulation in your life to purge out just such self-willfulness? Might the Lord be trying your faith to bring it to the point of humble resignation such as our Lord expressed in the hour of His great agony: “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42)? Fighting God for control will only make matters worse. “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!” (Isaiah 45:9).

The second thing we need to remember about God is that He knows and understands our suffering.

Exodus 3:7  And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows….

Job 23:10  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Psalms 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities….

You may not understand why the trouble is there, but God does. He knows what He intends by permitting it in your life.  And this can also be a sticking point for us. If the tribulation does not make sense to us, then we think it makes no sense at all. That is because we are refusing to consider God’s take on the situation. We are exalting our understanding above His. You see, it is easy and clear to the discerning mind to know that there is a God. Our problem is coming to grips with the fact that we are not He! We are still infected with the poisonous lie that led to the downfall of our first parents: “ye shall be as gods.” We do so like to usurp His place in controlling our lives and fully understanding everything that transpires. Do you suppose that the Lord just might be letting you be “in heaviness through manifold temptations” to purge you of such self-exaltation?

And while I am on this point of understanding our tribulations, let me insert some additional thoughts. In his excellent book Disappointment with God Philip Yancey wrote: “Perhaps God keeps us ignorant because we are incapable of comprehending the answer.” There is a depth to God’s judgments and ways that we cannot fathom.

Romans 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

God dwells in the dimension of eternity and, therefore, sees things much differently than we do who are bounded by time. An author of a finished book sees the whole plot of the book at once whereas a reader must plod through it sentence by sentence to get it. So it is with us as we plod through life in a fallen world full of suffering. God sees what you go through from a vastly different perspective. Our suffering here is only an infinitesimal bleep in comparison with eternity. This is where our faith enters in. Although we do not know all the answers, we trust in God Who does know. Are you beginning to see how the Lord might try your faith to prove whether you are trusting your understanding or His? I quote Philip Yancey again: “Faith means believing in advance what will only make sense in reverse.” And when you compare this infinitesimal bleep we are enduring now with the eternal glory that is ahead of us who are believers, why then, it is nothing to be compared. It is not even in the running.

Romans 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

 

And the third thing to always keep in mind is that God loves and cares for you, and purposes to do you good.

1 John 4:19  We love him, because he first loved us.

God manifested His love for you in sending His only-begotten and beloved Son to die for your miserable sins and to give you eternal life.

1 John 4:9  In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

How much more must the Lord do to show you that He cares for you and intends good for you?

1 Peter 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Jeremiah 32:40  And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me.

Now as you suffer your tribulation, you may choose to doubt God’s love, care, and good intentions for you. But I ask you in all honesty, just how is doubting and denying these plain statements from the mouth of God going to make your situation better or help you to cope with it better?

All these three things taken together, God's control of all things, God's understanding of all things, and God's love and care for you, let you know that God has something good wrapped into that heaviness you are bearing. From these three facts about God you may have the assurance expressed in these famous words of the psalmist David.

Psalms 23:6  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Goodness and mercy are tracking you as you make your way through your tribulation. It might not seem so clear to you now, but as time passes you will be able to look back and see clearly that goodness and mercy were there tagging along all the way. I know it has been thus with me. And this is what gives me courage to keep trudging ahead.

Now we are expressly told something God intends by permitting us to be “in heaviness through manifold temptations,” and that is, the trying of our faith in order to develop patience. But, alas, that will have to wait until the next installment. In the meantime, let it suffice you for now to know that through the trial of your faith, God is making you a type of His adorable Son for all to see. Our tribulations are all part of the plan to make us more and more like Jesus. Greater honour there cannot be than being like the Lord Jesus Christ, for that is the grand end of the salvation of God. “Oh, to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer!”

1 John 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.