We have all heard the phrase “if life hands you lemons make lemonade.” We all go through trials and problems but it is about how we handle them. As we look through the Bible, we find various people who took trials and hard time and turned them into victory. You cannot expect to grow without growing pains. In James 1:2-12 we find four requirements and essentials that are needed to turn trials into victories.
We should count on trials and expect them. It is not a matter of if, but when. We all do not go through the same trials and they might not repeat in life. As we allow God to work they can make something beautiful. As we count them, we need to evaluate them and what God might be doing in our life. Our values determine the result of evaluation. If we want comfort, we get upset but if we want character we take trials with a joyful attitude.
We should know and understand faith is always tested. Testing should be treated as a refining fire showing our faith is genuine and to make stronger. Trials treated properly help us to mature. God desires to develop patience, endurance, and the ability to keep going, We do not learn these by reading books but by needing and using them in times of trial.
We need to let God work. God cannot build our character without cooperation. It is having a surrendered will to what we want and how we would handle to letting God deal with it and help us. God must work in us before He can work though us.
Let us ask for wisdom. We need wisdom so we do not waste the opportunities God is giving us in the ordeal to mature. Wisdom helps us understand how to use these circumstances for our good and God’s glory. We ask in faith believing God is in control.
The pain then relief… suffering then the glory… If we are helped by removing us from trials, God would. But we are helped by going through them, because they build Christian character. God’s intentention is not to destroy us but to build us and strengthen us. Love for God helps us to stay faithful to God even in trials. Count it joy when you endure trials because it will help you build your faith and I the end make you stronger if you allow it.
Sources
Holy Bible; King James Version
Gutz, Manford George. Plain Talk on James. Zondervan Publishing; Grand Rapids, MI. 1972.
Wiersbe, Warren W. Be Mature: Growing Up in Christ. Chariot Victor Publishing; Colorado Spirings,
CO. 1978.