Trials and testing are not what we desire, yet we all experience them. Hebrews 11 is known as the Faith chapter for how the People of God persevered through every trial and testing of their faith.
By faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and other experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. ~Hebrews 11:33-40 NASB
No matter what trial or testing we experience, we can trust God to be with us. He “will never leave us nor forsake us and the Lord is our Helper, we will not be afraid, what will man do to us?” For we know, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things not seen.”1
Recommendation:
Determined to Know Christ https://strengthwithdignity.com/determined-to-know-christ/
References:
1 Hebrews 13:5-6, 11:1 NASB
New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB 1995), copyright 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.
Bible Gateway Blogger Grid Member #bgbg2 #BibleGateway
Every Friday, I join an online Christian writing community, Five Minute Friday. We are given a one-word prompt and write – unscripted, unedited, pure free-write – for 5 minutes. The prompt this week is trial.
12 thoughts on “Trials of All Kinds for People of Faith”
I’ve got to hold on through the night
that cancer’s draped across my soul,
for somewhere out there shines a light,
and in its glow I’ll be made whole.
I may reach it ‘fore I know
and kneel, surprised, and offer praise,
or I may just have to go
on until my end of days
and rise just as the Lord has risen,
rise and leave my shallow grave
that will never be my prison,
for it’s me He came to save
and it’s for me He took the Cross
for He could not bear my loss.
So true, Andrew! Your poem reminds me of the song, I Can Only Imagine. We’re not quite sure how we will respond when we see Him face-to-face, but we are thankful that we will see Him. I’m thankful the River of Life washes all the earthly marks of suffering, pain, and sorrows away.
Beautiful, Andrew!
Yes!
Amen. So true. I am so thankful for this truth and so many more!
I’m thankful too, Cindy!
Now the hard part—learning to accept trials with an attitude of joy. Trials grow us, and they certainly don’t feel good. But we always have God walking with us and Jesus our advocate, who has experienced every kind of trial we might face. What peace in knowing that!
So true, Anita! Knowing He is with us in every trial brings comfort, peace, and in time, even joy.
Amen, Lisa. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, Sandra!
It’s funny, but reading these verses today, it so strikes me that our God is a God of completion, where not one part is missing from the whole. Those going through that persecution sure had a long wait to see that completion come and yet they lived by faith in that completion already. They weren’t waiting for God to act, but joining Him in the preparation work to be done – to set the stage for what we are living in today: the new covenant in Jesus. Oh may I too join Him in the preparation work to be done now for the saving of many souls alive.
Everything and everyone truly is so interconnected. Which so fits with my verse to pray today, where I discovered that the Word for “all” – as “in all trials” (which incidentally also means “feeling confined, being hemmed in”) – means “one piece at a time of the whole”. So, our Father of compassion draws near with His comfort and compassion, one trial at a time until a whole is woven together from those cumulative trials, so that we too can draw near to each other in the same way, as God completes and perfects us all in Him.
Thank you so much for this.
God is so kind and compassionate to comfort us in every trial, to use the trials to conform us into His image and make us perfect and complete in Him.