In our previous lesson on the Prophet Micah we talked about what God requires of us and His requirements are summarized in Micah 6:8 which tells us we are to “Do justice, Love mercy, and Walk humbly with our God.”
But then the question comes up of WHY do bad things happen to us when we are trying so hard to be good, so we will take a little digression from our discussion of the prophets and explore some answers in our lesson today and look at why bad things happen to Christians, especially when we are trying so hard to do what it right.
In this study, we’ll look at 7 positive things that can come out of trials.
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In our previous lesson on the Prophet Micah we talked about what God requires of us
• It is summarized in Micah 6:8 that tells us we are to Do justice, Love mercy, and Walk humbly with our God
• But then the question comes up of WHY do bad things happen to us when we are trying so hard to be good, so we will take a little digression from our discussion of the prophets and explore some answers in our lesson today…..
Why do bad things happen to Christians?
especially when we are trying so hard to do what’s right. . . . . .
Teacher, Yvon Prehn
Many people are disappointed with God today
• They assume that believing in God, especially if they are trying hard to live for him, means they won’t have difficult times and trials.
• Or if they do, they feel God owes it to them to get them out of it. Quickly. NOW.
• We all know that reality doesn’t happen that way, so we are left with the question of why God allows bad things to happen?
• In our lesson today I’ll share 7 ways God can use the difficulties of life in positive ways, 7 truths about trials,
• But before we get into that, we need to …..
Get this reason for why we have troubles out of the way first and that is
• When we do something unwise and then blame the devil or God for the consequences of it.
• We need to take responsibility for the consequences of actions in our lives.
• For example, if we eat too much or the wrong things and it affects our health, it isn’t God’s fault.
• If we haven’t invested in relationships, it isn’t demons that make us lonely.
• God can help us (and often protects us in His mercy) with challenging situations but if we don’t accept responsibility, we can’t make needed changes in areas we can control.
Proverbs 19:3 is blunt on this issue
• NIV: A person’s own folly leads to their ruin,
yet their heart rages against the Lord.
• MSG: People ruin their lives by their own stupidity,
so why does God always get blamed?
• Reality is that God often protects us from the consequences of our unwise and sometimes foolish actions but if we don’t accept responsibility, we can’t make needed changes in areas we can control.
And don’t worry that God will get impatient and give up on you
• A passage of great encouragement to me is
Ps. 103: 3-4
• If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you there is forgiveness,
so that we can, with reverence, serve you.
• When we mess up, we should confess our sin, get up and go forward.
• Remember the story in Joshua 7
What happened
• They were told not to take any plunder from Jericho. Aachan did; he stole gold and clothes and hid them; Israel was defeated in their next battle, Joshua is crying about it and God responds:
• Joshua 7: 10-11, LB But the Lord said to Joshua, “Get up off your face! Israel has sinned and disobeyed my commandment and has taken loot when I said it was not to be taken; and they have not only taken it, they have lied about it and have hidden it among their belongings. 12 That is why the people of Israel are being defeated. That is why your men are running from their enemies—for they are cursed. I will not stay with you any longer unless you completely rid yourselves of this sin.
• A great story to remember….
Another foundational truth
• In this life, we will ALWAYS have trials
• Jesus promised it, “In this world you will have tribulation” John 16:33
• We live in a broken world, broken by sin and the many consequences of it.
• Story of the despairing environmentalist…..
• But the good news is
Jesus continued
• “But I have overcome the world!”
• And one day, the victory He would win on the cross will become a universal reality
• When as He promises in Rev. 21, He makes all things new!
• BUT THE CHALLENGE is until then—we live in this in-between time
It is like the time between D-day and the end of WW2
• With D-Day, the outcome of WW2 was determined.
• The formal victory didn’t come for over a year—though there was no doubt it was coming
• This has often been compared to the Christian life as we live it between Christ’s resurrection and His coming return
• As Fred Zaspel put it in an online article for Credo:
Living in the
in-between time
• “I suspect, however, that this rather academic assessment of things differed greatly from the perspective of the soldiers on the ground. They were still dodging bullets and all manner of military force. They were bleeding and wounded, many were still dying, and there were still many harrowing days of the war yet to be endured, even some setbacks. It’s not that our soldiers in France were unaware of the significance of Normandy. I’m very sure they understood it well, and this understanding doubtless gave them great encouragement. But from the day-to-day experience of things, this war was still very much in full swing. The dangers were many — and they were everywhere.” (and individuals lived them)
• Though there are dangers everywhere, we are also promised that “all things work together for our good” Romans 8:28 and now let’s look at the reality of that in 7 Truths about Trials
#1 God is at work in the MIDST of trials
• Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you will honor me. Ps. 50:15
• When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze. Isa. 43:2
• God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble. Ps 46. 1
These verses encourage us because
• One of the biggest dangers in hard times and is that we tell ourselves we’ll feel better or do better or something WHEN whatever crisis we are in is over, or when the people in our lives behave better or whatever our “When” is. . . . .
• But “When” isn’t coming any time soon.
• And God never says He is only with us WHEN a trial is over.
• God is IN it with us WHEN the trial is going on.
• We can then look at what He can do in and through us during the trial.
#2 Trials help us grow spiritually
• We often grow the most when times are most difficult if we have the correct perspective.
• Psalm 119:67-68, NIV Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word.
• Psalm 119:71-72, TLB The punishment you gave me was the best thing that could have happened to me, for it taught me to pay attention to your laws. They are more valuable to me than millions in silver and gold!
Like exercise develops our physical bodies, hard times grow our spiritual selves
• Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. James 1:3-4 MSG
• We can grow in many ways from trials, here are some suggestions on how to do that.
Always ask, “Lord, what do You want me to learn from this?”
• Check to see if you are unaware of or ignored a sin God wants you to change. A good prayer is—
• Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. Ps. 139: 23-24
• God’s Word helps us know what doesn’t please Him. We won’t get that from our world.
• We honestly sometimes don’t know certain things are displeasing to Him. Consider how people talk to each other on TV, social media—the most-snarky wins.
• That is NOT how God wants us to act.
In contrast to TV and social media, God’s Word tells us
• Eph 4: live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. . . . . .
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
• MSG translation of v. 29: Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift.
• If we are experiencing trails, we can take time to do an inventory of our lives to see if we are living up to our calling as Christians and make changes if we need to.
#3 Trials aren’t only about us
• All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too. 2 Cor 1:3-5, MSG
• Sometimes we go through something difficult so we can help someone later. Or understand better what others are going through.
• How can you be a witness in your trial? What can other people learn from watching you?
• How can you use this time to grow closer to Jesus or to learn something new in your spiritual life?
#4 Trials teach us the real source of hope
• Hope, real hope in a time where things will get better, ultimate hope in true justice where all wrongs are righted, all good dreams come true is only found in God and in His coming Kingdom where all will be renewed; all made whole.
• Hope in anything less will always disappoint and is often a lie.
• Be careful of human platitudes about Hope and there are a lot of them around—that are blatantly false, like this one:
• “But hoping,” she said, “is how the impossible can be possible after all.”― Marissa Meyer
• Trials show these human platitudes for the lie they are.
Real hope is only found in the Lord because Hope, like Faith is only as good as it’s object
• Hope and Faith must have an object—we must have hope IN something or someone.
• You can’t tell yourself, have hope or have faith—always in what?
This verse tells us—
• Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.
• Because God is the object of our hope, it is a hope that can give us strength.
• Once again, we won’t know the Lord of Hope if we don’t get to know Him in His Word.
#5 Trials teach us the truth about thankfulness
• “IN (not FOR) everything, give thanks” 1 Thes. 5:18
• Doing this isn’t denial—many biblical writers screamed, cried, asked why—but they didn’t stop there. The Psalmist is a good example:
• My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
These things I remember as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.
• Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Ps. 42:3-5
Thankfulness is powerful
• The Psalmist remembered to be thankful and praise God, IN THE MIDST OF IT ALL.
• You don’t have to thank God FOR the situation, but you can be thankful to him no matter what because this present hardship is not all there is in this life now or forever.
• When you do that thankfulness changes YOU.
• Wallowing in pity often makes it worse and makes you unpleasant to be around.
• What you focus on can consume you, either God or circumstances.
• You can be a witness or a whiner, you can’t be both.
• You choose.
#6 Trials teach us the truth about God
• We are told God is love, that He can be trusted, that all works together for our good, but this might be hard to believe now—
• Because Satan will always lie about God.
• “Hath God said?” was the first lie in the Garden of Eden.
• Satan will malign the character of God in difficulties, questionable situations, temptations—but we must always go back to what the Bible says.
• We have the opportunity to affirm that God is love, mercy, grace, and truth, again IN THE MIDST of TRIALS—
• Sometimes we need to say out-loud, “I believe You ARE a good God.”
How to learn more what God is really like
• We need to do this to sustain us in trials.
• One of the most important reasons to go through the Bible chronologically, which is a continuing theme and encouragement from me and Bible805, is so that you can see how God has worked through all human history.
• The BIG picture of God’s plan through history will help assure you of God’s love now.
• Seeing how He has been faithful in the past will help you trust that He will be faithful today, to you—even though the practical working out of that faithfulness can take time.
#7 Trials teach us the truth about eternity
• Eternity is one moment away. If Covid has taught us anything, that is it. People are healthy one week and gone the next.
• But it doesn’t take a pandemic to remind us of that reality.
• I came close to dying when I was in the hospital for a complex hip replacement surgery. All had gone well, until one day in Physical therapy, I collapsed. Something about my heart. I heard them call the crash team; I could feel them frantically working on me; I vaguely heard them from seemingly a long distance away. They brought me back, but told me I almost died, and even after a mass of tests and time in the coronary unit they weren’t sure why.
Had that trial not happened
• I wouldn’t have had the experience of God’s extraordinary peace and comfort even though death was possible.
• The Bible can give us the true assurance that we don’t have to fear death because our Lord has gone there. And He came back.
• Even more wonderful, He’s promised to be with us every step of our journey in this life and forever.
• Because eternity can break into our current reality at any time, we do well to live daily with eternity in mind—
• The apostle Peter put it this way:
A true perspective
Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we’ll hardly notice.
We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.
2 Peter 3:11-13, MSG
Lets’ review the
7 Truths about Trials—in how God can work for good in the difficulties of life
#1 God is at work in the MIDST of trials
#2 Trials help us grow spiritually
#3 Trials aren’t only about us
#4 Trials teach us the real source of hope
#5 Trials teach us the truth about thankfulness
#6 Trials teach us the truth about God
#7 Trials teach us the truth about eternity
In conclusion, some comments from Julian of Norwich who lived during the Black Plague of the 14th century, when she was asking God why
• She wrote what she believed He answered:
• He not say, you will never have a rough passage, you will never be over-strained, you will never feel uncomfortable, but he did say you will never be overcome.
• And her summary of God’s promises—
All will be well, and all will be well, and
all manner of things will be well
• And so it will be when our Lord Jesus returns.
• May we live in trust and peace until that day no matter what trials our Lord allows in this life.
That’s all for now,
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