God’s Design in the Trial (3)
“And God does not bring the trial to destroy us; His design in the trial is our good (Rom 8:28). His purpose in bringing us into the fire is to refine us (Job 23:10). His goal in our suffering is that, “the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7). God ordains our trials, so that when they come they can have their intended benefit of conforming us more into the image of Jesus (Rom 8:29). Just as knowing God gives us hope in our suffering, so knowing His design helps us to bear up under the heavy hand of Providence that orders our trial.
Brothers and sisters, trials will come. Don’t be surprised at the trial, but trust in God! He is the one who ordains your suffering, and He can be trusted to carry out His good designs. May our eyes be on Him when trials come.”
—Jacob Crouch
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God’s Hand in the Trial (2)
“When these trials come, there is a certain comfort in knowing their source. We must understand that each trial comes from the hand of God. “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads” (Psalm 66:10-12). Notice the word “You” there. God is the One doing the testing. God is the One bringing the trial. And this is good. Since God is bringing the trial, then we can have hope. We can trust in His character and His word. We know the One who brings the trial, so we are, “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor 4:8-9).
~Jacob Crouch
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When Trials Come (1)
“When you think about your life, does the word “trial” come to mind? If it doesn’t, it should. The Christian life is full of trials. God’s warns us over and over that trials are even to be expected. It may be persecution (2 Tim 3:12), or hardship (2 Cor 11:27), which can come from the world (Matt 5:11) or your family (Luke 12:53). It may be soul-crushing sadness, sickness (2 Kings 20) or sin (Psalm 51). Ultimately, whatever the source, we are exhorted, “do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet 4:12). The question is not if trials will come, but when they will come.”
—Jacob Crouch
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“We know metals by their tinkling, and men by their talking”
(Matt. 12:34).
~Thomas Brooks
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COUNT IT ALL JOY
"Think of the priceless virtue that is produced by various trials: patience! We all have a large supply of it until we need it, and then we have none. The one who truly possesses patience is one that has been tested. What kind of patience do we get from the grace of God? It is a patience that accepts the trial as from God. Calm resignation does not come at once. Often, long years of physical pain, or mental depression, or career disappointment, or multiple deaths are needed to bring the soul into full submission to the Lord's will. After much crying, the child is weaned. After much chastening, the son is made obedient to the Father's will. By degrees, we learn to end our quarrels with God and to desire that there be not two wills between God and ourselves but one, that God's will may be our will.
Believer, if your troubles work you to that, then you are a gainer, and I am sure that you may count them all joy. Patience enables us to bear ill-treatment, slander, and injury without resentment. We feel it keenly, but bear it meekly. Like our Master, we do not open our mouths to reply; we refuse to return shout for shout. We give blessing in return for cursing, like the sandalwood tree that perfumes the axe that cuts it. "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails" (1 Cor. 13:4–8). If the grace of God by trial will work this in you, then you have gained a solid weight of character."
—CH Spurgeon
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“The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.”
~Philippians 4:9
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“Love is (as it were) a knife by which faith shares and cuts out the duties which we owe to God and man in a good and acceptable manner. Love is the tap that lets out the water of God’s graces out of the cistern of our hearts.
Love is the nurse of humanity,
the mother of equity,
the maintainer of virtue,
the daughter of faith,
the preserver of piety,
the mistress of modesty,
the badge of Christianity,
the bane (death) of discord,
the staff of concord (harmony) (Col. 3:14),
the keeper of the crown (Job 13:25),
the bond of perfection,
and the note of a true disciple.
Saint Paul in some sort prefers it to faith and hope when he says, “Now faith, hope and love abide: but the choicest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).”
~William Perkins
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