Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-5 HCSB
Often times when we suffer, we wonder why. We wonder why God would allow us to suffer. If we have unrepentant sin in our lives, we automatically think that God is punishing us for our sin. That’s a natural reaction. We should deal with our sin; we should cry out to God and repent and ask Him to fill us with His Holy Spirit to help us rid this sin from our lives. But we can also dedicate ourselves to Christ and try our best to do what is right and still find ourselves going through trials and tribulations. Many ask the question why God allows good people to suffer. Think about Job. We are told he was a righteous man. God was proud of Job and even allowed the devil to bring suffering on him. Why? Job was being tested. Job suffered and never once cursed God.
You may have heard it said that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Our suffering through trials and tribulations makes us stronger as Christians. Many professions require rigorous training. This training is because the employer needs to know that a new hire can safely perform the tasks they will be called to do.
Sometimes our training as Christians requires rigorous training. God needs to know that our faith is strong. God needs to know that we will turn to Him and trust in Him when the going gets tough. God needs to know that through trials and tribulations we will continue to be good witnesses for Him.
If you want to run a marathon, you are not going to be able to just get off your sofa and take off and run 26.2 miles without training. A runner must start by building endurance. You start with small distances and work your way up. The same holds true with weight training. You start with smaller weights and work your way up to heavier weights as you train.
As Christians we also must train in order to be strong. Our Scripture passage tells us since we have been declared righteous, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ. I can assure you that you will face times when that peace will be put to the test. But the next verse says we have access to Him by faith and we rejoice in the hope of His glory. For these reasons, we can also rejoice in our afflictions or our trials because they are building our endurance. As we build endurance, we also strengthen our character and are given hope in Christ knowing that He’s got this!
If you are going through trials and wondering why God is allowing you to suffer, trust in Him. Don’t lose faith, stay strong in His word and pray continually. Focus on Him, not the trial you are going through and trust Him to work it out. Know that this is how strong Christians are forged.
Just as gold is purified by intense heat, know that as Christians we are made stronger as we walk through the fire and the flood. The wonderful thing is that we never walk through it alone. We can count on God to be right there with us. Trust in Him today. As Christians it is said that we have either just come through a trial, are about to go through a trial or we are in the midst of a trial. It’s just part of our training. This is how God makes us stronger. This is how we grow in our faith. So don’t be alarmed when you face trials, just turn to Him and trust in Him. He won’t let you down.
Have a great day!