(This is part 1 of 3 for Lesson 5…click here to go back to the introduction of Lesson 5)
The following comments were posted by Benton in relation to the last week’s discussion ‘Seeing The Goldsmith’s Face’. They are a very good lead-in to this week’s topic:
Hey all.
Just a few thoughts on the whole “refined through trial” concept. Can’t help but think about the view “God only allows us to be tested to what we can bear” as well. Certainly interesting combined together … so for those of us who are able to endure more, does that mean we need more refining and so go through more trials?
On another line of thought: is it impossible for us to be purified without trials?
Is a trial as simple as going through being mocked as a child about your parents being weirdos so you learn patient endurance? Or are we beginning to stretch the concept? You could take every “hard knock” as a trial if you really want to take it to the nth degree; every hard knock then building your character, making you more God-like if you choose to respond according to His law and His example …
Or what about Job? Fable or true, it’s certainly a very interesting picture of what God might expect us to be able to go through to see Him at the end …
I recognise that enduring trials or “coming through the refiner’s fire” are noble aspirations, but what happens if you don’t make it through? Does this mean you have not passed God’s test and do not enter into the kingdom of heaven?
On Ben’s first point, I like his reference to 1 Cor 10:13 (NIV):
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
Does that mean those who can endure more will be tested more severely?
I don’t have a definitive answer, but if we think about one of the more severe trials in the Bible, that would be Job. (As an aside I think the story of Job was real, see other references to Job as an individual in Ezek 14:14 and James 5:11,) We know that Job prior to his ordeal was someone who already had a strong relationship with God. Consider one of the best character references in the Bible:
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Job 1:8
But in any case I find that the last bit of 1 Cor 10:13, ‘he will also provide a way out’, is very comforting. I don’t think the ‘way out’ avoids suffering, I think the ‘way out’ is a way to remain firm in our relationship with God under the trial.
But what about those failing the test? Jen brought to mind the apostle Peter when he failed his test – denying the Lord three times.
Jesus gave Peter this enigmatic prophecy:
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to have all of you, to sift you like wheat. But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen and build up your brothers.” Luke 22:31,32 (NLT)
This one text leads to many interesting questions, but for now happy just to note that Peter both failed his test, but then ‘repented’ and turned again to Jesus. So is it the actual performance in the test that counts, or what is done in the life in an ongoing basis? And Peter’s ultimate success wasn’t salvation by works. The thing Peter needed to do was surrender his stubborn will and turn back to Jesus. Remember that even the prompting to repent is a gift from Jesus:
Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? Rom 2:4 (NIV)
It’s also interesting to note Satan’s grubby fingerprints all over Peter’s trial from the text above. You can bet in the time immediately after Peter’s betrayal of Jesus, that he was in Peter’s ear to give it all up. But Jesus knew that Peter would prevail.
So can we be purified without trials? Good question. I’m interested in the guidance Ellen White’s quote given in this week’s lesson:
“If in the providence of God we are called upon to endure trials, let us accept the cross and drink the bitter cup, remembering that it is a Father’s hand that holds it to our lips. Let us trust Him in the darkness as well as in the day. Can we not believe that He will give us everything that is for our good?. . . ” Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 316.
The interesting word for me here is very first one: ‘If’, and particularly that it is not ‘When’. From this I take it that not all will be called upon to bear large trials. And we shouldn’t forget the purpose of these types of trials:
Jesus watches the test; He knows what is needed to purify the precious metal, that it may reflect the radiance of His love. It is by close, testing trials that God disciplines His servants. He sees that some have powers which may be used in the advancement of His work, and He puts these persons upon trial; in His providence He brings them into positions that test their character. . . . He shows them their own weakness, and teaches them to lean upon Him…. Thus His object is attained. They are educated, trained, and disciplined, prepared to fulfill the grand purpose for which their powers were given them.”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 129, 130.
On the other hand I do believe that everyday ‘hard knocks’, the type we all have to face, do build character.
Anyway that’s enough from me for now, how about over to you for thoughts and comments? Feel free to write something in the comment box below…
Click here for the next part of this week’s lesson – Strange Trials Part I
e-Sabbath School 
A woman lives in a war zone, she loses her teenage son to militants to be turned into a drugged child solider, her husband is missing, presumed dead, she has found her way with her remaining children to a UN camp and is now living on the charity of others – her sense of independence, self-reliance, security in her family, all gone. Where is God in the trials she has faced? Is she more “purified” than me because I live in a western country, with my nice house and a few headaches about the mortgage? I don’t want to belittle the seriousness of our personal problems, but I struggle to think that those in the developing world may be able to endure more, so therefore suffer more trials.
I think the consequences of our inhumanity towards each other in a global sense has resulted in the immense suffering we see today, and I am not sure how to think about trials in an individual sense when there is preventable heartbreak in so many countries.
That said, I have witnessed faith in individuals in some developing countries that is like that of a child, despite hardships, and I wonder if the supreme trial for me will be mediocrity – whereas those that are facing life and death situations daily may see the bigger picture much more clearly.
I think you’re on to something with that last paragraph…
But yes it can be difficult to reconcile these things. At these times, as simple as it may sound, I think we really have to trust in the ultimate goodness of God and His track record of acting in the best interest of each and every member of the human race.
I think one of the difficulties with trials is that we often don’t know what the source of it is – is it a trial permitted by God, is it cause and effect (either of our own actions or in a more global sense), the Devil or a combination? It seems one of the problems of not knowing the source of the trial is that we are not always sure the reason for the suffering, or whether there is any reason at all behind it. But we have no control over any of that – simply in our reaction to the things that life throws at us. In that sense we can decide whether we will hold onto Christ no matter what, or not… I also agree with Craig in subscribing to a ‘keyhole’ theory ie that the aspects of God’s character revealed to us in the life of Christ mean that we can trust in him, even when we don’t fully understand why things are happening around us…
I just had a thought reading the comments here. I had been reading earlier in the week about how it is our calling as Christians to be not ‘spotted’ by the world- ie. to not fall into it’s sins, and I guess at the same time to not know to bring these sins before Jesus.
Living in such a secular society as Australia and it being expected (in regards to the media) that our lifestyles are completly selfish with everything under the sun… perhaps we are actually going through greater trails than what we realise- we have in many ways become numb to the conflict? We are not physically dying for our faith, but what is the emotional and spiritual toll of walking the narrow road in our culture- or of not walking it.
I guess I can only speak for myself, but sometimes I really have to check myself as to what I am trully partaking in day after day.
Yes it’s difficult to tread the line of being in the world but not of the world. Movies, music, internet usage etc – how best to sift the positive from the damaging. And can we even engage our culture in this way or do we need to flee anything that has any damaging element? These are tough questions that many Christians (even conservative ones) struggle with as well.