My friends, today we live in a world of hurt, where pain and discomfort are a way of life.
Somebody today is looking through the lens of something that you are going through that just don’t feel good at all; mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually it is taking a toll on you.
My brothers and sisters, anytime we have to deal with something unpleasant for a long period of time, it can put us in a bad place. Trials, we all know about them and a trial is a test. Despite what some say, Christians are not exempt from this thing called trials. Oh no, we’re not exempt from testings.
This “pie in the sky” message that we are to only have good, a bank full of money all the time, perfect health, a mansion with three Mercedes and two Bentleys in the driveway; two children, a boy and a girl, the boy named Jack, the girl named Jill, and we all live happy on top of the hill is not biblical!
Testings and trials will come.
There are true Christian believers being tested as I preach. Some are battling Alzheimer’s; some have mental disorders; there are some Christians that are struggling financially; taking dialysis three days a week; some are on chemo, taking radiation; Christian marriages that are in turbulent times — some, their children are putting them through the wringer, on their knees and faces before the Lord.
Add to all of this the pandemic, and it can put us in a bad place.
Trials are when God tests our faith. They are to help us mature in our faith; to see if God can trust us to serve Him and be faithful in the worst of times. Trials, they refine us, they burn off all of the impurities so that God can use us for His glory!
So today, we need an attitude check, get ourselves together and hear God speak to us.
First, God is saying, “Be not weary in well doing (Gal. 6:9)” … and then he said, “For this light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor. 4:17). This same Apostle Paul spoke to Christians at the church in Rome when he said, “for we know that ALL things work together for good to them that love the Lord; to them that are the called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28).”
Even the psalmist said, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous (Ps.34:19)”.
Oh, we are going to have trials, but we are to look at them from an eternal perspective. Today, many of you can testify that tests or trials don’t feel good; they bring tears to your eyes; sometimes the enemy will even want us to question our faith.
Satan will say, “If God is good” then why is he allowing you to go through this?” He’ll say, “here you are living right, doing the right thing, and you are having all of these troubles — stay sick all the time and struggling from paycheck to paycheck.”
And if we listen to him, he will have us discouraged and depressed. Anybody reading ever been there?
But let me say here this morning that anybody that has ever achieved greatness in ministry; anybody that God is using in a mighty way; anybody that has a beautiful and powerful testimony will be the first to tell us that it is because of what they went through — some trying moments and things they did not understand — is what made them what they are.
All of them could say, “I needed this!”
My family, it may not feel like it now but wherever we are this morning, as strange as it may seem, “we need this!”
Hymn-writer Fanny Crosby lost her eyesight to an eye infection at 6 weeks of age. She was blind the rest of her life, Yet she wrote over 8,000 hymns and gospel songs that we sing today, such as “Blessed Assurance” and “Pass me not O gentle savior.” Looking back over her life and how God used her, she could say, “I need this!”
In 1871, attorney Horatio Spafford and his wife Anna had four wonderful daughters. Tragically, the great Chicago fire destroyed most of his business. Then, two years later his wife and daughters were aboard an ocean liner when it was struck by another vessel. All four of his daughters drowned. His wife survived, contacted her husband by telegraph asking, “Saved alone — what shall I do?” On his way to meet his wife, his ship passed the place where he lost his four daughters; over the course of the rest of his journey he wrote the words of this beloved hymn: “May God teach us that whatever our lot we can still say “It is well with my soul.”
When we walk by faith our trials bring out the best in us. The Bible says, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations or testing’s (James 1:2,4).”
Trials are not bad; it’s the attitude that we have toward them. See, God orders trials for our good and His glory, so I rejoice … thank God! Because now I know that He’s working on me … to make me what I ought to be. I need this!
Community, on this weekend, be safe and be careful — and to all veterans, Happy Memorial Day!
The Rev. George Ellis is pastor at Union Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
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