Joy in Trials?

 
Last night I dreamt about eternity that included visits with people that I have known. Each of them had a quilt-like collection of memories that pertained to their relationship with me. Not one detail was forgotten and their thoughtful remarks showed great kindness. When I woke, it seemed to me that all negative memories were absent from that dream, and of course the Bible says that…  

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

This morning, several readings talk about trials. One focused on the love of God being eternal, not depending on my performance. He loves because He is love. Love is His very nature.

Another reading talked about God’s goodness in trials. It referred to the stones on “Pebble Beach”  on the California coast, telling how a long line of white surf comes up, roaring and hammering among  the stones on the shore. These stones “are caught in the arms of the pitiless waves, and tossed and rolled, and rubbed together, and ground against the sharp-grained cliffs. Day and night forever the ceaseless attrition goes on — never any rest.”

Tourists come from around the world to gather the round and beautiful stones, treasuring them as souvenirs. However, around the point of a nearby cliff that breaks off the force of the sea, there is a quiet cove sheltered from the storms. Lying in the sun is an abundance of pebbles that are never chosen and taken home. Having escaped the turmoil of the waves, they remain in quiet peace and are left without that trial — but they are rough and not at all beautiful.

This is timely. I’m being tried with challenges never before faced and these trials feel like the relentless pounding of a high surf. I’d like some peace and quiet, yet Jesus had something to say about my situation, and a warning about thinking the Christian life should be an easy one:

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:13–15)

Another reading makes the comment to be thankful that God gives me difficult things to do. It says that  salvation is a glad thing, but also a heroic, holy thing that is testing me and also refining me, like those pebbles on the beach. Trials are part of the process whereby Jesus is bringing many “sons unto glory” (Hebrews 2:10) and God will not shield me from the wild surf of life if that is what it takes to transform my life. This is God’s grace. He wants me to ‘ornament’ His glory, not remain in my ‘rough and angular’ ugly state.

Verse 15 is a warning: beware of those who preach what is called ‘the prosperity gospel’ that Jesus wants me to be healthy, wealthy, and comfortable, for this is not a description of the life of Christ nor what Christians experience.

Not that He was sick, but Jesus persisted under suffering, as these verses say: “…for the joy that was set before him (he) endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:1–4) Also, remembering that sin is various forms of wanting my own way.

PRAY: Jesus, Your love is more than that mushy elation when someone makes a person feel like the center of the universe. How vain I can be. Trials remind me of who I am, a creature who needs Your grace to even breathe, never mind face the wind and waves of life. Forgive my selfish complaining and enable me to also live for the joy that is set before me… Amen!