Trials aren’t fun but help us grow

By DR. DAVID L. CHANCEY
Pastor

Nobody signs up for trials, but hard times are part of life.

It’s like the cartoon which showed the little boy in the car watching his dad fix a flat in the pouring rain. The boy rolled his window down long enough to ask his dad why this had to happen right now since he was anxious to get to his friend’s sleepover. The dad said, “Son, this is life. Stuff like this happens. You can’t switch to another channel.”

Trials aren’t fun, and they never come at a convenient time. Yet we can learn a lot about ourselves and about life as we go through times of distress. Trials come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sometimes they are minor aggravations.

A mother in Austin, Tex., shared something she called, “Things I’ve learned from my children:”

• A king-size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2,000-square-foot house four inches deep.

• You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

• When you hear the toilet flush and the words, “Uh oh,” it’s already too late.

• The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy. It will, however, make cats dizzy.

• Always look in the oven before you turn it on. Plastic toys do not like ovens.

We can learn a lot from children, can’t we? Like what our patience threshold is.

Are you going through a rough time? Realize that God can use your trial to remove the impurities from your life and to make you stronger.

A ladies Bible study group was working through the Old Testament book of Malachi when they came to Malachi 3:3: “And He shall sit as a refiner and purifer of silver.”

“What did that mean?” they wondered.

One lady proposed to visit a silversmith, and report to them on what he said about the subject. She went and asked the silversmith to tell her about his process for refining silver.

After he had fully described it to her, she asked, “But sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?”

“Oh, yes, I do,” he replied. “I must sit with my eyes steadily fixed on the furnace, for it the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured.”

Then the verse from Malachi made sense: “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” No trial comes into our life without first being permitted by God. When the trial does come, God uses it to strengthen our faith and make us more like Him.

God always has the situation under control. As Warren Wiersbe put it, “When God permits his children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat.”

Before the lady left the silversmith, she asked one final question. “When do you know the process is complete?”

“Why, when I see my own image in the silver, the refining process is complete.”

God uses trials not only to force us to look to Him, but also to help us look like Him.

(Dr. David L. Chancey is pastor of McDonough Road Baptist Church in Fayetteville. The church meets every Sunday at 352 McDonough Road and invites visitors to join them for Bible study at 9:45 a.m. and worship at 10:55 a.m.)