Trials and Tribulations

Trials and Tribulations

Romans 8:15-17 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

In the above passage it is made quite clear that those who are co-heirs with Christ will indeed share in His suffering. There is nothing to say “If such and such happens”; but instead the only thing that determines if we will suffer is if we are indeed born again.

That sounds pretty bleak from a worldly point of view, but we are told that the reason for this suffering is so that we can also share in our Lord’s glory and that’s a pretty awesome statement right there. The problem is that most of us, especially in our current times are not accustomed to putting off gratification. We want it right now and we really do not want to go through any suffering to get the prize. The thing is, God didn’t take a vote on this before He put it into effect, so this is what is, whether we like it or not.

There’s something else important in the above passage and that is that God not only does not give us a spirit of fear, but that He doesn’t want or intend for us to fear this suffering we have to go through. He wants us instead to remember to trust Him, to remember that He is our loving Father and would never purposely do anything to harm us.

Wait a minute…how can I say that He wouldn’t purposely do anything to harm us and yet the sentence before say that He says we must suffer???? Well, I think of that along the same lines as earthly parents and their children. My children did not like it one little bit when I took them to the doctor to get their immunizations. It hurt! It even often made them slightly sick afterward for a few days! How then could I put them through something so awful and yet say I love them and wouldn’t do anything to purposely hurt them? That’s easy to understand now, looking at it this way. As an adult I understood why these shots were necessary and in their best interests even though it hurt for a time. I made them get those shots because I loved and cared for them.

It’s the same way with the Lord. He is so far above us in His thoughts and understanding that it would probably be closer to the truth to compare us with the intelligence of ants to Him. Since we cannot hope to be intelligent enough in this life to understand all that He does and all that He requires of us, we must live by faith in who His is and what His attributes are, just as my children had to rely on the knowledge that I loved them and took good care of them, even though I also made them get their shots.

Now let’s read the rest of that particular portion of scripture:

Romans 8:18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Paul is the one writing this and as you know he suffered physically a great deal after he was born again. He suffered far worse things, many more times, then most of us will ever be required to go through. Yes even having suffered as greatly as he had, he still says that those sufferings are just totally insignificant compared to the glory that will be revealed in us! The prize we are waiting for my friends will be a great deal better then the sucker the doctors gave us as children when we got our shots! In fact, it’s going to be so incredibly awesome that Paul writes at another time:

1 Corinthians 2:9 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”—

When I start to get down or depressed about the trials I’m going through, I bring myself back to these verses and try to imagine just how insignificant this trial I am going through is compared to the awesome things the Lord has in store for me. I remind myself of our Father’s attributes, that He loves and cares for me enough to have died a terrible and painful death for me personally! If that’s not love, I don’t know what it is! Knowing that he did that for me, means that I can trust Him to not only see me through this time of trial, but that I can trust Him to make certain that I come out of it standing firm in my faith and having learned all that I need to so that I can be more like Him.

2 Timothy 1:12That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.

Romans 14:4 …..And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us,set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come

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