A fifth reason for trials is really a corollary to reason four. We experience trials as a consequence of our poor choices in life. The Bible, especially the Book of Proverbs, is full of warnings about what will happen to us if we make certain choices in life. If we jump off of a high cliff, we will probably die. The book of Proverbs is all about gaining wisdom so that we make the right choices that will result in success in life. I have counseled people in years past who were in great despair because of their financial situation caused by impulsive overspending for years. They could moan and groan about how God didn’t love them or about the terrible economy, but they are in a deep hole that they, themselves, dug. Proverbs lists a dozen consequences that will come into the life of a person who doesn’t learn to control his anger. It also lists consequences to the person who becomes addicted to alcohol. The purpose of the trials we experience because of foolish decisions and choices is to become wise. However, like the other reasons for trials, the purpose of the trials happens to some and not to others, depending on their response to their trials. One of my Dad’s often-quoted sayings was, “There are a lot of old fools running around; just because you get old doesn’t mean you will get wise.”

When you experience a trial, pray a lot and ask God for strength to bear up under it victoriously. Ask for wisdom so that you know how to conquer it and for what reason it is happening to you. Look for wise people around you who can give you counsel and advice. When someone gives you comfort, thank them and thank the Lord for them. Journal about your experiences and feelings so that when you are through the trial, you will know how to help others who may go through similar trials in the future.

Don’t waste your sorrows.

We all have various trials, crisis events, and suffering in our lives. None of us like or enjoy them, and many of us cry out with Job, “Why?”

The first reason God causes or allows trials is to develop the character of Christ in us. Jesus had to suffer to build His character, and so do we. Everyone goes through these trials; such is life.

The second reason for our trials is so that we can help, encourage, and comfort others who will go through the same problems in the future. God’s goal here is to make His Bride, the church, unified, loving, and healthy. Our hard life experiences pull us together.

The third reason motivates us to seek God’s strength, comfort, peace, joy, and wisdom to navigate life successfully. When everything is going well, our natural tendency is to live in our own strength and wisdom.

God has goals for our lives as he guides us through life’s boot camp, but those goals will not be realized if we grumble, get bitter, and blame others.

The fourth reason for trials is to discipline us for sin. Our responsibility here is to examine our lives, confess our sins, and repent of them. It is a pretty simple reason, and we should have no trouble recognizing it if we are honest with ourselves. If we hit our thumb with a hammer, we have no difficulty recognizing why our thumb hurts.

Hebrews 12:5-6; 10-11. have you forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
and He scourges every son whom He receives.”
For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

One of the most important things as we live life is to never be the judge for why someone else is going through a particular trial. Job’s friends got in trouble with God because they did that. Our responsibility is to pray for others, encourage them, help them, and comfort them.

Go back and reread the past three blogs with this one. Don’t be one of those people who wastes his trials by grumbling, feeling sorry for yourself, getting bitter, getting angry, and blaming others. God is a perfectly loving God who is molding us into a perfect person in the image of Jesus. The main thing for us to do is trust Him.

In the early days of pastoring JBC, it seemed that everything had gone wrong. I kept working harder and harder to fix things, but it only seemed to get worse. Then, in 1989, I started praying as if everything depended on God, and then everything started going right. Our five days of prayer are this week, from 5 to 10 in the morning and evening. Come pray with us as if everything depends on God. The old choke collar gets very painful.

Why does God allow and cause trials to come into our lives? There are four reasons. I have written about the first two in the last two blogs.

1. God designed life to have trials as a normal part of everyone’s life so that we will grow in character; without trials, there is no growth.
2. God takes us through trials we can manage so that we can help and encourage others who go through the same trials but who can’t manage them. God does this not as the most efficient way of dealing with trials but to help make the church beautiful, unified, and loving.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

3. The third reason God brings trials into our lives is to reign in our prideful, independent, self-sufficient attitude. Paul said, “so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God.” When life is going well, and we have few problems, we quickly become self-sufficient and independent from God. So He will bring us to the end of ourselves, and we will run to God for help. I used to have a hunting dog, and it was vital that he walked by my side until I released him with my voice to hunt and that he would come back quickly when called. I trained him with a leash and a choke collar. When he got to pulling on the leash, I would say,” heal,” and if he kept pulling, I would give the leash a jerk, and it would pinch his neck, and he would quickly submit. Trials are often God’s leash and choke collar, teaching us to submit, trust, and follow the Lord.

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 We were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope.
When we humbly seek God’s grace, strength, and help, we will have a plentiful supply.

James 4:6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Why does God allow and cause trials to come into our lives? There are four reasons. I have written about the first two in the last two blogs.

1. God designed life to have trials as a normal part of everyone’s life so that we will grow in character; without trials, there is no growth.
2. God takes us through trials we can manage so that we can help and encourage others who go through the same trials but who can’t manage them. God does this not as the most efficient way of dealing with trials but to help make the church beautiful, unified, and loving.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

3. The third reason God brings trials into our lives is to reign in our prideful, independent, self-sufficient attitude. Paul said, “so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God.” When life is going well, and we have few problems, we quickly become self-sufficient and independent from God. So He will bring us to the end of ourselves, and we will run to God for help. I used to have a hunting dog, and it was vital that he walked by my side until I released him with my voice to hunt and that he would come back quickly when called. I trained him with a leash and a choke collar. When he got to pulling on the leash, I would say,” heal,” and if he kept pulling, I would give the leash a jerk, and it would pinch his neck, and he would quickly submit. Trials are often God’s leash and choke collar, teaching us to submit, trust, and follow the Lord.

2 Corinthians 1:8-10 We were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope.

When we humbly seek God’s grace, strength, and help, we will have a plentiful supply.

James 4:6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

1. God designed life to have trials as a regular part of everyone’s life so that we will grow in character; without trials, there is no growth.

This is one reason for tails in our lives and also for trials in the life of Jesus.

A second reason for trials in the life of Jesus is so he could understand what we go through, be a sympathetic savior and help us as we needed it as we lived life.

Hebrews 4:15-16 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The second reason for our trials is the same as the trials that Jesus faced. If we have successfully gone through trials, we can help others go through their trials. Some people are strong enough and mature enough to bear up under trials victoriously, but many people are not, but they can with help from others. God has made things, so we stick together, the strong with the weak. The problem is that the strong are too selfish to give help, and the weak are too proud to ask for or receive help. When people receive help from Jesus and then provide help to others, the church functions as God designed it to function.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we are comforted by God.

A fundamental spiritual law of God is that the more we do for others, the more God will do for us, and others will do for us.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.

The more we help and encourage others through their trials, the more God will help us through ours.

One of the questions I get asked a lot from people is if God loves us why do bad things happen to us; there are four reasons.

1. God designed life to have trials as a normal part of everyone’s life so that we will grow in character; without trials, there is no growth.

James 1:2-4 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Why did Jesus suffer and have trials? There are three reasons. Reason number one, although He was God, He still had to grow in character. He was born into the world just like us, with no character. As James and Hebrews mention, to be made perfect means to be made mature in character.

Hebrews 5:8-9 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.

We can influence the amount and severity of the trials we experience. We have our foot on the gas peddle of life, determining how much and how hard our trials will be. How much we grow from our trials determines how much we must endure. The more we grow, the fewer trials we need; the less we grow, the more trials we need. The determining factor is how much we rejoice while experiencing trials; the more we rejoice because we trust God, the more we will grow from those trials; the more we grumble about our trials, the less we will grow.

It is very simple: God has goals, one of which is to make us like Jesus in character, and His primary tool is trials. It is like a football coach training his players to be good by having them run, jump, and lift weights.

A few days ago, I went out to get in my pickup, and a tire was flat. I was headed to a meeting, and I was going to be late. One of the commitments I make every morning in my “Commitment Prayer” is, “Today, Lord, I will rejoice about everything and grumble about nothing.” So, I said, “Thank You, Lord, for loving me so much that You aren’t going to leave me as a baby in character, but You are going to make me like Jesus.” I hoped it was a slow leak, so I pulled the air hose from my compressor over to it, blew up the tire, and drove to church. I wasn’t even late for my meeting. I was at the church for a couple of hours, and the tire was about half flat, so I filled it again using the church’s air compressor, drove to Les Schwab’s, and had it fixed for free.

That was an easy trial, and we all will have many that are much more severe than a flat tire on a busy day, but we manage them the same. Rejoice always about everything and grumble about nothing.

We will talk about the other reasons for trials tomorrow.

One of my favorite things is reading the goals people send me. It is a required assignment in the three leadership classes I teach, so I get to read those, along with many others who have maintained the discipline of goal setting after graduating from leadership class. Many of the goals are basic goals of exercise, weight loss, Bible reading, and prayer. But there are also some significant goals of starting a ministry, getting involved in a ministry, learning a second language, going on a mission trip, taking swimming lessons, getting a concealed carry permit, building a house, getting out of debt, returning to college, reading 50 books, and finding a wife! I made a goal when I started college to find a wife who met the seven standards I had set for a wife, and by the end of my sophomore year in College, I was engaged. I have set many marriage goals in the last 55 years we have been married. One of my goals was to have a dozen kids, but one of Patty’s was to have no children after 40; her goal won out. Together, we made many parenting goals, ministry goals, financial goals, purchasing goals, travel goals, and extended family goals.

Most people don’t set goals. That is like floating down a river on an inner tube; you go where the current takes you, at the speed the current takes you. Being in a jet sled is much more fun, so you can go where you want and fast. I know it is much more relaxing to float along with life, but when you get to the end of your life, you won’t have much fruit for God, not many real significant accomplishments. Many people defend this kind of laissez-faire lifestyle as trusting in the Lord and letting Him guide them. Jesus said that if we really love Him, we will keep His commandments, like go and make disciples, pursue righteousness, meet the needs of others, bear fruit, and many others that will require choosing, pre-meditated planning, and sacrifice to accomplish. Leisurely floating down the river of life will usually become a “broad and easy way” of living instead of a “narrow and hard way” of living.

Make some goals before January 1st; a dozen is a good starting number. Make them measurable, attainable, Nobel, and very clear. I would love it if you would send me a copy when you finish them.

In John 15:8, Jesus said, “This glorifies My Father, that you bear much fruit.” You won’t do that, letting the current of life direct you. Pray, think, ponder, ask God for some ideas and challenges, and then ask Him for strength, wisdom, and resources to accomplish the big goals He has directed you to set. It is the only way to live.

I have a goal that every year, I will make a goal to go someplace I have never been to, to do something I have never done, and to learn a new skill. I had not made those goals yet, but I just did. I just finished buying tickets to Oahu, where our daughter Sally and her family live. While there, I will fly to Molokai with my son-in-law, my grandson, and a friend, and we will hunt axis deer. And I just finished booking those tickets as well. I have never been to Molokai and never hunted for axis deer, but in a few months, I will have. Now, I need to think of a new skill to learn.

It is getting close to 2025, and of course you will want to have your goals for the new year done. Be sure you have a Bible reading goal, a scripture memory goal, a book reading goal, and prayer goals. One of your prayer goals should be to pray with your spouse three times a week or more. The prayer of a husband and wife is the most powerful force on earth for influencing our kids and grandkids. How could you neglect that prayer activity? Another super important prayer goal would be how many hours you will pray during the four five-day prayer events at JBC. If you don’t attend JBC, how many hours with your own church family? Corporate prayer is the most powerful force on earth for reaching lost people with the gospel. God didn’t give us prayer as a tool for living a more comfortable life here on earth but as a “big gun” for reaching people who are living far away from God and are headed for an eternity in hell.

Goal setters do much more with their life for God than non-goal setters. Goal setters are the movers and shakers, they change things. Make a goal right now to write some goals, a dozen is a good start.

The devil has no defense against our praying. The more we pray, the less he can do in people’s lives the less he can blind and control. His only defense is an aggressive offense against us to keep us from praying. He influences us by talking to us, and when it comes to praying, he and his demons speak a lot to persuade us to make prayer a tiny part of our lives. We hear them in our thoughts, and the sheer volume of all the thoughts on why we don’t need to pray persuades us to settle for short token prayers that require minimal sacrifice. Many factors determine the level of power we have in our praying, but nothing is as essential as simply the time we give in our praying. We have been conditioned to see prayer as merely asking for something, and God either does it, or He doesn’t, like, “Please pass the potatoes.” Prayer is a supernatural battle against the forces of darkness, and if we are going to win, we will have to persevere.

This next week is JBC’s “Five Days of Prayer.” We pray from 5:00 am to 10:00 am every morning, Monday through Friday, and from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm every evening, Monday through Friday.

Many people will think, “I only need to pray for one hour next week.” Where do you think that thought came from? Others will think, “Plenty of people are praying; I don’t need to go.” Where did that thought come from? Or how about this one? “Prayer intimidates me; it just isn’t my thing.” I bet you can’t guess where that one came from. And the most prevalent, “I am just too busy or too tired, or too something.” I lose card games to my grandkids, I lose softball games to other teams, and I lose arguments with my wife, but I am not going to lose to the devil and his demons; they aren’t going to push me around. I will pray, and I will pray a lot, and I will be a force against the kingdom of darkness so that God’s message of grace can spread rapidly to many people.

How about you? Are you going to win or lose?