A NEW BEGINNING
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE: A BATTLEGROUND, NOT A PLAYGROUND
Exclusive: Greg Laurie encourages readers to persevere when trials come
There are times when life gets hard, when something happens that is really tough, when we’re weathering a storm. There are also times when we don’t really feel God’s presence in our lives. We wonder what is going on. We wonder whether we’ve done something wrong.
The Bible calls times like these trials, and it talks about them often.
Trials are a bit like a cloud that may obscure the rays of the sun. When you go outside on a cloudy day, you may think the sun isn’t shining. But the sun is shining. It’s simply obscured by the clouds.
In the same way, when you don’t feel God’s presence, he is still there. He hasn’t forgotten you. He hasn’t abandoned you. I like David’s words from Psalm 23: “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me” (verse 4 NLT). Even when you don’t feel it, God is with you. Even when you don’t sense his presence, he is there.
I distinctly remember the first time I went through a trial. It was probably the first week or two after I had become a Christian. I had been sensing God’s peace and his love on a regular basis. But one day I woke up and didn’t feel anything. I wondered where that feeling went.
So I called up my Christian friend and said, “I think God left me last night. I don’t feel him.” I was young in the faith, and I didn’t know what was going on. My friend told me I was going through a trial. And then he explained what these trials are all about.
There are times in our lives when God may not allow us to feel his presence, times when God wants us to mature spiritually and walk by faith rather than by feelings. That is when we grow up and become more mature instead of living from emotional high to emotional high.
Trials and storms come into our lives so we will grow up spiritually. James wrote, “When troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing” (1:2–4 NLT).
It’s like getting into shape. If you want to get stronger, you need to work out. There is no other way to do it. You have to discipline yourself to lift weights and get some cardio. The first time you work out, you might even feel pretty good – until the next morning. Then you’re in pain. It’s hard to even lift a toothbrush. The next day, those weights feel three times as heavy. Everything is difficult. But you get through it. With the passing of time, it hurts less and less. Slowly you add a little more weight. You start finding the strength coming. It didn’t happen overnight, but you got stronger.
That is what it’s like to go through trials. It hurts. It’s even painful at times. But you come out of it a little tougher, a little stronger, and a little more mature. You have learned a lesson or two. And then you go through another one, and you come out a little stronger and a little more mature. This happens again and again in our lives.
God will do some great things in our lives, but we have to go through a few valleys first. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, God said, “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord” (verse 3 NIV). >O?Hidden treasures … riches storied in secret places. Are you going through a dark time? There are treasures that will come to your life through this. Just take God at His word.
Many Christians are surprised to find that the Christian life is not a playground but a battleground. They are surprised to find they have to deal with hardship and temptation after they have decided to follow Christ.
But even temptation can have a positive effect. James tells us, “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12 NIV).
Temptation will do one of two things. Either you will let go of God and go down in flames, or you will hold on to God even tighter. You will grab on to him like a drowning man would grab on to someone who threw him a life preserver. In the same way, you must hold on to God, or you will fall away.
In a sense, temptation serves a purpose. It has something of a screening effect. It will determine who the true believers are. I am not saying that if you are a true believer, you never will fall into temptation. We all have fallen into it. But I am saying that if you are a true believer, you will want to get up again when you stumble. You will want to keep walking with God. And hopefully you will learn from your mistakes.
God’s plan for you is to give you an abundant life, a life worth living on earth – and of course, the hope of heaven afterward.
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