WHEN WILL MY TRIAL END?

Now David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. 2 Samuel 5:4

If David was 17 when he fought Goliath, then the duration of time when he was running and hiding from Saul could have been as many as 13 years. In Job’s case, his physical suffering lasted months if we understand Job 7:3 literally. As you may know, suffering physically can be a relatively short time, but it seems like a long time when you are in pain. Job 23:10 helps us answer the initial question. Job says, “But He knows the way I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” The “when” or “after” tells us that God has a purpose in our trials. He is refining us (“tested”) and molding us (“come forth as gold”) into the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29).

In his book, Where is God When It Hurts, Philip Yancey writes this: “A pastor in the Midwest was reading Psalm 145 on a Sunday morning. He tried to concentrate, but his voice choked, and he stopped reading. He couldn’t continue reading about God’s goodness and justice. Then, he told the congregation that his week-old grandson had just died. He, and the whole family, were in grief. Somehow, he finished the message that day and as people were leaving, they said to him:

·        Thank you for sharing your pain with us.

·        I grieve with you.

He related how these words were very helpful to him because he didn’t feel alone.” Because they embraced his grief, he did not feel abandoned. Romans 12:15 reads: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” More important than when a trial ends is how a person navigates the rough waters while it is going on. If the wind that threatens to overturn the ship of our lives seems more real to us than the word of God, then we need to look up to Him who is able to control and end the storm.

Ike Graham