Why Trials?

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.” (1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT)

Could it be our faith as Jesus followers in the United States of America is so weak because we face so few real trials? The writer of the Hebrew letter gives us insight when he wrote: “But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.” (Hebrews 11:35b-38 NLT)

“Yeh, but that was during Bible times. People aren’t treated like that today.” Do you not realize that more people are being martyred for Christ today than ever before? More than 365 million believers live under the constant threat of persecution and death. We must get our heads out of the proverbial “sand” and see what’s happening in our world.

In America we’re lax in our Christian disciplines, rarely reading our Bible or taking our precious time away from our pleasures to spend five minutes in prayer. We’re not persecuted because our faith isn’t strong enough to merit it. We’re not a threat to anyone. Would to God we could spend an hour with a brother or sister in a persecuted land.

Currently I’m reading a book I would highly encourage you to read. It’s The Heavenly Man by Brother Yun, a contemporary Chinese Christian brother who has been through unimaginable torture for the cause of Christ, yet continues to glorify and honor the Lord through his powerful life and testimony.

According to Peter in the verses above, “These trials will show that your faith is genuine.” Every day I marvel that the Lord allows me to continue bearing His Holy Name with the small measure of commitment I display in and through my life.

While in Guatemala on a Mission’s trip, a few of us from America stood in a small hut like church that had been rebuilt by the widows of the men who had originally built it. Anti-Christian rebels came to the church during a service, gathered all the men, bound them, poured gasoline over them and burned them to death forcing their families to watch. In the strength only the Holy Spirit can give, these precious women of God stood strong together and defied the forces of evil and rebuilt the church where their husbands had died rather than deny their Lord.  

What is it going to take before we get serious about our faith? It’s coming, dear frightened believer, sooner than any of us want to imagine. The only way to be prepared is intimacy with Jesus. There is no fear in His presence. He never leaves us or forsakes us. May we, by His grace, determine to never leave Him regardless of threats to our life or safety.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed (*Please read Brother Yun’s book)