Many of God’s people are going through severe trials right now. Some have just come out of a difficult trial, and others may be about to enter a time of great challenges. How can we handle our trials?
Many of God’s people are going through severe trials right now. Some have just come out of a difficult trial, and others may be about to enter a time of great challenges. How can we handle our trials?
Weare living in the last days—a time in which Christ said, “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will wax cold.” On another occasion, He posed the question, “when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”—indicating just how challenging times will be (Matthew 24:12; Luke 18:8).
How do you face these extremely difficult times? What approach do you take? What is your attitude when severe trials hit you?
Consider the example of the Apostle Paul. He was struck time after time with the most challenging trials, perhaps more than anyone else we read about in Scripture except for Jesus Christ. Yet, Paul never blamed God. He always had a positive attitude. He never felt sorry for himself, and he never stopped trusting God.
How did he do it? What was his secret?
The Apostle Paul’s Conversion
Saul of Tarsus was about to learn a very important lesson on the road to Damascus. He had set out on a journey with one purpose in mind. “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest” (Acts 9:1). This was very soon after Saul had been present at the stoning of Stephen, cheering on those who were murdering God’s faithful servant. Saul asked for letters from the high priest to take to the synagogues of Damascus, in case he found any there who were “of the Way.”
Any Christians Saul found, men or women, he planned to bring back bound to Jerusalem. But then, something dramatic happened. “As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’” (Acts 9:3–4).
This must have been an intense light. We can picture it actually knocking Saul to the ground, like a bolt of lightning. This was something very profound and very powerful. Here is this man, Saul, who feared no one, and all of a sudden he was knocked very low. “And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’” Imagine how Saul must have felt. He thought he had been doing God a service, but then the One he was persecuting said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (v. 5). Notice Saul’s repentant and teachable attitude. Trembling and astonished, he replied, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” (v. 6). The Lord then gave an instruction, “‘Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do’.… Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one” (vv. 6–8).
What a shock! Saul was blind. When this happened, he did not know his blindness would last for just three days; it could have been for the rest of his life! “But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus” (v. 8). How humbling to be led around, not able to see. “And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank” (v. 9). Soon afterward, another dramatic change occurred. God’s Spirit entered him, and the man who became Paul was humbled. He began to see his weaknesses for the first time (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).
Strength Made Perfect in Weakness
Paul learned a very important lesson, documented in 2 Corinthians 12, which helped him deal with life’s most difficult problems in a positive way. As with Paul, God’s strength can be perfected in us only when we are truly weak— and acknowledge our weakness. Consider the parallel with building stronger muscles. When we exercise, we actually break our muscles down. They become weaker, for a while, but our body rebuilds them in such a way that they become even stronger than before.
Something similar happens when we grow spiritually. When we recognize our weakness, God is able to give us His strength. This is how we can benefit from trials. So, do you rejoice in your weaknesses rather than in your strengths and accomplishments? If you are like most of us, the answer is probably: “Not very often!” Yet Christ showed Paul that we must do exactly that, and Paul made it a part of his very being. He did not doubt God’s wisdom. As Isaiah reminds us, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9).
The Apostle Paul’s Suffering
Paul said there were things he wanted to do that he did not do, and that he did other things that he did not want to do (Romans 7:15–20). He also suffered from challenges by Church members who were disparaging him, and making inroads with other Church members in putting him down. “Why, he couldn’t possibly be an apostle! Just look at all the trials he is going through! And has he ever seen any visions? He’s an impudent impostor!”
Faced with these charges, but commanded by God to minister, Paul had to address some of these attacks. “Seeing that many boast according to the flesh, I will also boast” (2 Corinthians 11:18). What did Paul say to defend himself? “Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one” (2 Corinthians 11:22–24, KJV).
While some of his critics had been able to hide in the shadows, Paul had five times endured the prescribed whipping. This was a horrible punishment, so brutal that it sometimes killed the one receiving it. It was so severe that the authorities were careful not to over-count, and although the prescribed number of lashes was 40, they stopped at 39 to be sure not to exceed what was allowed.
“Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Corinthians 11:25–27).
How times had changed! Paul had spent years of his life persecuting the Church of God, those of the Way, but now he was a Christian and the very same people of Damascus whom he had sought to imprison and even to kill, would hide him in a fish basket and let him out through a window to save his life! (2 Corinthians 11:32–33).
Paul’s Visions and Revelations
How did Paul respond to the charge that he, unlike some other early Christian leaders, had not had visions? We know that he had a number of visions, but he only chose to describe one. He said, “It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago—whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows—such a one was caught up to the third heaven” (2 Corinthians 12:1–2).
Paul found this experience astounding. “Of such a one I will boast; yet of myself I will not boast, except in my infirmities. For though I might desire to boast, I will not be a fool; for I will speak the truth” (vv. 5–6). This vision was so vivid that he could scarcely distinguish it from actually being at the foot of God’s throne; it was absolutely incredible. “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure” (v. 7).
This “thorn in the flesh” troubled Paul so greatly that on three occasions he begged Christ to remove it. And what was Christ’s response? “Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what in fact he did was push me to my knees. No danger of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times, I did that and then He told me, ‘My grace is enough. It’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.’ Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become” (2 Corinthians 12:7–10, The Message).
What an inspiring attitude!
The Apostle Peter’s Weakness
The Apostle Peter was bold, and he was not afraid to speak out. He was human, and we really can identify with his humanness. His example is very relevant for us today.
Christ warned, before His crucifixion, that all of His disciples would stumble. Peter, however, bragged to Christ that even if all the others were made to stumble, he would not (Mark 14:27–31).
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, had foretold that, before the rooster crowed twice on the night of Christ’s arrest, Peter would deny his Savior three times. But Peter thought he was very strong, so he boasted to Christ that he would never do such a thing. No doubt, in his mind, Peter had sincerely committed himself to being firm, to standing up for his friend and Savior (Mark 14:31). But Peter’s strength quickly gave way as the stressful events of that night went on.
Christ was brought to the high priest’s house, and Peter followed Him. Peter was so bold as to follow Christ right there to watch what was happening. “Now as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came. And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus of Nazareth.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘I neither know nor understand what you are saying.’ And he went out on the porch, and a rooster crowed” (Mark 14:66–68).
Peter denied Christ a second time, and then a third time. Again Peter heard the crow of a rooster. Then he remembered Christ’s words. Christ turned and looked at Peter, and their eyes met. Picture Peter looking “eyeball to eyeball” with his Savior, whom he had just denied, despite all his bragging to the contrary. Peter then went out and wept bitterly (Luke 22:54–62).
Would we say that Peter was very strong at this point? Or was he very weak? Clearly, Christ had exposed his great weakness.
Of course, we know that God’s Spirit came upon Peter not too many days after these events, and a different man emerged on the day of Pentecost. Yes, God’s Spirit was present, but something else had taken place. Peter saw himself in a way he had not seen himself before.
Once Peter had become truly weak—had been able to put aside his former high estimation of himself—God could begin to pour out His strength on him, and Peter became a mighty defender of the faith. He was dynamic—a great speaker, a powerful servant of God and a wonderful apostle who later laid down his life for Christ.
Again we see the importance of Christ’s words to Paul, “for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
In My Own Life
A number of years ago, after resigning from my position as a pastor with the Worldwide Church of God, I went looking for a job. I looked and looked, but nothing turned up. Times were tough. I contacted a number of employment agencies. The director at one of them told me, “You know, you have a lot of good skills, Mr. Shumway, but I don’t know of any corporations looking for ex-ministers.” Not very encouraging!
Finally, three positions opened up at the same time—a part-time teaching job, a sales manager job and a job coaching Junior High School baseball. My heart wanted to accept the teaching and coaching positions, but the salaries would not support our family, so I turned them down in favor of the sales management job, which promised a considerably higher earning potential.
After the first day in that “management” position—which involved selling door to door—I was asking myself, “What in the world did I get myself into?” But without another job to go to, and with the promise of a better future, I decided to stick it out. So, for the first week, I did what the regional manager said. I made more calls than just about anybody else in the office. But not one sale. My manager said, “Oh, Paul, you’re doing great. Keep it up and things will break!” But the next week? The same. I was putting in long hours. But not one sale. And I was on straight commission!
I found myself praying with unusual intensity. For days and even weeks, my Bible study was 2 Timothy 1:6–7. I would get down on my knees and read those verses to God. Then, after a while, I added another set of verses to my prayers. I was going over Philippians 4:6 again and again, talking to God over and over. I desperately wanted God to bless my efforts.
The third week went by, without a sale. The fourth week came and went. My human frailty was staring coldly in my face. I came to the point of asking, “God, where are You?” I began see my weakness more clearly than ever before.
That was it. Once I had really recognized my weakness, things began to turn around. I won some contests and was promoted to assistant manager. After a while, I was offered the branch managership.
At that point, I realized that I did not want to do that job for the long term, so I resigned. I moved into retail sales, and took a night job working for the United States Postal Service. During the week I had two full-time jobs, eight hours each day and eight hours at night.
Until then, I had never realized that you can fall asleep standing up. I was sorting mail at night, and all of a sudden I just started to fall, but I caught myself before I hit the floor. I sheepishly looked around to see if any supervisor saw me. Thankfully, I did not see anybody. After a while, my knees would just buckle. I would start to go straight down, but I would catch myself. I never hit the floor, but I would fall asleep standing up while sorting mail!
This was really a very, very difficult time for me. It went on for three years. On the Sabbath, we were driving more than a hundred miles to services, so I was thankful that my wife would drive, and I could sleep. When I was hired by the Global Church of God, that was one of the happiest days of my life. The previous three years had been absolute misery. But, in retrospect, I am glad that I went through those difficult times. I would not choose to do so again, ever, but I can honestly say I am thankful for those three years, as they let God do something to this hard-headed Israelite in a special way that I really appreciate.
How? Because I could see His strength working in my weakness. For this, I thank God very much. We all have trials, difficulties and hardships. “We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance” (Romans 5:3). Perseverance then builds character, as we endure in our trials.
Perseverance Builds Character
Many long-time members of God’s Church will remember how Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong often said that there is one thing God cannot supernaturally create by fiat: holy, righteous character.
Indeed, character is something in which we each must grow. Character is choosing the right thing when we are being told to do the wrong thing. It is not always a case of, “This is no contest; this is the one way to go and it is easy to go.” Sometimes, you know deep down the way you should go, but the other way seems easier, or more fun, or it may be the way your friends are encouraging you to go. “My friends are doing it, and they seem to be doing OK, and I don’t see any bad results, at least not yet. Maybe I should?”
But, if we are building character, we will say, “No, I won’t take the easy way out. I’m doing the right thing, because God says so.” The more we practice that, we grow, and our trials and tribulations produce perseverance, which leads to the building of holy, righteous, perfect character. Another aspect is that as we grow in character, we grow in hope. As we go through trials, not only do we build perseverance, we gain a greater hope, which in turn increases our perseverance and our growth.
We do not always understand God’s ways. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 55:8). But we can have hope and trust in God, even when He asks a lot from us. We are instructed, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials” (James 1:2). This does not mean to “bury your head in the sand” and pretend that a trial is some kind of blessing. We need to be realistic. And when we face reality, we come to understand that each trial is an opportunity to learn. We can learn to say, when a trial comes, “Thank you God. I’m looking forward to seeing how you get me out of this one, because it looks impossible.”
If a trial seems hard, we may boldly think we can overcome it on our own. But if it seems impossible, we know that in our weakness we have nowhere else to turn but to God. As we grow, as we go through trials and learn to look to God, we can be confident that He will bring us through. “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:3–4).
God loves us so much that He wants us to become like Him. He wants us to have His character, so He allows us to go through times of difficulty. He knows how much it hurts, but He also knows how much it will do for us and help us grow. So, we can learn and grow from even the most difficult trials. And when we are dealing with them, we should especially pray for wisdom (James 1:5).
How to Face Trials
I thank our Heavenly Father that I am learning to face difficult trials with a sense of joy, even though they can be so painful at the time. This has been slow in coming, I admit. Some of you reading this article are going through some very difficult trials right now, and my heart goes out to you. You know that God’s heart does, too. And you can be sure that He is working something out in your life—something very profound, something very powerful. Never forget Christ’s riveting words, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
As we come to see how weak we truly are, God is able to show us how strong He is. Not just how strong He is in doing so many great miracles to sustain the vast universe, but how He is working powerfully and dynamically in your own life. It is a wonderful thing to experience.
In all of this, we must not neglect the importance of fasting. By fasting, we voluntarily choose to make ourselves weak. When we fast regularly, God can demonstrate His strength in us more readily, which in turn makes us stronger. Peter tells us, “‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Peter 5:5–6). When we have this intimate contact with God, it is a wonderful experience.
Christ’s Example
Jesus Christ said that He could “do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner” (John 5:19). What the Son does sets the pattern for us to do. We can be like Him. Paul wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul could do this, because Christ lived His life in him, helping him set for us a tremendous example. And, if we follow that example, Christ will live His life in each of us.
God did not call us because of our great strength. Rather, He calls the weak of the world. But, as we acknowledge our weakness, God can pour out His strength on us. Then we can truly become strong, because that strength is not our own—it is God’s—through Christ living His life in us.
Knowing this, we can learn to rejoice in our trials. We can thank God for them, for what they are accomplishing in us. We can thank Him for what He is doing in us, as His strength is made perfect in our weakness.