So I was reading my devotional just now, and the chapter associated with it is 1 Peter 1. A particular phrase caught my attention. God is so SMART and so GOOD!
The phrase: "If need be."
It is embedded in this verse, pertaining to the good things of our inheritace reserved for us in heaven:
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, IF NEED BE, you have been grieved by various trials.” (vs 6).
Why would various trials be a NEED BE? Trials are AWFUL, right?
God, in His manifold wisdom, knows why trials are needful, and He tells us in His Word here and there:
Our faith is being tested. (Psalm 66:10; 1 Peter 1:6)
Character develops in trials. (Rom 5:3-6)
We are being disciplined or learning discipline. (Heb 12:5-11)
Longsuffering (patience) comes out of it. (James 1:1; Gal 6:9; Heb 10:35-36)
We gain empathy for others and a willingness to lay down our lives for others in various ways. (2 Cor 1:4; John 15:13; Luke 6:36; Mat 11:30; Gal 6:2; 1 Thess 5:11)
God comforts us so that we can comfort others.
God grants us mercy so that we can be merciful to others.
God stands whole-heartedly with us in our suffering so that we will stand whole-heartedly with others who are suffering.
God never leaves us alone in our suffering so that we won’t leave others alone in theirs.
I also believe sometimes our trials are for the sake of others in this way: for the sake of someone else's benefit, someone else's deliverance, someone else's encouragement, someone else's salvation, someone else's....something!
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom 8:28)
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord.” (Isaiah 55:8)
God, like a master chess player, is moving things around the board for EVERYONE who is called, not just for ME, not just for YOU. His will is that not ANYONE should perish, so He is seeking te get everyone in who He can get in.
He wants to us to TRUST HIM with the why. He is smarter than us. He knows what He's doing, even if we don't.
Just speaking for myself, if it weren't for my trials.....
I would still be living in sin, and forever lost.
I would actually probably be dead.
I wouldn't have had my particular children.
I wouldn't have started Shoulder2Shoulder.
I wouldn't have encouraged the people on this path that I have encouraged.
I wouldn't pray the way that I pray, with the fervency (and desperation) that I pray.
I wouldn't have the relationship with God that I have.
I wouldn't know the peace that I now have, nor the joy.
Quite literally, everything that I value and cherish today would not be.
Think about what trials have done for you. If you are still in the crushed and laying in a pool of blood stage, this post may sound like nails on a chalkboard. I get it, as I was once there! I encourage you to gather hope from the voices of the veterans. We are shouting to you, "Come over here, it is GOOD!"
Let your trials push you into God where there is NEWNESS of LIFE, ongoing!
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” (1 Peter 5:6)