Wisdom in the Midst of Trials

Many times, when people yield to temptation, they respond by defending their actions and blaming others. If we want to behave in a godly manner, we have to learn the right way to deal with temptation. In this message, Dr. Stanley explains what temptation is and how it works. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch

Dear Lord,
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week..

Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY

More important than God.
Removing the difficulty, hardship, pain and suffering.
More important to Him than that is that you and I learn something that we benefit that we walk away from whatever we’re going through in life, being able to say deeply within our heart.
Honestly, thank you dear God for all you’ve brought me through.
Thank you dear God for what you’re in the process of teaching me this today on in touch, wisdom in the midst of trials.
Are you going through some trial in your life that you don’t understand?
You don’t know why it had to happen to you.
You look back and you ask one or two questions. What did I do to deserve this?
You can’t come up with an answer. God, why have you allowed this in my life?
Can’t come up with an answer and to be truthful and honest, what you want most of all is out of this.
I want to escape it. I want freedom from it.
I want, I want all this pain and hurt and disappointment and hopelessness and helplessness and all the things that I’m going through naturally.
I just went out of all this as quickly as possible.
Do you think that’s the will of God? You say?
Well, sure it is because he’s a good God.
Well, maybe in a few moments, you’ll realize that God has something far more important from his perspective than simply getting you out of this difficulty, hardship of trial.
Because what I want to talk about in this whole message today, I wanna talk about wisdom in the midst of trials.
How are we to respond? How does God respond?
What is he up to in allowing all these things to happen?
In other words, do you want to benefit from it?
Or you just wanna get bitter and resentful and hostile toward God because of it?
There’s a choice I can benefit from whatever difficulty I’m facing or I can get bitter, blame somebody else, blame God and miss the whole point.
So I want you to turn if you will to the book and toward the back of the New Testament and first Peter and I want us to look at this first chapter and the first few verses here because he’s talking to people writing to people rather who are going through some very difficult times.
They’re being persecuted because of their love of the Lord Jesus Christ and their devotion to him.
And that’s where they’ve got some questions, listen to and read Peter’s awesome response to what they’re going through.
And so he begins in this first chapter, beginning in verse three listen to what he says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
He says, we have a living hope.
This is the mercy of God to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled and will not fade away.
Reserved in heaven for you. That is for you who are protected by the power of God through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last times.
Now, watch this and this. You greatly rejoice even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And though you have not seen Him, you love him.
And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy, inexpressible and full of glory.
Now think about it for a moment.
I don’t know what you’re going through, but more than likely you’ve asked a couple of questions.
Why has this happened to me and God, why don’t you remove this?
And remember this more important than God, removing the difficulty, hardship, pain and suffering more important to Him than that is that you and I learn something that we benefit, that we walk away from whatever we’re going through in life, being able to say deeply within our heart.
Honestly, thank you dear God for all you’ve brought me through.
Thank you dear God for what you’re in the process of teaching me in. This.
Many people don’t want to be taught. Many people just want a quick escape.
But a wise man or woman does not want to go through heartache and suffering and trial and all the things that can happen to a person and just come out empty, hopeless and helpless and thinking again, wonder what God is up to in my life and all this.
Do I believe that God loves me enough that he’s up to something good?
So from the viewpoint of wisdom, what are the purposes for these trials in our life?
And the first one is simply this, as he says in this first chapter of uh first Peter, listen to what he says he says and this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while, if necessary, you’ve been distressed by various trials.
For what reason he says? Look right now, you’re going through a difficult time.
So that in all of that for this purpose, what is that, that the proof of your faith?
And that is not proven like we think but, but, but prove that is being approved, that’s what that word means.
And all of that our faith would be approved.
We prove that is strong, being more precious than gold, which is perishable that He says in God’s eyes.
Look at this, your faith is more valuable as, as far as God is concerned than gold and silver and all the rest.
So he says, one of the reasons that we’re going through it is for God to do what he’s gonna do something to your faith.
He’s gonna strengthen your faith. One of your greatest assets is your faith because it’s by your faith.
And how many times we go to the scriptures and we find verses in the Bible about prayer and linked with that of faith, trusting God.
And so God tests us by allowing us to be persecuted, hurt, pain, suffering, all kind of loss, whatever it might be.
And as he watches us walk through that and he, as he sees our faith growing and we persevere and we don’t quit.
We don’t give up. We don’t grow bitter and resentful and hostile to other people because of what’s happening to us.
What happens? Our faith grows and the greater your faith, the stronger your personal relationship to the Lord.
Now, the second thing is this uh the, the testing of our devotion to our loving, do I only love it when everything is going my way?
Can I honestly say that I love Jesus Christ is my personal savior.
And often times we find out where we are test our devotion when I feel pain more than I think I can bear.
Can I still say God I truly love you?
It’s those test in which we find out who we really are, what we are like.
Then of course, there is the purpose of purifying our life.
And when I think about God purifying us, think about this pain is a, has a purifying factor in it.
There’s something about pain that purifies, it reaches the depths of our soul and our spirit and brings us to the reality and the truthfulness about ourselves.
And a person can go along in life.
And so to get along as they would think, and I’m doing fine as a Christian and a lot of things in their life that shouldn’t be there and all of a sudden the bottom drops out of the life, there’s pain, suffering, heartache, troubles and trials and then what do they do?
They want to cry out to God to help them. And most of the time, what is he gonna do?
He’s gonna start not with the physical ailment.
He’s going to start in the spirit in the heart, what’s going on in your life?
And many people prolong the suffering because they will not acknowledge that God is in the process of purifying their life.
Now, another reason is that God takes an opportunity to do what to show himself strong in our life.
We go through trials and heartaches and we think God how am I gonna handle this?
And God steps into that situation and demonstrates his awesome power and he demonstrates what he’s able to do and what he’s willing to do what he can do in your life if you’re willing to listen to him.
So God has purposes. He doesn’t let these things go by without specific purposes. And so that’s one of them.
Then his purpose is to provide Christ like character in our life.
So if we stopped right there, we’d say, well, God have a purpose in all this.
Yes, he does. And that’s some of the purpose and I just add one more. And that’s very clear.
In second Corinthians chapter one verse four, listen to this verse three says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves have been comforted by God.
He says, one of the primary reasons he allows these things in our life to do what to equip you and me to be able to help other people through that difficulty.
For example, let’s say that you’re going through some real bad difficulty in your life.
Maybe it’s, maybe it’s a physical thing, some pain.
Who do you want to talk to somebody who’s in perfect health?
Never had a problem at all in their life and wonder why you, where you are.
No, you don’t if you’re going through something, uh, in your finances and, uh, you don’t know which way to turn.
You want to turn to somebody who has been there who has wisdom and knowledge about their finances.
You can take any aspect of life because God, listen, God intends to watch this.
He intends that you and I profit from all the hardships, disasters that happen in our life.
He has something good in every single one of them.
Now, if, if you believe that and I certainly hope you do it and, and you can look at the scripture and lots of scriptures, then I should be able to walk out of here and say, you know what, enough of this, complaining and moaning and groaning and feeling like a victim and uh blaming somebody else.
God’s up to something good in my life. Oops, I know it hurts God.
But I, but I know you’re up to something good in my life. It’ll change your attitude.
Now, watch this just physiologically when your attitude gets right.
It’s amazing the effect that has on your physical body. I’m not saying you think yourself into healing.
But I know this when I understand that God is up to something good, even though I’m hurting, whatever the source of it may be that there’s gonna be a feeling, there’s gonna be a sense of encouragement because you don’t see it as just isolated pain or isolated disease or isolated loss or somebody has attacked you for something you see God working in your life in an awesome way.
Now, we need to, we need wisdom to discern the proper response.
How am I going to respond to these things?
And if we said you can be bitter and resentful hospital, what’s the right way?
So let’s think about it for a few moments.
We can rejoice when we are convinced that the following things are true, that God is in control of the time and the intensity of my trial.
Very important that I understand that, that he’s in charge, he’s in control of the time of it and the intensity of this pain or disaster or whatever it might be.
Secondly, that he has a specific purpose for allowing it.
If I can really believe that he has a specific purpose for allowing it, then I’m gonna be able to walk through it with confidence and assurance and I’m gonna be able to benefit from it.
But I must believe that thirdly that it’s designed to meet a specific need in my life.
Let’s say you’re going through a difficult time in your life.
Let’s say that your loved one has walked away from you or the person that you want to marry, just walked away.
Who are you gonna talk to about how you respond?
Somebody who’s happily married, never had a problem. Everything just fantastic. No, you’re not.
You’re going to somebody who’s been there, you’re going to somebody who’s walked a path that you don’t wanna walk, but you’re walking and it’s not, not something you chose, but it’s something that you’ve had to deal with.
And so is to meet a specific need in your life. And you know what happens?
One of these days, God begins to use you in a very specific way.
Watch this carefully. Remember this whatever pain, suffering, heartache, hardship you go through.
Not only does God have a purpose, but it’s part of his equipping. He’s he, he’s equipping you.
And why is that? So, so you can feel what the other person feels since you’ve walked there and God’s worked in your life and you’ve been through the pain, the hurt, the disappointment and the shame or whatever it might be.
You’ve been there. You know how that feels. Then somebody can say, well, here’s what I’m going through.
I don’t know how to handle that. When you can say I’ve been there. It is amazing.
I have been there. Four words are powerful.
You see, why do you and I go to Jesus when we are hurting.
I have been there. Look at the cross, he’s been there.
Why do we read the epistles that Paul wrote in prison?
Because he could say I have been there.
And when you and I go through those kind of times in our life, he is equipping you and preparing you to be able to say to others.
I have been there. The trial is gonna be to my benefit if I respond in faith, if I’m trusting Him, Lord, I don’t understand it.
I don’t like it, but I’m gonna trust you, Jesus that no matter what I know you’re working out for my benefit.
And then of course, um do I really and truly believe that, that, that God is developing Christ like character in my life.
And if he is, when these things hit, it may be that I have to say to somebody, would you please forgive me for wronging you?
Now watch this. My willingness to ask for forgiveness is part of his character building the person to whom I say it.
It’s part of their character building because they have to decide whether to forgive me or not.
You see, we are also intermingled intertwined.
God is up to something good in every single aspect of our life. Even listen, even in our failures.
He’s up to something good. We sing that song when I fall down, he picks me up.
He does. And if I should ask you this morning, how many times have you ever been picked up by God?
We don’t have enough fingers and toes because he’s picked us up so many times.
You know why he’s not giving up on us and he doesn’t want us to give up on him.
And these trials will also help us measure our spiritual growth.
And I can look back in my life just like you can and it may be something you are going through today.
You’d have had to go through five years ago. You’d have thought, oh God, I couldn’t have handled it.
Watch this carefully. God guards every aspect of our life and he knows exactly when you can handle what he’s gonna put on you because remember his goal is never to defeat you, but to develop you into Christ likeness.
And so he’s governing every single aspect of our life.
Don’t waste your sorrows, your heartaches your pain, your suffering, your discipline, don’t waste that by a wrong response, but just tell Him, Lord, I don’t understand it.
I don’t like it. It hurts. This wouldn’t, that wouldn’t be my choice but father, I’m gonna trust you.
You know what’s best for my life. You know what you wanna do with my life.
You know how you want to use me in somebody else’s life.
So God, if you’ll just enable me, I will persevere and keep walking your path, no matter how deep in the belly it goes.
I will be walking on the path, trusting you to take me through all the way to the other side.
I don’t know what you’re going through in life.
But if you will just take what you’ve heard and apply it to your heart, your life will change and you’ll be grateful to God that you listened and that she responded.
If you’ve never trusted Jesus as your savior, you’re on your own. And that’s not gonna work.
If you’re willing to trust him as your personal savior, everything will change you do that by confessing your sentiment.
Listen, you’re a sinner. You’ve sinned against Almighty God, you’ve rebelled against him. Acknowledge it.
Ask him to forgive you not because you’re gonna do better because when Jesus went to the cross, the father placed all of your rebellion and difference and sinfulness on his son nailed to the cross, shed his blood and the shedding of his blood paid you send that info.
It’ll transform your life. It’s a decision you have to make.
I trust that you’re wise enough to say Lord, not my will, but your will be done. Amen.
And father, how grateful we are that we will never be disappointed in a promise of yours.
You know who’s hurting almost to the point of death today.
You know those that are so discouraged, then I quit and walk away.
But we know that you have the power to enable your Children to persevere to keep moving.
And father thank you for giving us the wisdom in your word of what you’re up to and what you want to accomplish.
And I pray that every person who hears this message will realize there’s a loving father who’s not just watching, but who’s there ready to see them through it.
Ready to forgive sin, ready to strengthen them, ready to enable them, ready, ready to do for them.
Exactly what they need. If they’ll trust you with all of their heart, we just want to say we love you father for being so good to us.
In Jesus name, amen. If you’ve been blessed by today’s program, please visit us at NTO dot Or.