The Gift of the Trial
How to run the race so that you compete for the ultimate prize.
The trials aren’t obstacles, but rather stepping stones on the path of life.
Several years ago, I attended a conference. For the three days following, the Lord showed me in dreams the trials for the next day, their solutions, and what He was teaching me through them.
When the trial popped up during the day I was rather excited about it—I knew its purpose and I wanted everything that the Lord had for me in that trial.
The point isn’t that we should be dreaming about our trials, but that we should understand their purpose and intended outcome.
Breakfast in Heaven
It can be difficult to see things from His perspective in the midst of this dark and weary world. There are so many unknowns, and the daily news doesn’t help.
Fear, worry, and doubt do not originate from Him. Their end is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10).
Bear with me for a few moments. Imagine if Jesus caught you up in a vision where you sat down with Him for breakfast at His favorite restaurant. Jesus introduces you to His friends. You don’t know them, but somehow they already seem to know much about you.
He pulls out a chair for you at His favorite spot. The bustling waiters, the chatter of friendly voices, the aromas that fill the air enrich the moment.
Nothing distracts from the warmth and love that seem to be emanating from the face of Jesus. With each passing second His love seems to be penetrating more deeply into every fiber of your being.
It feels great, but also very normal, yet at the same time you wonder if your mortal body could possibly contain much more.
As you sit contemplating what you should say, Jesus leans forward and says with a gentle smile,
"…do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they“ Matthew 6:25-26?
In that very moment all the fears, doubts, and worries seem to be melting away with each passing word that He speaks. For some reason, in this place, you understand that He will move heaven and earth to keep His promise to you.
Ever since your breakfast with Jesus, things seem different. Life seems familiar and yet strange at the same time. Even the trees seem to be clapping their hands. The sky seems to radiate hope and joy.
Everywhere you turn, you see glimpses of Him, feeling lighter and walking with confidence and purpose.
Those trials that seemed to be such a big deal only a few hours ago have lost their grip.
In fact, you quite enjoy the trials because you know He is with you and you’re eager to see what treasures that He has for you in the trial.
Every Morning Is Breakfast with Jesus
This vision, though imaginary, reveals a deeper truth: every day can be a ‘breakfast with Jesus’ when we trust His words.
Thomas wanted to see Jesus’ nail-scarred hands and to put his hand in Jesus’ side before he would believe. Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” John 20:29.
The Lord may catch us up in a vision to have breakfast with Him, but the truth is, there is even more blessing when we just believe what He says.
Faith is what happens when we believe what He says—it’s the essence of trusting Him.
Experiencing life through His eyes is limited by our acceptance of His love for us.
If We Understood the Trials, We Would Embrace Them
The care that the Lord has for each of us is hard to comprehend. It is with that perspective that we understand the trials. Not as obstacles that keep us from Him, but as a means to draw us closer to Him.
"In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ" - 1 Peter 1:6-7.
The Lord is not wasting any time. He’s working faith in you. Every day has significant value to the Lord, as does every trial.
These trials are more precious than gold.
How is it possible that what is precious to Jesus seems like manure to us, even on the good days?
The word for trials means “putting to proof by experiment.” This is what the Lord is doing. Not all trials are from the Lord, so we should pray for discernment to understand their source and purpose.
The Lord could have us wait until the end of our life to let us know whether the materials we’ve been building with are worth anything.
But by His grace, He tests us now.
The worst reviews at work are those that catch us by surprise. If the manager does his job well the annual review will be no surprise, because every one-on-one is an opportunity to make course corrections.
Jesus is the good manager helping us to be perfect when He returns.
And let’s be honest, many of the trials that we go through are just FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt).
Conquering the Trials
In the tail end of the sermon on the mount, Jesus describes how we can conquer the trials:
"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall" - Matthew 7:24-27.
He made it really simple. Everyone who does what He tells them to do will have no problem in the trials of life. Those who don’t do what He says will suffer loss.
These aren’t always gentle trials either. Sometimes these storms beat vehemently against our faith, hell-bent on ripping it to shreds.
But those who do what Jesus says will hardly even notice the trials.
Going For Gold
We must come to the understanding that we’re in a race. We only get one shot at this. We can’t waste our energy beating at the air.
If we’re going to win, we need to make every strike count.
Only a few verses down from where James tells us to “count it all joy in the trials,” he writes:
"Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (James 1:12).
This is it. This is how we compete for the prize. We need to pass the test. We need to count it all joy.
This is the process of being made perfect at work in you.
When those trials arise, boldly declare, ‘Not today, Satan, not today—you’re not taking my crown.’
Jesus says to us, “Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown" (Revelation 3:11).