I was told recently by an acquaintance that, “Trials and Tribulations are from the Devil, he tries to
steer you away from God”
-Trials are
not an abomination to God, in fact, they are from him. As a direct result of the
fall, the curse given to man was to toil and to endure thorns and thistles.
Saying that trials are from the devil assumes that he has some sort of control
over what happens to you in your life and that we can blame our shortcomings
for being a victim of his endeavors. He has no control. He doesn’t even control
Hell. God does. People like to say that anything not convenient to their
comforts comes from Satan. And that only comfortable convenient things are from
God. This is a long shot from what we see all throughout scripture. What does this line of thinking do to misinform our image of God? Is this
perhaps why many don’t give eternity the priority it is due - because many serve
a sissified Christ far removed from enacting judgment upon the world?
Genesis 3: 17-19 “And he said to the man, “Because you
listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do
not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by
means of painful labor all the days of your life. It will produce
thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. You will
eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground,
since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
Well said! God does not tempt us but he does allow and even send trials to grow us, to strengthen us, and to allow us to be able to empathize and comfort those in similar trials. We should be thankful for the trials God sends our way as it shows his great love for us. Just as a coach puts his athletes through rigorous and often painful training routines, in order for them to be their best, to win the competition, so God puts us through experiences which are often painful so do that we can know him better, serve Him better and win the reward of hearing Him say,"Well done, my faithful servant."
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