PODCAST
Tested Faith
June 14th, 2015
James 1:2-7
We want to be strong without pain. We want to be wise without suffering. But life doesn’t usually work like that. Physical strength comes from resistance. Resistance stresses the body bringing greater strength and endurance. That’s why we feel sore after a hard workout. It is the stress that makes us stronger.
Pottery, glass, and metal are often “treated” by exposing them to extreme heat. The furnace changes the chemical and physical properties of the material to make it significantly stronger.
We face a similar process of growth through suffering. As God proves faithful in our hard times our spiritual endurance will increase. We see that the God who brought us through that can bring us through this. Passing through trials gives us confidence in God’s faithfulness. In the next time of trial the waves and wind will not beat us against the rocks. We have an anchor that they cannot touch. The question is not whether God will be faithful; that is already settled. The only question is whether we will have the wisdom to see what God is doing and how we should respond.
Author: Josh Broward
June 14th, 2015 at 9:49 am
my hope is that I can be made stronger in my faith and not be forever broken by the circumstances of my life. How do you hold onto faith when it feels like you are abandoned and betrayed? Our world is constantly telling us stress is bad but this devotional seems to be saying we need to find a way of using stress to build faith. Again I ask, how do you do this? What does this look like in real life?
June 14th, 2015 at 4:27 pm
Thank you for your comment. When it comes to pain and suffering there are no easy answers. Much of our pain comes from sinful actions of others, sometimes our own. While God did not intend or sent that pain He can still give healing and use it to strengthen our faith.
Hebrews 12:7-11 indicates that while Christians may endure much they can have a different attitude produced by the confidence we have in Christ, “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
It is my prayer that you will experience God’s healing and comforting grace.