Message summary: Our challenge to you this day: instead of asking God to remove the trial you are enduring, look for ways He is working it out for Your good and growing You in ways that you would not otherwise experience. Let us all turn our grumbling into gratitude that God is strengthening us with all power according to His glorious might so that we may have great endurance and patience. (Colossians 1:11)

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“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Our daily Scripture provides a familiar but much needed perspective on life and trials. I first recall learning the concept of praising God in the midst of a trial from a book titled “Power In Praise” which highlights this verse. The focus was praising God in all situations, good or bad.

Regular readers know that I have been in the midst of a testing period with recent surgery and now a very slow  recovery (from my perspective). The testings of life come in a variety of ways; health problems, financial difficulties, persecutions and in many other ways. The third stanza from the old hymn "Like A River Glorious" provides assurance.

It's an inevitable reality that some of our readers are also in the midst of a testing period while others are going through an extended trial.  The Greek word for “trial” that James uses is very interesting. “Peirasmos” conveys a “putting to proof” or by implication, “adversity”. These times of testing are difficult but necessary in proving our faith in God to be genuine and effective. James tells us to “consider it all joy” when you encounter trials (take note of the plural in the word, “trial”).

There is a reason to be joyful during the testing since it provides an opportunity for you to prove your faith to be genuine and it also provides an opportunity for others (Christian and non-Christian) to witness the way you deal with your difficulties.

Bible teacher Warren Wiersbe writes,

Just as the rings on a tree prove its endurance in the years of ease and years of difficulty, our enduring faith proves our walk with God to be genuine and mature, not lacking in godly character. We faithfully serve Him during times of ease and during times of trial.

When we were young a song popular at the time conveyed an interesting perspective concerning trials. In fact it was the first song I heard Brooksyne sing as a pianist and soloist.  Its text was applicable to our lives in Bible College as very young believers in the faith. And now some 50 years later we can see and understand more fully the wisdom in the text and how it relates to our daily lives:

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13