WHY DOES GOD ALLOW TRIALS?

TEXT:  James 1:2-4;12 (First Chapter)

INTRODUCTION:

• We know that as believer's we are not spared from the trials of life.
• They're going to come.
• Trials will barge into your life, unannounced, unsolicited, and without warning.
• The temptation's is always there to say:
• Why God? How could this happen.
• Why is this situation happening to me"
• My message is not based on human philosophy, myth, or fables born out of fallible human experience.
• But, from my heart to yours I want to share what I believe God's Word the Bible says about facing troubles and trials of life.
• I am affected today as are many of you by the trials of life.
• James has a message for us. He starts out by saying ...

• James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

• James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

• If we're honest not many people get excited when we face difficulty, and yet James says that we're to be joyful in the trials of life.
• How is that possible?
• I want to help you, today, to see trials as God sees them.
• Where do they come from?

 

A.        THE CAUSE OF TRIALS

1. Sometimes they come from God.

• There is a sense in which all trials come from God.
• They are either God ordained, God caused, or God allowed.
• There is a man in the Bible by the name of Job who is a good example of this. Job is an interesting character.
• One day Satan appeared before God and said, "Job only serves you because you've sheltered him!
• God granted Satan permission, not because he owed Satan anything.
• But because he wanted to see something happen in Job's life that would never have happened had not God said yes.

• Job lost his health.
• Job lost all of his children.
• Job lost all of his wealth.
• His friends forsook him.
• And when he was sitting without health or wealth or family or children ... absolutely stripped with no pity and no mercy from anybody, not even from his wife ... between chapters 1 and 10, Job begins to ask "why?"

• I think of Paul, the Apostle, a good example.
• God gave him, according to II Corinthians 12, a thorn in the flesh ... some kind of a problem ... many scholars believe his eyesight was failing.
• God gave him a thorn.
• It is kind of interesting, the thorn was delivered by a messenger of Satan.
• Satan may have delivered it but God initiated that trial in Paul's life.
• To prove to Paul one thing: "My grace is sufficient for you in your time of weakness and I will demonstrate MY POWER THROUGH YOUR WEAKNESS."

• I think of the man born blind in John, chapter 9 ... A man was born blind and Jesus healed this man.
• The Jewish religious authorities said, "Tell us exactly what happened.
• Give us the details!" I love the man's testimony!
• He said, "I don't know the man's name ... I don't know where he came from, but I do know this ... once I was blind but, now I can see!"
• Great testimony!
• And you read chapter 9 and they said, "Who sinned?
• This man or his parents that he was born blind?"
• You see, the Jews had a notion that somebody had to be sinning for this man to blind.
• Either his parents were sinners and he's being punished for their sin or he committed some atrocious sin and therefore was blind.
• Jesus turned the tables on Jewish religious authorities.
• He said, "Neither this man, nor his parents have sinned, but his blindness was to show the glory of God!"

• Jobs fortunes increased, more land, more servants, more livestock, and a new family.
• Paul the Apostle learned to say: Phil 4:¹³I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
• The Blind Man could say: once I was blind but, now I can see!"
• Yes, sometimes, God sovereignly brings trials to our life. (That the work of God might be displayed in your life).

 

2.  Sometimes TRIALS are a frontal attack from Satan himself.

• I mean, all of a sudden you're going along and "bam" right out of the blue ... Satan begins to charge off his volleys of temptation and affliction and to reign his deception and his lies upon our life.

• I Peter warned about that in chapter 5, verse 8 ... he says ... Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

 

• If you are a child of God, Satan cannot physically touch you.
• He cannot touch you without God's consent.
• Proven by scripture in the life of Job.
• Satan can't touch you but he can throw some things in your path.
• Satan's greatest weapons in our life are discouragement and confusion and bitterness and anxiety.
• And that's why he will throw trials in your way and try to devastate you to the point where you lose hope and get your eyes off of God.

3. Sometimes TRIALS are a result of our own sin, poor judgment and stupidity.

• Many times we're going through hard circumstances because we made some stupid decisions.
• Sometimes were going through some hard circumstances because we opted to sin instead of choosing to do right.
• And sin brings consequences and we live our choices.

a.         I think of Adam and Eve.

• I read that story again.
• I mean, has it ever dawned on you when you read the story of Adam and Eve had it made.
• They didn't have to get up in the morning.
• They didn't have to go to work.
• They didn't have to pay any income taxes.
• They didn't have to pay doctor bills or be on anybody's insurance plan ... because there was no illness.
• There was no work!
• She was destined to have children without any pain.
• There was no sin. No death.
• And one choice changed everything.

b.         Sin brings consequences.

• My disobedience to God brings consequences.
• People who are running from God face all kinds of trials that are brought on by their own disobedience and rebellion.
• God will allow whatever it takes to bring someone into a relationship with him.It's his ultimate goal in our lives.
• God will allow whatever it takes to get our attention.
• Dear ones, there's so many people in the Bible that God used trials to get their attention ... to get them to repent and straighten out the mess they had made.

c.         Jonah ... you talk about a man with trials!

d.         I think of David ... David blew it on a number of occasions but perhaps the greatest and infamous of all of his sins was when he sinned with Bathsheba and then covered the sin by having her husband killed.

• David paid dearly. The child died. David was full of shame and degradation.
• Any if you really want to see how deeply he was affected just read the 32nd and 51st Psalm.
• God sent the prophet Nathan to David to expose his sin ... and David lived with his choices.

• When I sin I live with my choices.

Summary:

• These are the three main CAUSES OF TRIAL ...

1.  Some are allowed by God,

2.  Some come from Satan, and ..

3.  Some come from our own sin and our own stupidity and   our own poor judgment.

 

• So that's where they come from ... but the question is still ringing ...
• "How could God allow this to happen to me?" "Why does God allow trials?"

• The Bible has not left us in the dark as to why God allows trials to come.
• It tells us exactly why they come!
• Not until we've PERSEVERED, ...
• Not until our hearts and minds have been changed by Christ and His is the Lord of our lives, will we have sufficient faith to comprehend why trials come ...
• Until that happens TRIALS are just a mystery.

• And I hear people all the time and, no doubt, there are some in the church today ... who say...
• "Why does God do this to me?
• "Why does God let this happen to me?
• "Why does God punish me so!? ...or others say:
• Where was god when my child died?
• Where was god when i lost my job or got laid off for no reason?
• Where was god when this sickness attacked me?Why is there conflict in my life?

Now I hope you have your pen's ready, quickly ... I'm going to give you some answers from the Word of God. We won't cover all the reasons in scripture ... but we'll hit the ones we can in the time we have.

B.         TWO REASONS FOR TRIALS

1. TRIALS DEVELOP CHRISTIAN CHARACTER - IN US

• Trials, when we understand their origin, develop maturity in us.
• Maturity comes with what the Bible text uses: PERSEVERANCE.
• Perseverance is a life long task.
• As long as we are on plant earth, we will have to persevere, and James says in our text, "Consider it pure joy"

• In Romans, 5:3, the Bible says, Suffering produces perseverance.
• We just got through reading in James that it produces perseverance. an ongoing strong Christian character.

• Consider it pure joy ... James says ... why did he say that?
• Nobody in their right mind, when a trial comes, is going to consider that pure joy.
• Why did he say it?
• You see, God uses trials in our life to strengthen us and teach us valuable lessons.
• I want to read this to you.
• J.B Phillips translates James this way ... 1:2-4
• When all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your lives, my brothers, don't resent them as intruders but welcome them as friends. Realize that they come to test your faith and to produce in you the quality of endurance ... (now I love this part ...) ... But let the process go on until that endurance is fully developed and you will find that you have become men of mature character, men of integrity with no weak spots.
• ILL: Lance Armstrong: From all appearances he does not confess Christ as Savior.
• However, in the cycling world is the world's best! Winning the Tour de France" 7 times!
• A cancer survivor he just got better and faster as he grew older! Incredible!

Dear ones, I want to say this a clearly as I can. The Christian Life is not about deliverance from the trial! Its about completing the course that is set out before YOU, enduring the obstacles ... finishing the race... being hammered into what God wants YOU to be ...So that God can refine YOU so that he can use YOU for his GREATER purpose.

ILL:

• In the Windward Islands of the Caribbean the winds from the Atlantic hit the eastern coasts which turbulent gust of wind, frequently to 60-70 miles an hour.
• Torrential rains would fall ... in the path of the wind were the palm trees, and in many of the islands, scrub oaks, and other tropical hardwoods..
• And the wind would bend those trees to where they almost touched the ground.
• And as those trees matured over the year and became weathered, they were hardened and twisted and battered.
• As developers came to the islands and began to cut down the trees and clear the beachfronts for hotels ...they found out that when they tried to cut the oak trees down that sometimes they would go through two and three and four chainsaws to get them down because the wood was so hard and so impervious ...Due to the fact that the tree were made stronger by the years of the stress of the wind.
• What a parable! God uses trials to strengthen us and mature us.

 

Paul said this about his trials ...For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor 4:17

Peter said in I Peter 4:12 ... I know you've read it ... Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ ...watch this now ... so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

• Dear ones ... I don't understand it ...
• I can't really explain the principle, but, there is a sense here that every trial we face, every time we go through a problem, every time we go through pain in our life ...
• whether is physical pain or emotional pain ...
• God is in the process of turning things around for you!
• The moment you start rejoicing in your affliction, and become a participant in the sufferings of Christ, by simply receiving Him and identifying with Him.
• Joy with flood your heart!
• And the scripture says that we're going to rejoice.
• We'll understand.
• It will all be clear.
• And God's glory in it all will be revealed.
• We will be able to sing the old Gospel song:
• "Through it all"!

2. TRIALS COME TO PREPARE US FOR GREATER THINGS.

 

• Have you ever stopped to think about that?
• If God is sending or allowing a trial in your life ... what's it for?
• God wants to prepare us for blessing.
• You know who the chief example of that is in scripture?
• Joseph ... you can read all about him in the book of Genesis ...
• Joseph was the bright and shining favorite son of his father.
• He has 10 older brothers.
• And as a teenager, one day his father sent him to find his brothers who were out herding sheep.
• And when they saw him, they hated him and they were jealous of him ...
• Finally ... they sold him to a band a Ishmaelites that came along and he was taken down to Egypt and there he became a slave.

• He's just a young kid, 17-18 years old ...
• He came under the ownership of a man by the name of Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's bodyguard.
• Now the Bible tells us on two different occasions that Joseph was very, very handsome.
• One day, when Joseph was walking in the palace, Potiphar's wife made a move on him.
• You know the rest of the story ... Joseph was put in jail.
• Potiphar believed his wicked wife.
• While he was in jail, he met the Pharaoh's baker and cupbearer.
• While he was there almost 2-2½ years ... where was God?
• Why was Joseph suffering all of this?
• Its unfair!
• Here's a man of integrity ... a man of honesty ... a man of purity ... a man of dependability ... why this trial ...
• How could God allow this to happen! Where is God! God its not fair!
• All of a sudden he finds himself interpreting the dreams of his jailmates.
• The cupbearer he asked to remember him when he got out so he could put in a word to the king of his plight ... the cupbearer forgot.
• Another trial on his head ... Pharaoh had a dream; the cup bearer heard about it and told Pharaoh.
• Pharaoh sent for Joseph.
• Joseph could have been bitter and said ...
• Life has not been fair to me.
• This isn't right ... there's no justice in this!"

• God's silence, folks ... listen ... God's silence is in no way indicative of his activity.

• God's greatest activity in our lives is when he is silent and not responding to us ... but preparing for us something great!

• Well, you know the story ... Joseph interprets Pharaoh's dream. He tells Pharaoh a great famine was coming so get ready. Pharaoh placed Joseph in charge of everything, second in power only to him ... but that's not the good part of the story ... oh no ...

• Famine struck all the nations in the that part of the world ... but in Egypt because of Joseph the food had been stored in large bins ...

• Genesis tells us that all nations came to Egypt for food, including Joseph's brothers who after all of these years came to Egypt as beggars to get grain and food.

• And when Joseph saw his brothers because his heart was so tender and pure he wept ... he had to go behind the curtain ... but he didn't reveal his identity to them until later.

• You know the story, finally when his brothers knew that it was Joseph, they were fearful that he would kill them for what they had done to him ... but he didn't.

• And in Genesis 50:20 ... I love this verse ... Joseph says to his brothers ... You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good,...to accomplish what was being done ... the saving of their lives.
• Talk about a story of God's providence and God's sovereignty ... in the midst of trials.
• You see dear ones, sometimes God allows us to go through a trial. And we can't see the end of the trial.
• We can't see the blessing.
• We can't see the purpose.
• We can't see the FINAL OUTCOME!
• We can't see what God is doing through that trial!
• But God is in control!
• James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
• Psalm 119:71 ⁷¹The suffering you sent was good for me,

for it taught me to pay attention to your principles.

 

C.        OUR RESPONSE TO TRIALS   -  Conclusion

• So what is our response to trials?
• Repent ... Act 3:19 says repent that times of refreshing may come.
• Release ... Let go and let God!
• Give the trial that you are in back to the Lord. Cast your cares upon him the Scripture says, for he cares for you.
• 2 Cor 12:9 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
• 2 Cor 4:8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
• 2 Cor 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
• And that should cause us to rejoice!
• Rejoice ... That's what James meant when he says Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because God is completing his perfect work in your life