Passing The Tests Of Life Series

The sides of the can were shiny and steep,

The cream was deep and cold.

“Oh, what’s the use?” said number one,

“Tis fate – no help’s around –

Good bye, my friend! Good bye sad world!”

And weeping still, he drowned.

But number two of sterner stuff, dog paddled in surprise.

The while he wiped his creamy face and dried his creamy eyes.

“I’ll swim awhile, at least,” he said – or so I’ve heard he said –

“It really wouldn’t help the world if one more frog were dead.”

An hour or two he kicked and swam –

Not once he stopped to mutter,

But kicked and swam, and swam and kicked,

Then hopped out, via butter. (T. C. Hamlet)

How do you pass the tests of life? How do you come out on the other side of the trial a better person, more like Christ? Well, 1st, Rejoice in the trial. 2nd, Remain steadfast through the trial. Don’t give up! And third…

REQUEST WISDOM FROM THE TRIAL.

Ask God to use your pain to make you more skillful at living your life for His glory. Don’t ask God so much to remove the trouble, but to help you make a right use of it.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (ESV)

Now, wisdom in the Bible is the skill of living a godly life. It’s not just head knowledge. It’s the ability to apply that knowledge to living the life God wants you to live. James himself describes this wisdom in chapter 3. Take a look at it.

James 3:17-18 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness. (ESV)

Isn’t that what you really want – the pure, peaceful harvest of righteousness in your own life?

Then ask God for it! Ask God to give you that kind of wisdom from your pain.

In his commentary on the book of James, Warren Wiersbe describes an older woman who was going through some great trials. She had had a stroke, her husband had gone blind, and then she nearly died in the hospital. In the middle of all this, her pastor saw her in church one Sunday and assured her that he was praying for her.

“What are you asking God to do?” she asked. Her question startled the pastor.

“Well,” he replied. “I’m asking God to help you and strengthen you.”

“I appreciate that,” she said. “But pray about one more thing. Pray that I’ll have the wisdom not to waste all of this” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Mature).

That’s the way to pray when trouble comes! Ask God for the wisdom not to waste the pain, but to learn all that He wants to teach you in that pain. That’s a prayer God will answer generously and without reproach. Go back to James 1…

James 1:5-6 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. (ESV)

If you’re going to ask God for wisdom from your trial, make sure you ask in faith. Make sure you ask believing that God will give you that wisdom, because unsure people are unsettled. They are like the waves, driven by the wind of their circumstances. On the other hand, people of faith are like the great ocean liners. They cut through the waves and stay on course no matter how much the wind blows. Unsure people are unsettled.