The purpose of trials

The purpose of trials James 1:2-12

Intro… Trials are a part of life. The scale of trials….my car won’t start… to the recent deaths of the young girls here in SD county. So often the question is, “God, why am I going through this?” or, “How can you allow this to happen?”

• How many of your feel like you are going through some kind of trial in your life right now…today? Think of that as we go through this text.


Thesis: The purpose of trials in our lives is to draw us closer to God.
Text: James 1:2-12

v. 2 Consider it pure joy?
• God is not asking us to pretend to be happy, but to do our best to see things through HIs eyes as we go through trials.
• We need to consider what trials can produce in our lives, which is maturity, peace and a time of learning.

What we can learn from trials: (v. 2-4)
• God allows trials into our lives to test our faith (can we look to God?)
• which develops perseverance (learning to “handle” it)
• which brings maturity (there’s got to be something bigger to learn)
• which brings a sense of understanding (seeing God’s hand in this)
• which renders us complete, lacking in nothing. (able to share with others lessons we’ve learned, having a stronger faith in God.)

In the Christian life, we “continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling.”
Phil. 2:12-16a,
• Obey, God who works in you, no complaining, become blameless and pure, hold out the word of life.
1 Peter 1:6-7, 2 Peter 1:5-11

When experiencing trials we need to ask God for wisdom, His perspective.
(v. 5-8)
• When we ask, we’ve got to be able to accept God’s answer (yes, no, wait etc.)
• When asking don’t doubt God.

On March 8, 2009, 45-year-old Pastor Fred Winters was shot through the heart by 27-year-old Terry Sedlacek as he preached to his congregation.
• His wife, Cindy Winters, spoke to the church one day before the first anniversary of her husband’s death.
• “But did you ever wonder where was God on March 8?” posed the widowed mother of two during a special service commemorating her husband’s death.
• “God was in that dark room with me. That’s where God was,” Winters later said in recalling the hospital room she waited in immediately following the death of her husband.
• Before the congregation of First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., Winters shared about the day of her husband’s death and the struggles she encountered since.
• She also recalled the moments when she felt the presence of God, who gave her the strength to go on.
• “God was providing us with a sense of peace. And I really believe that God was right next to Fred that day and took him home to heaven,” Winters recalled

This wisdom God gives us is not just knowledge, but the ability to make wise decisions in difficult circumstances.
• This wisdom that God gives us is a practical discernment wisdom.
• Gaining that wisdom begins with respect for God and grows into Christian maturity and being able to tell right from wrong.
• Romans 5:1-5

When God puts us in humble circumstances, we should thank him. (v. 9-11)
• This can happen by either losing money or possessions or going through a trial that helps you realize what is most important in life.
• When we are going through a trial, we are forced into a position of humility.
• Often we don’t know why this is happening, it’s humbling.
• Even when we do know why we are in this trial (if we got ourselves into it) it’s still a humbling experience.
• That’s when God can teach you a lot if you are willing to learn.
• Otherwise, if we get too full of ourselves, we will fade away like a wild flower in San Diego in August… (recent rain, flowers everywhere, gone by summer, wildfire threats…the So. Cal. Pattern)
• If we are rich in ourselves, (not willing to learn through the humility of trials), we too will fade away.
• So whether we are talking about earthly riches or humble circumstances brought on by trials, we need to remember that riches mean nothing to God.
• We find true wealth by growing spiritually, closer to God.
• Wealth, power and status mean nothing to God, so let’s focus on the spiritual growth in our lives.

God will bless us when we persevere under trial. (v. 12)
• Coming full circle in this discussion on trials, when we persevere and trust God through the trial, we will be blessed.
• Notice how this is a long, complicated process? No one said going through trials would be easy.
• Going through trials with a godly perspective helps ease some of the pain and confusion.
• Exactly how we’ll be blessed no one knows. The blessing may come in a form or at a time you never expected.
• When we continue to love God through the process and stand the test, God will give us a crown of life.
• We can’t really know the depth of our character until we see how we react under pressure when those trials come.
• God wants us to be mature and complete, not keep us from all pain.
• Romans 8:24-28

I believe God develops our character the deepest when we are going through trials.

"One of the purposes for which God instituted prayer may have been to bear witness that the course of events is not governed like a state but created like a work of art to which every being makes its contribution (in prayer) a conscious contribution and in which every being is both an end and a means."
-C.S. Lewis

I have no doubt that God allows trials into our lives to bring us closer to him.

Conclusion: VIDEO “Haiti, a call to fasting and prayer.”