You have probably heard at least one person, in the midst of a difficult situation, ask the heavens or the people around him to explain what it is he should learn from his situation. Frequently people also ask why things happen to them. When you understand that trials come in three basic categories, it might help you understand both why the trial came upon you and where to look for an answer to the inquiry as to what you can learn from it.
Trials come in three basic types. There are the trials we bring upon us by virtue of our own poor choices. There are the trials brought upon us by the choices of others around us. Finally, there are the trials allowed to pass upon us by God so that we can learn and grow. Most people I observe assume that trials fall into the third category. They sometimes unjustly ascribe to God the things of which they were author. It sets up lots of confusion.
Much of what happens to us that is of an unpleasant nature is of our own making. You commit a crime, you get caught, you suffer the consequences. Sometimes, it's much more benign, like thinking you can go a few more miles before you buy new tires and then having one blow out on the freeway, causing an accident. Everyone says, thinks, and does at least one thing they wish they could take back after it boomerangs back with a vengeance. People often describe this type of trial as karma, and whether the universe notices us or not (probably not since we're insignificant on a universal scale), physics does teach us that for every action there is a reciprocal reaction, and if that consequence is unpleasant, why do the action that leads to it?
Unfortunately, some unfortunate circumstances result from the choices of other people. If you are not familiar, a few years back, a stripper falsely accused several members of the Duke Lacrosse team of rape. That slandered their good names, and although they were eventually exonerated, it forestalled present opportunities until the issue was resolved. I was once assaulted in the subway in Vienna, not because I had done anything, but because the man thought I was of a particular religious affiliation with which he happened to vehemently disagree. We are all suffering the consequences of inflation, house value deflation, wage cuts, higher gas prices, and a whole slieu of other economic affectors with which we probably had no involvement. Yet, we all suffer as a group from the unfortunate choices of the few, and in some cases the one. I remember well in school having to put my head down in silence because someone acted up and the teacher couldn't handle it.
On rare occassions, and I venture much more infrequently than we suppose, God allows trials to come upon us specifically to teach us something. Usually, we are minding our own business, or we decide we know better and ignore his counsel. Sometimes these are blessings disguised as trials. This is however the only type of trial that has a lesson. They either teach us something about ourselves of which we were as yet unaware, show us our strengths and weaknesses, or they teach us the consequences of choice. Frequently, these are designed to spare us more arduous circumstances down the line if we learn the lesson now at an early stage. If not, we can expect them to continue and escalate in either frequency or intensity in hopes that we will learn before it's too late.
Many people ask why God allows bad things to happen to good people. Well, the answer, with this information, becomes more clear. Some of those good people are not as good as we suppose, not that they are evil per se as much as it is that they made a mistake and the consequences came. Sometimes, the things that happen have nothing to do with God at all. Sometimes what happens to us happens because other people have a vendetta. Only in rare cases, in the third category, does God allow, as he did with Job, that the devil and his angels perturb our peace, and then only as far as he allows it.
Even after we consider that, the trial of trials is actually the trial of no trials. When everything is going smoothly in your life, what do you do? Do you thank God for your prosperity? Do you still pray as much, read the scriptures as much, serve your neighbors as much, and worship as much? When we are blessed too much, we tend to forget God. When we are bound by unbroken success, as Abraham Lincoln observed, frequently we become too proud to pray to the God who made us. It is not in our best interest to have things always go our way. That which we obtain too easily we esteem too lightly (Thomas Paine). Good timber does not grow in ease; the harsher the gale, the stronger the trees.
When you ask yourself in the middle of a trial, 'what should I learn from this?', 'what have I done wrong?', and 'why did this happen to me?', consider the type and origin of the trial. There may be nothing orchestrated by God for you to learn at all, particularly if you are a passive target of the choices of another person. Perhaps you haven't done anything wrong at all. As to the why, well, the type of trial will answer that, if you can identify it. Also consider that ignoble ease is the worst trial of all. Think about it.
If you really believe that God is omniscient, remember that nothing that happens on earth comes as a surprise to him. There is no guarantee of outcome, only an opportunity, and so much of what will be depends on choices beyond our poor ability to add or detract. Sometimes, it's other people. I thank my cousin for teaching me that last summer. If you are honestly and earnestly engaged in an effort to effect the righteous desires and will of God in your life and in the lives of people around you, trust in God to help you as he did Daniel. When you are cast into the pit, when storms gather around, and when you find yourself in the belly of a whale, remember that God is also faithful and will with the trial provide a way by which you may escape it.
Trials come in three basic types. There are the trials we bring upon us by virtue of our own poor choices. There are the trials brought upon us by the choices of others around us. Finally, there are the trials allowed to pass upon us by God so that we can learn and grow. Most people I observe assume that trials fall into the third category. They sometimes unjustly ascribe to God the things of which they were author. It sets up lots of confusion.
Much of what happens to us that is of an unpleasant nature is of our own making. You commit a crime, you get caught, you suffer the consequences. Sometimes, it's much more benign, like thinking you can go a few more miles before you buy new tires and then having one blow out on the freeway, causing an accident. Everyone says, thinks, and does at least one thing they wish they could take back after it boomerangs back with a vengeance. People often describe this type of trial as karma, and whether the universe notices us or not (probably not since we're insignificant on a universal scale), physics does teach us that for every action there is a reciprocal reaction, and if that consequence is unpleasant, why do the action that leads to it?
Unfortunately, some unfortunate circumstances result from the choices of other people. If you are not familiar, a few years back, a stripper falsely accused several members of the Duke Lacrosse team of rape. That slandered their good names, and although they were eventually exonerated, it forestalled present opportunities until the issue was resolved. I was once assaulted in the subway in Vienna, not because I had done anything, but because the man thought I was of a particular religious affiliation with which he happened to vehemently disagree. We are all suffering the consequences of inflation, house value deflation, wage cuts, higher gas prices, and a whole slieu of other economic affectors with which we probably had no involvement. Yet, we all suffer as a group from the unfortunate choices of the few, and in some cases the one. I remember well in school having to put my head down in silence because someone acted up and the teacher couldn't handle it.
On rare occassions, and I venture much more infrequently than we suppose, God allows trials to come upon us specifically to teach us something. Usually, we are minding our own business, or we decide we know better and ignore his counsel. Sometimes these are blessings disguised as trials. This is however the only type of trial that has a lesson. They either teach us something about ourselves of which we were as yet unaware, show us our strengths and weaknesses, or they teach us the consequences of choice. Frequently, these are designed to spare us more arduous circumstances down the line if we learn the lesson now at an early stage. If not, we can expect them to continue and escalate in either frequency or intensity in hopes that we will learn before it's too late.
Many people ask why God allows bad things to happen to good people. Well, the answer, with this information, becomes more clear. Some of those good people are not as good as we suppose, not that they are evil per se as much as it is that they made a mistake and the consequences came. Sometimes, the things that happen have nothing to do with God at all. Sometimes what happens to us happens because other people have a vendetta. Only in rare cases, in the third category, does God allow, as he did with Job, that the devil and his angels perturb our peace, and then only as far as he allows it.
Even after we consider that, the trial of trials is actually the trial of no trials. When everything is going smoothly in your life, what do you do? Do you thank God for your prosperity? Do you still pray as much, read the scriptures as much, serve your neighbors as much, and worship as much? When we are blessed too much, we tend to forget God. When we are bound by unbroken success, as Abraham Lincoln observed, frequently we become too proud to pray to the God who made us. It is not in our best interest to have things always go our way. That which we obtain too easily we esteem too lightly (Thomas Paine). Good timber does not grow in ease; the harsher the gale, the stronger the trees.
When you ask yourself in the middle of a trial, 'what should I learn from this?', 'what have I done wrong?', and 'why did this happen to me?', consider the type and origin of the trial. There may be nothing orchestrated by God for you to learn at all, particularly if you are a passive target of the choices of another person. Perhaps you haven't done anything wrong at all. As to the why, well, the type of trial will answer that, if you can identify it. Also consider that ignoble ease is the worst trial of all. Think about it.
If you really believe that God is omniscient, remember that nothing that happens on earth comes as a surprise to him. There is no guarantee of outcome, only an opportunity, and so much of what will be depends on choices beyond our poor ability to add or detract. Sometimes, it's other people. I thank my cousin for teaching me that last summer. If you are honestly and earnestly engaged in an effort to effect the righteous desires and will of God in your life and in the lives of people around you, trust in God to help you as he did Daniel. When you are cast into the pit, when storms gather around, and when you find yourself in the belly of a whale, remember that God is also faithful and will with the trial provide a way by which you may escape it.
1 comment:
Wonderful thoughts. Thank you for sharing them! I needed to read this today.
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