The Blessing of Trials
The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. Psalm 11:4-5 (KJV)
The Lord knows the frailty of my heart so well. He knows I experience the trials He sends upon me as threats too great for me, ready to swallow me up into an abyss of terror. My faith, small as a mustard seed, needs to be reminded that the Lord is on his throne. He is in heaven where the powers of this world cannot reach. Nothing is coming into my life that my Father is not intending for my good.
He Knows My Heart
The Lord also knows the hidden ways of my heart, ways too painful for me to admit even to myself. So I’ve hidden them in the dark corners of my soul, careful never to look. The Psalmist bravely prays in another place, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23 & 24 KJV) This God who is love will not leave me with sickness festering and in the dark.
Having sent His own Son to die for me, He will not now leave me at the mercy of the destructive power of sin. This trying that Psalm 11 speaks of is the process of bringing pressure into a situation to reveal the weaknesses. This revealing work isn’t for God’s information to see if I’ll sin or not. Knowing me, He knows what it takes to bring the lies I believe into the light where they can be exposed, and I can see what is enslaving me. He’s chasing out the lies that keep (me) caged.
The Perfect Work of Christ
But this moment of failure is usually a time of crisis for me, when the Great Accuser so effectively challenges my assurance of salvation. What kind of Christian would speak that way to her children, to her husband? How can you be a Christian and commit such gross sin? In my flesh, I begin a self-flagellation, a self-excommunication from the people of God and from the Table which offers me the much-needed gracious work of Christ. My first response is fleshly, but then the healing prompts of the Holy Spirit remind me of the perfect work of Christ. This brings me peace and confidence for the next step of the work. Love is not afraid of what it finds in the dark.
Trials Expose our Sin
Notice the language: The Lord trieth the righteous. The righteous are in a state of being righteous, very distinct from the wicked. The trial is for exposing the sin hiding in me. So satan’s insinuation that my righteousness is connected to my lack of sin cannot stand. I am righteous because of the merit of Another. Christ, who fulfilled all the law on my behalf, has achieved for me a status of righteous that cannot be lost. Freeing me from the guilt and shame of sin, this work of bringing my sin into the light where God has promised to free me from its enslaving and destructive power can begin.
“Love is not afraid of what it finds in the dark.” God isn’t surprised or horrified by anything that I’m hiding. He loves me and that’s the very reason He’s bringing light into the darkness. Exposing my sin is also a promise to free me from its power!
Light Comes Into the Darkness
Let us weep with those who weep over their sin and point one another to the assurance of the accomplished work of Christ on the cross. What happens when a confessing sinner is received with grace and understanding, assured that Christ does not condemn her? She can then honestly deal with the sin that has deep roots in her life and talk about it and look at it honestly. And the Light comes into the darkness. What would happen if my child came to me to confess her sin and I held her and told her Christ is sufficient for this and we’ll walk together through it? Then she stops hiding in shame where sickness grows and she sees what it’s like t believe in the sufficiency of Christ’s work and experience the full forgiveness of one who has also been forgiven much.
We are the righteous if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord “trieth the righteous” because He would have nothing separating us from His love
Life Application
Is God taking you through pressures and revealing truths that are painful? Are you trying to cover them and stuff them back in the closet? Or will you bravely face them in the power of the forgiveness of Christ?
Recommended Songs
* Waiting on the Light to Change by Matthew Perryman Jones.
**Breaking Out the Windows by Matthew Perryman Jones
