The Purpose of Troubles

The troubles that God's people face are designed to allow us to give evidence to the world of His ability to glorify Himself--to make His presence known--in all circumstances. As He is lifted up, He can draw men to His love. They also are designed to build up within us a deeper faith in His character, wisdom, and love. "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him."

Some examples:
Job lost everything that he might stand in the presence of God and more fully understand Him--and himself.
Abraham lived the tent-dwelling life of a nomad that he might long more deeply for the heavenly city.
Joseph suffered evil at the hands of his brothers that the Jewish people--and multitudes of Gentiles--might be preserved and a Messiah might one day be born--the Savior for all mankind.
Daniel was hauled off into captivity that the greatest of Gentile kings might know who the King of Kings really was--and tell all his subjects.
At the beginning of the first century AD, men and women and children were born blind, afflicted with disease, possessed by demons, and oppressed by men that the Savior and His church might authenticate His deity and His message.
Mary and Martha mourned over the loss of their beloved brother that God's power over death itself might be visible to all.
Christians suffered persecution as the hands of a proud Pharisee named Saul that the world might know the grace of God, the power of repentance and transformation, and the inability of a thorn in the flesh to stop God's messenger from serving Him.

Today, you may find yourself in difficult times. If not at this moment, you will later. If you yield to Him and accept His will, you, too, will discover who He really is, long more deeply for Home, find the grace to forgive evil brothers, reveal the King of Kings to those who possess mere earthly power, authenticate through your sufferings the message of His faithfulness and love, mourn in such a way that the world will know the depth of your hope in eternal life, and prove to all that God's grace is greater than all the sin and suffering that men will ever face. God calls each of His children to trust Him today in the most difficult of times that the world may sense His presence in our hearts and lives and long to know Him whose existence they can no longer deny. May Christ be seen in us today. May we bring glory to Him. The greater the storm, the more majestically our faith can soar. The greater the sorrow, the more empowering His grace can be.

Nothing reveals God's glory more dynamically than the faithful saint trusting in His Father's love and wisdom in the troubles of life.