God's Goal In Trials

Your son has been aiming to play for his high school’s basketball team since he was in middle school. He has labored diligently, practicing much on his own, lifting in the weight room, attending summer camps. At one of these summer camps a college coach talked to him about coming to his school and playing for him. Your son was flattered by the praise—which helped build an expectation that he would be a starter on his high school team. But today your son has just been informed by his coach that he will not be starting in the team’s first game. In fact, at best, he will be the third person off the bench. What do you say to your dejected son?

In my last post we looked at Jesus’ words about the inevitability of storms—no one lives in Eden anymore. So how can your son weather his storm? Jesus gave a rather simple formula for staying upright in the storms: Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Hearing and acting on Scripture will prevent your son from being knocked down by this squall.

So what Words does your son need to hear and begin to practice? James is a good place to begin: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. (1:2,3) Your son needs to acknowledge that his storm is a test of his faith. His job is to hang on, being encouraged that God cares enough about him to design a special test for him. In this test, God is asking him, “Will you trust me?”

What is your son trusting God to do? It is not to make him a starter. It is not to win him a scholarship. God’s work in this trial is to make your son mature and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:4)  This storm is designed to add character to your son. God makes that a rock solid promise--if your son will trust him.