Trials and Suffering. Wed. Night Bible Study

Jon Beck

Biblical Responses to Trials and Suffering

(Material gathered through Biblical Counseling Training)

 

  1. You must be responsible no matter how you feel to always please Christ since we will also give an account (2 Cor. 5:9-10).

 

  1. Don’t pray to just “hang in there” or “just get me through” the trial and suffering – but ask God to help you grow in the midst of the difficulty to be more like Jesus (Rom. 8:28-29; Jas. 1:2-4).

 

  1. Ask Yourself:
  2. Could God have stopped this? Absolutely, yes!
  3. Did He? No.
  4. If not, why not? 

    Possible Reasons Why God Allows Trials And Sufferings:

  1. Unconfessed sins (1 Cor. 11:30; 2 Kgs. 5:15)Use caution here – Job’s counselors thought this was the only reason
  2. To chastise His children (Ps. 119:67; Heb. 12:5-11)
  3. God wants to increase our usefulness (pruning process – John 15:2; 2 Cor. 1:3-9; 2 Pet. 1:5-8)
  4. To help us realize this isn’t heaven and we live in a fallen world (Gen. 3:8-19; Rom. 8:22-24)
  5. To show us that other people’s sins have an effect on us (Eph. 6:4; Josh 7; Jonah 1)
  6. To allow us to reap what we sow (a natural consequence to our own choices – Gal.6:7-8; Prov. 5:22)
  7. To teach us about our own weaknesses and cause us to depend on God (2 Cor. 1:8-9; 12:7-10).
  8. To have us realize that we have placed our hope somewhere else or have spread it out between God and self/circumstances/other people/possessions.  Our hope is to be squarely fixed upon God alone and His promises (1 Pet. 1:13; Heb. 6:19).  At times we don’t even know we have “little hopes” elsewhere until God allows a trial to come and reveal them to us.
  9. To enlarge our appreciation of His sufficiency (2 Cor. 4:7; 12:7-10).
  10. To test and strengthen our faith (1 Pet. 1:6-7; 4:12).
  11. To create opportunities to witness for Christ (Phil. 1:12ff).
  12. To develop Christ-like character (Jas. 1:2-5).
  13. To cause us to recognize our need of one another in the Body of Christ and to draw us closer to one another (38+ “One Anothers;” 1 Cor. 12:25; Rom. 12:15; Gal. 6:2).
  14. To always bring glory to Himself (John 9:1-7; Job 1:-2; 1 Cor. 1:26-31).
  15. It drives us to God’s Word (Ps. 119:71).

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