God Allows Trials

Psalm 69 was written by King David, someone who understood that God allows trials. In this passage David writes how he feels in the midst of a life storm.

“Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire,

where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying;

my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.”

Psalm 69:1-3

Can you feel the tremendous suffering in his words? Have you ever felt like David, where you felt a trial you faced would do you in? If we lived long enough, most of us can say we relate to that kind of suffering. Reading Psalm 69 made me wonder what caused David to feel like that. What kind of storm was he going through? Psalm 69:4 gives us a clue.

”Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;

they are mighty who would destroy me, being my enemies wrongfully.

Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.”

Psalm 69:4

People coming against David delivered him to this state of overwhelming suffering. Clearly, he felt he had done nothing to deserve his current storm, and his words tell us how he felt the unfairness of his situation.

While we all know storms in life are unavoidable, that knowledge usually doesn’t minimize the pain we feel in the moment we find ourselves in the middle of a storm.

When those storms come to us through people and their treatment of us, we, feel the unfairness of our situation just like David.

We Can Only Focus On The Unfairness And Pain For So Long

It is natural and normal to feel deep pain when people hurt us, accuse us, reject us, or come against us. People coming against us is an unavoidable reality of our human existence. In those times, it is absolutely understandable to feel the unfairness. However, we can’t allow ourselves to stay seated in the unfairness of the hurt or wrong.

Maybe you don’t struggle with this as much as me, but I realize when I feel wronged, hurt, wrongly accused, rejected, or unjustly overlooked, I tend to get stuck there. I start thinking about the situation and dwelling on it almost all the time. Which only causes me more pain and suffering. Reliving the hurts all day every day doesn’t help heal the hurt.

We can’t get through our storms focused on our circumstances. If we want to overcome the hurt and pain, we need to change our focus. When all we can think about is the unfairness of our situation, our attention is on the wrong thing. Remember what Jesus said in John 16:33.

“These things I have spoken to you that in Me you have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33

Yes, God allows trials. But Jesus overcame the trials of this world which set us up as Christ followers to overcome personal trials as well. We are meant to be overcomers! Jesus rose up the overcomer of everything life throws at humanity so that we can rise above our own storms. Life in Christ empowers us to rise out of our own brokenness and unfair circumstances and overcome the pain and hurt.

Changing Our Focus Sets Us Up For Victory

However, the victory of overcoming requires the mental and spiritual discipline to change our focus. We must take our eyes off our tribulations and focus our attention on God and what He says.

About 6 years ago, I went through a life or death situation with one of my beautiful daughters. All I could see was darkness, danger, and the devil working to destroy her. One day I spoke to my mother-in-law about this situation. My mother-in-law loves Jesus as much as anyone I ever met and is equally filled with faith. I told her how afraid I was that my daughter would not come through this dire situation.

And I will never forget what my mother-in-law said to me. Her words were the turning point for my focus. She said, “Pat, you have got to get your eyes off the situation and back onto God’s Word. Stop talking about what you see with your physical eyes and speak faith according to what God says.” She reminded me that Romans 4:17 says that God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.

My Turning Point

Ironically my mother-in-law spoke to me what I teach day in and day out of my ministry, but at that point I was too emotionally attached to the situation to see clearly. I am so thankful for her words to me that day because that was a major turning point for me. The next morning, I got on my knees and asked God to forgive me for focusing on the situation and letting fear overtake my faith and trust in Him.

I committed to the Lord that I would no longer look at the situation with my physical eyes, but continually look to Him and what He says. From that moment forward, I would not speak of the situation except to speak life and truth over the situation. I decided to rise above the storm by changing my focus and choosing faith in God’s Word.

In reality, when we go through a storm, naturally we fall into the trap of focusing on the situation, but that never gives us what we need to overcome and rise above that storm.

Once I turned my eyes, heart, and faith back to God and His word, I felt completely different. No longer did I feel like I was drowning in pain from a situation completely out of my control, but I felt supernatural strength and faith raise me up out of a pit of despair. At that point, I began to see God slowly change the situation.

Now I am declaring the mighty miracles God worked over the past few years of transforming a situation I once thought was hopeless.

The reality is we don’t even have to have these specific Bible verses that tell us how beyond us our God is. If we simply read the Bible, we repeatedly recognize that humanly we cannot fathom or wrap our minds around how God thinks and acts. If God thinks and acts so over the top drastically different from us, how do we think we can truly know God apart from getting to know Him through His word?

If we rely on other people to tell us who He is and what He says, how do we really know Him for ourselves? And if we only allow other people (pastors, teachers, friends, parents, siblings…) to tell us who God is, how do we know that their understanding is true and right.

Dear Sister, I want to encourage you today

Yes, God allows trials in our lives that we can’t handle so that we will turn our hearts, attention, trust, and devotion to Him.

”For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth,

to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

2 Chronicles 16:19a

When we face overwhelming and painful circumstances that threaten to consume or destroy us, God wants to show Himself strong to us. He searches this planet for those on whom He can bestow His strength.

If you are in the midst of a trial, I want to speak to the faith in you and tell you to rise up above the storm. In Christ, you have the powerful Holy Spirit empowering you to do what you cannot do on your own. You can rise above the storms in your life by taking your eyes off physical circumstances and turn your eyes of faith to the powerful and effective word of God.

Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all that we can think or ask according to the power that works in us. You have what it takes rise above unfair circumstances and overcome the storms of life. Your situation is not impossible because nothing is impossible for your God who chose His address to be your heart.

Trust and believe the truth of God’s word and you will see God do great things!

Read about the next step I took towards victory in the situation with my daughter.