Trials And Their Object
Job Hearing Of His Losses. "Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope." Rom. 5:3, 4.
1. What does the apostle Peter say concerning the trials through which every believer must pass?
“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12, 13.
2. How important is the trial of our faith?
“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7.
Notes.—“When David was fleeing through the wilderness, pursued by his own son, he was being prepared to become the sweet singer of Israel. The pit and the dungeon were the best schools at which Joseph ever graduated. The hurricane that upset the tent and killed Job's children prepared the man of Uz to write the magnificent poem that has astonished the ages. There is no way to get the wheat out of the straw but to thresh it out. There is no way to purify the gold but to burn it.”—Talmage's “One Thousand Gems,” page 83.
Nothing “happens” to the Christian. Everything that enters his life is sent or permitted to come by an all-wise and all-loving Heavenly Father, and is designed for the perfection of character, and the fitting up and the enlargement of capacity for service. The rocks and rough places on the mountainside are the things we climb on. Even failures, if taken rightly, may become stepping-stones to higher ground.
3. What reason did Paul give for glorying in tribulations?