Devotional for Trials
Trials are a test of the performance, qualities, or suitability of someone or something.
When new medications or medical devices are developed, they undergo rigorous trials. Putting aside any potential frustration with pharmaceutical companies or insurance companies, what is the point of the trials? To test the performance, qualities, and suitability of something. They want to know for sure that the medicine or device will do what it claims to be capable of.
Professional athletes, especially Olympic athletes, will endure strength and endurance trials for the same reason. Are they going to be able to persevere? Is there enough physical and mental ability to push through when they encounter the toughest competition?
Think of our amazing military men and women of this country. Boot camp is a trial! Their bodies are pushed beyond the limits they ever expected possible. They have to will their minds to keep going. Why? So that they can protect themselves, the soldier next to them, and complete the mission for OUR safety.
The same is true for police officers, firefighters, and all first responders.
The entire book of Job was a trial. It was a test of his faith through suffering. There is an essential distinction in the first two chapters of Job. God did not cause Job's suffering. He allowed them, but Satan actually caused the pain. So then the question becomes, why did God allow it? No one can fully answer that.
In marriage and family life, trials look like:
- The diagnosis that rocks your world
- The season of financial drought or job loss
- The prodigal child or the marriage that feels dead
- The nights you cry together because the pain is too heavy for one heart
But we know that trials are an opportunity to test our performance and our Christian qualities when life becomes hard beyond hard. And on the other side of trials, when we stand in faith, our relationship with God grows, strengthens, and deepens.
Remember, no one likes the process of the trials. No one signs up for pain, loss, or waiting. That doesn’t make you faithless; it makes you human. The good news? Jesus didn’t just teach about trials—He walked through the ultimate one for us. He’s not watching from a distance; He’s in the fire with you, holding you, and turning every ash into beauty.
Let's also look back at all of the examples of trials above. Trials do not equate to discipline.
Jesus, himself, spoke out against the idea that suffering implied sin and thus discipline. In John 9:1-7, Jesus and his disciples come upon a blind man, and they ask Jesus who had sinned, the man or his parents. He replied in verse 3, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."
Walking through trials together looks like:
- Praying when you have no words left
- Holding each other and saying, ‘This hurts, but God is still good’
- Choosing to believe the trial is producing something eternal even when you can’t see it
- Letting the fire refine your marriage instead of destroy it
Take the time to read the Bible scriptures below and truly focus on what they are saying to you. Some passages may touch you differently than others. Writing down the verses in your own hand is helpful for some individuals. Possibly looking up the verses in your Bible may be beneficial. I use a NIV bible translation. Or reading them over and over to commit to memory. Whatever method works best for you to experience God’s words and feel closer to Him.
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
1 Peter 1:6-7
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Romans 5:3
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
James 1:12
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
John 16:33
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Romans 8:18
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
1 Peter 5:10
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
Psalm 119:67-68
Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees.
Here's a short prayer if you're struggling to find the words:
Father, this trial hurts more than I can bear. I don’t understand why, and some days I’m angry and tired. Thank You that You’re not causing this pain—You’re carrying us through it. Meet my spouse and me right here in the fire. Renew us day by day. Turn our grief into glory and our marriage into a testimony that You never waste pain. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Try one of these today:
- Read one trial verse out loud together (James 1:2-4 or 2 Cor 4:17) and thank God for what He’s producing that you can’t see yet.
- Tell your spouse one specific way this trial is already drawing you closer to God or each other.
- Pray together for 60 seconds: ‘Lord, be our strength today and show us one glimpse of Your purpose.’
I pray that these verses meet you where you are today and help you to understand that your trials are not the same as discipline.
God bless!
Melissa
