5-Day Devotional: Life in the Trial
By Stephen Puricelli
As a Christian, I’m tempted to think that my life should be smooth, easy, and simple. I remember thinking that when I married my wife over 11 years ago. I had been a Christian for as long as I could remember, and I married a girl who was a fearless believer as well. This, in my mind, should have been the start of a great marriage.
But, just a few short months into our perfect Christian marriage, my wife was diagnosed with cancer. This was hardly the start to the married life that we had envisioned. What would have been the honeymoon phase of our marriage was instead filled with treatments, doctor’s office visits, and testing. We had a foundation in faith. However, the first place God sent our marriage was not into wedded bliss, but into the trial of trusting Him when we couldn’t trust anything else.
When Jesus was baptized at the start of His earthly ministry, God said the best thing any father could say of a child: “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17 NIV)
God makes it abundantly clear that Jesus was living out what His Heavenly Father wanted Him to do. But what I find most interesting is where the Father takes His Son next. The very next sentence in Matthew’s account is this: “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” (Matthew 4:1 NIV)
So Jesus, moments after the Father has declared His identity as God’s Son, is sent by God to be tempted by Satan. There wasn’t a party. There was no honeymoon period. There was a desert with the devil himself. But how could this be? Why would God the Father send Jesus to such a difficult task after such a profound moment of trust?
The start of my marriage was not fun and easy, but marked by hardship and difficulties. The interesting thing about having to walk that journey through cancer with my wife is that it deepened our relationship in ways nothing else could. When you walk through something so profoundly difficult where you have no one left to trust but God Himself, your faith is forever changed.
Walking through trials is where faith deepens. Where faith grows. And, where faith can be matured. Sometimes, hope grows out of the most hopeless situations.
DAY 1: PURE JOY
Read: James 1:2-4
Most people don’t consider difficulties to be “pure joy” at the time. But, as many have discovered, the tough times can change us for the better. In fact, some of our most life-stretching experiences, which enable us to grow beyond ourselves, are birthed through terrible circumstances.
Respond: As you think about your faith story, or as you look over your life, what’s something you’ve learned only because of a difficult trial you’ve had to go through? How has this experience changed you in a way nothing else could?
DAY 2: POWERLESS BUT HOPEFUL
Read: Romans 5:3-8
Suffering allows us to experience how powerless we really are in this world. When things are going well, it’s tempting and easy to think that we have it all under control. But when we suffer, we recognize that there are many things out of our control. In His grace, God can use suffering to remind us to trust Him.
Respond: According to these verses, what does suffering produce? How does suffering allow us to see our own powerlessness?
DAY 3: A GENTLE RESPONSE
Read: 1 Peter 3:13-16
When you live a faith-filled life in a faithless world, it begs for people to ask you about where you’re placing your hope. If you willingly suffer for doing what is right in God’s eyes, people will take notice.
Respond: Do you have an answer for why you have hope? Or, when someone asks, are you caught off- guard? Are you gentle? Are you harsh? Are you truly hopeful? Does the Gospel you share truly sound like “good news” to others?
DAY 4: AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
Read: Philippians 3:7-14
An eternal perspective is a mindset that views everything through the lens of Heaven; not just through our earthly life. Viktor Frankl, a Holocaust survivor, writes in Man’s Search for Meaning, “When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” As followers of Jesus, we are called to shift our everyday mindset based on our eternal hope in Christ.
Respond: How does having an eternal perspective enable you to get through something painful? Does the hope of Heaven shape how you live here on Earth?
DAY 5: TROUBLE WILL COME
Read: John 16:33
On the surface, Jesus’ statement hardly seems comforting. The promise of trouble is not something most of us want to hear. But the story doesn’t end there! Jesus redeems our trouble by filling it with His presence.
Respond: Why do you think Jesus said this? How does this statement bring you peace?