1. How We Complicate Even Simple Trials: How Not To

Complicating Our Trials

When we read that God promises us the strength to bear whatever comes our way, there are some important points to consider.  First of all, we need to make sure we have not complicated the TRIAL with our own meddling.  I can use myself as an example because I frequently meddle in God’s trials for me.  My husband’s traveling schedule was extensive for years.  He generally left by noon on Sundays and I generally fall apart by 1:00!  It was very hard on both of us because we’ve been best friends and soul mates since we were eighteen.   

When his division was on the verge of being sold, God stepped in and opened the door to a new job position. Within six months, we found ourselves faced with fifty percent travel and absences of two plus weeks at a time.  

The first year I had a terrible time. I could feel myself sinking into depression a few days prior to each departure. When he was home, my feet were solidly planted on a rock, and when he left, I’d slide off that rock and step into quicksand. God allowed me an experience shortly thereafter that was a learning tool.

texture of sand/trials

 My husband and I were walking along a beach in Florida. I wanted to explore a pool that had formed inland. My husband warned me not to step close to the edge of the pool because they were notoriously unstable, but headstrong as I am, I ignored him and walked to the edge anyway. The sand abruptly gave way, and I found myself sinking quickly. It was scarier than you might think. People have died on beaches when sand gives way like this. They literally drown in sand. My husband was there in a flash, and I felt a strong arm pull me out while delivering an “I told you so”. As if I needed to hear that. Every time he was preparing to leave again, I felt I was skirting the edge of a sinkhole once again, but this time he wasn’t there to pull me out.

It was during this time of upheaval that I felt God leading me to consider stopping my antidepressants. I never saw this as even a possibility, and even if I had, I wouldn’t have dreamed of it when I was feeling so vulnerable anyway. What was God thinking, asking me to do one of the hardest things I’ve ever done when I felt the weakest I’d ever felt?  But God had been preparing the way behind the backdrop of my insecurities. God is always working behind the scenes.  He writes the play, gets the cast of characters ready for us, and then asks us to take the lead role.    

Let me be very clear here. I didn’t abruptly quit taking medication. I did my homework. I prayed. I read volumes about depression from medical sources as well as from spiritual sources. I talked it over with my husband. I consulted my doctor. When all this came together, and God continued to lead me in the same direction, the pills and I started parting company. That was over twenty years ago.

But while I was trusting God to get me through it, I wasn’t sitting back and doing nothing.

Trials don’t mean we stay stagnant

Trust is not a “do-nothing’ activity.

Jesus trusted His father completely, and yet there is nothing in Scripture that even suggests he sat back and did nothing, even during his own trials during his 40 day Temptation.. God gave the instruction, but Jesus took the initiative. Even during his forty-day temptation, Jesus just didn’t sit and wait for God to rescue Him. He actively resisted Satan’s offers of wealth and fame by quoting Scripture. Trusting God to see us through depression and on to recovery demands some kind of initiative. While I trusted God to see me through my husband’s absences, I intentionally did the things I knew would help. I did what I knew were the right things for me to do and avoided the wrong ones. 

God’s word doesn’t promise that we can sit back and do nothing during our trials while God takes care of us. That there are times when we sit back and do nothing, and God still does take care of us, I happily admit. It’s just that those times are the exception. I’ve had those times myself when, because of fatigue or surgery, when I been laid low. God has ministered to me tenderly and lovingly while I sat and soaked up every minute of it. But even then, I deliberately chose to let God minister to me.

(More later.)

God bless and have a great day.

(PS. I wrote this many years ago, but it is relevant today.)