“I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands” Job 10:2-3
Perhaps, when the soul is suffering, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of God’s graces which would never be discovered if it were not for the trials faced by the soul. Many times one’s faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter.
Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star— not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God sets the jewels of His children’s graces, to make them shine the better.
It was but a little while ago that on one’s knees the soul was saying, “Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.” Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials? How can the soul know that it has faith until its faith is exercised?
Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces and depth of faith may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Military basic training is a trial that forges the body and mind to handle the job to come.
Might growth and strengthening not account for the this trial and struggle through which are traveling? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why he is contending with you?
“Trials make the promise sweet; Trials give new life to prayer; Trials bring me to his feet, Lay me low, and keep me there.”