Romans 5:3–5

³ We can rejoice, too, when we run into prob­lems and tri­als, for we know that they help us develop endurance. ⁴ And endurance devel­ops strength of char­ac­ter, and char­ac­ter strength­ens our con­fi­dent hope of sal­va­tion.⁵ And this hope will not lead to dis­ap­point­ment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Hope In The Midst Of Trials

If you’re read­ing today’s devo­tional and you’re fac­ing a dif­fi­cult sce­nario, you might find Paul’s words a lit­tle shal­low. It’s like the friend who says to you, “Well, hang in there, it’s going to get bet­ter!” In many ways, it’s cold com­fort. Your trail may be huge. The pain very real. The fear of what tomor­row holds quite sig­nif­i­cant. And then you read, “Hang in there, your trial builds char­ac­ter!” Not exactly what you need to hear, is it?

So, read it again.

Only this time, read it right. And let the words sink in. Because what Paul is say­ing is far more pow­er­ful than sim­ply, “Hang in there!” No, Paul wouldn’t dis­miss our tri­als that lightly. He wouldn’t just toss out the whole, “Hey, I’m pray­ing for you!” or “Well, sucks to be you, eh?” lines that we often here from people.

You see, Paul’s been there. He’s faced tri­als and prob­lems. In fact, few of us could relate to the types of issues that Paul has had to deal with. Some of you are famil­iar with what he endured: five times he was whipped, three times he was beaten with rods, once he was beaten with stones, three times he was ship­wrecked, once he spent twenty-four hours adrift at sea. And those are just some of the things he has faced! (see 2 Corinthi­ans 11:24–27)

One of his most reveal­ing com­ments, and one that helps explain today’s pas­sage a lit­tle bet­ter, is found in 2 Corinthi­ans 1:8–11. In that pas­sage, Paul admits he believed he would die as a result of the trial he was fac­ing. He, and his com­pan­ions, were “crushed and over­whelmed beyond our abil­ity to endure … in fact, we expected to die.” Per­haps some of you can relate to that level of despair. But Paul’s not done. He goes on to say these words, “As a result, we stopped rely­ing on our­selves and learned to rely only on God … we have placed our con­fi­dence in him, and he will con­tinue to res­cue us.”

And that’s where today’s pas­sage fits in. You see, Paul’s say­ing far more than sim­ply, “Hey, your trial will build char­ac­ter.” No, he’s encour­ag­ing those who face tri­als to not lose sight of the God who stands with you in the midst of your trial. If you choose — and the choice really is yours to make — you can allow the trial you face to take you on a jour­ney that will bring you to a place of con­fi­dent hope in God. That jour­ney goes through a sea­son of char­ac­ter devel­op­ment, to a place of cel­e­brat­ing sal­va­tion, past the poten­tial for dis­ap­point­ment until it brings you right into the arms of God.

Your tri­als can break you. Or, your tri­als can be the cat­a­lyst to take you deeper into the love and strength of God.

Paul allowed his tri­als to lead him on a jour­ney to God. And because he did, he was able to say some of the most inspi­ra­tional words you’ll find in Scrip­ture. You can read them in Philip­pi­ans 4:11–13. “… I have learned to be con­tent with what­ever I have. I know how to live on almost noth­ing or with every­thing. I have learned the secret of liv­ing in every sit­u­a­tion, whether it is with a full stom­ach or empty, with plenty or lit­tle. For I can do every­thing through Christ, who gives me strength.”

Only some­one who has face great tri­als can truly appre­ci­ate those words.

My prayer: Lord, I will not allow my tri­als to over­come me. Instead, I make the deci­sion to take a jour­ney. It begins in the place of pain and uncer­tainty that I am cur­rently expe­ri­enc­ing. But that is only the start­ing point. This jour­ney takes me from my trial to that place of com­plete com­fort that is found in your arms. My tri­als will not push me away from you, they will cause me to run to you. Into your arms. The strength I need will come from you. The hope I crave will be found in you. No mat­ter what today or tomor­row holds, I trust … you. Amen.

Until tomor­row.

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