It is inevitable for a person to go through life without encountering several trials. When a person dedicates his or her life to God, there is a mistaken assumption that life will get easier, but Christian author Lisa Bevere says that it is quite the opposite.
To prove her case, Bevere quotes the Bible verses Isaiah 43:1 to 2: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you."
"It is important to note Isaiah's choice of terms in these verses. This dynamic of passing through water and fire is not referred to as an if possibility but is clearly tagged as a when occurrence," she writes in an article for Charisma News.
The verses mean that Christians are promised trials in life, she said, and they are even urged to be joyful about them. However, this is not the natural response of people.
When she herself faced trials, she felt that her faith had been forced out into the open, and she did not like what she saw.
Sometimes people are desperate to pull out of trials "prematurely," but Bevere advised against it.
"We all go through tests, so why not allow them to have a full effect? I have learned that if I pull out of something too early, it usually means a re-test in the future," she says. "When you are working a muscle group, the growth happens when you push yourself to the point of muscle failure. Likewise when you give all you can give, then somehow pull from a God source outside yourself, you grow to give just a bit more. In other words, being consistent during a trial helps our faith reach full maturity. That's well worth the discomfort of going through difficulty!"
In order to achieve this, Bevere says people need heavenly wisdom, and the only one who can provide this is God. "He is generous rather than stingy with His counsel. I believe He strategically positions us so that we have to ask for His help," says Bevere.
She encourages people to wake up everyday seeking God's counsel, because God loves it when people involve Him in their day-to-day lives.
"Do you need God's help to stay steady through a trial? Ask for His wisdom. He won't withhold it from you. In fact, He will flood your life with His grace so you can be 'mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way,'" she assures.
