Unanticipated trials and challenges are generally not welcomed. We may hope that we will somehow be saved and protected from these kinds of things and yet often this is not the case, and the road in front of us may suddenly become difficult, discouraging, beyond our understanding, and perhaps also beyond our usual coping mechanisms. Yet we try to keep walking in trust along with our faithful God. It would be easy to harbour negative thoughts, to complain, go into avoidance mode, or even begin to doubt our trust and confidence in the God who loves us. But on this kind of journey, we need to know and to depend on the God who will be there with us. We need to know that in that time of hard testing, He will keep us safe. Can we trust that He will give us the resources and strength for whatever we need on any testing journey?
Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and He will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm; at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.
1 Corinthians 10 v 13 GNT
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus modelled a prayer marked by a relationship and a trust in His Father. We may pray for protection against the ills, trials, tests and challenges of life in our own lives and that of our families, but there is no guarantee of this for us. What He does promise to us is to keep us safe and to walk with us though the experience and the trial.
Do not bring us to hard testing but keep us safe from the Evil One. Matthew 6 v 13 GNT
I have learned from experience that it can be helpful to prepare for the unexpected, the twists and turns in life, the shocks and the shadows. This is not to be gloomy or fearful of the tests and trials that may come, but not to be shocked by them. Anticipation and preparation are two significant things that we can build on. So, how may we prepare ourselves for the bumps in the road? For they will surely come at some point. They are the kinds of tests that’ normally come.’ We need to safeguard and grow that close relationship with the Father, trust His faithfulness, and grace and curb that desire to rely on our own strength and ability.
I have just watched Sunday’s Songs of Praise, and the closing hymn was the beautiful hymn written by George Matheson. The hymn assures us that Love will not let us go, that he will seek us through the pain and trials, and that there will be a rainbow after rain.
O Love, that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Joy, that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
PRAY
I am safe in the deep waters, the shallows, the turbulent, crashing waves, because you are holding me. Help me to trust you.
Jane Coates
20th September 2024