NLCC Teaching Notes
HOW TO HANDLE TRIALS
HEBREWS 10-13
The following principles for handling trials are taken from the book of Hebrews chapters 10 through 13.
The book of Hebrews was written to Christians who were suffering and provides practical advice on
how to live in the midst of trial and hardship. God never wastes a hurt. We can survive and sometimes
even thrive in the midst of pain, if we will learn how to handle trials in God's way. Here are nine
principles to live by.
1. Draw near to God (Hebrews 10:19-22)
The tendency of many of us is to turn from God when we are hurting. There are many reasons for this, but it is a foolish
activity; somewhat like being seriously ill and avoiding hospitals. God is the source of all hope, strength, and
forgiveness, so why should we turn away from Him? Where else can we go? Do the opposite of what your flesh tells you
and draw close to your Creator Father.
Other Scriptures: James 5:13; Philippians 4:6,7.
2. Draw near to the Body
(Hebrews 10:24, 25)
God's grace is poured out through the Body of Christ. Outside
of the Church is only Satan's territory. Inside is encouragement,
strength, and guidance (when the Body is healthy and
functioning properly). Find some understanding, mature
Christian people and reach out. Don't overwhelm them with
your pain, but let them know you are hurting.
3. Consider the alternatives
(Hebrews10:26-31)
One of the most devastating things about suffering is that we
must continue to function in it. If we could just curl up in the
fetal position, until it is over. . ., but we can't. We continue daily
activities and make daily choices. Sometimes in an attempt to escape the pain we make bad choices. . . choices to run
from God, to anesthetize our pain with d rugs, to become involved in illegitimate relationships, choices to abandon the
Christian life for worldliness. It's at times like these that we need to sit back, get a little perspective, and evaluate the
consequences of the choices we are mulling over in our mind.
Keith Green has a song called "So You Wanna Go Back to Egypt." It says:
So you wanna go back to Egypt, where it's warm and secure.
Are you sorry you bought the one-way ticket when you thought you were sure?
You wanted to live in the Land of Promise, but now it's getting so hard.
Are you sorry you're out here in the desert 'stead of your own back yard?
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This song describes the pity party we all feel at times and the temptation to return to Egypt like the Israelites in the
desert. Resist the temptation to go back. Take a good look at the alternatives of a life lived in disobedience and
outside of God's grace and salvation.
4. Focus on the reward rather than the trial (Hebrews 10:32-39)
Christ is coming and if we live by faith, we will be richly rewarded. "In just a little while" we will receive what God has
promised. Jesus Himself "made it" through suffering by focusing not on the trial, but on the joy after the cross. Hebrews
12:2 says: "for the joy set before Him, he endured." That is how we can endure too. Think ahead and let God's reward
motivate you to persevere.
Other Scripture: Philippians 3:13,14.
5. Be faithful. That is all that is required of you. No more. No less.
(Hebrews 11)
Some mountains are meant for climbing, not casting into the sea. Casting mountains into the sea takes
faith (cf. Matthew 21:21). But so does climbing! Your calling is to be faithful to God no matter whether you
are called to casting or climbing.
What is faith? According to Hebrews 11:1, it is the calm conviction in what is "unseen." God looks for this
calm confidence. It is confidence in spite of the appearance of outward circumstances. Frantic manipulation and
activity is not faith. Enduring confidence in what God has promised is faith.
It is not your responsibility to worry about the outcome of the situation. Some of the believers
mentioned in Hebrews 11 saw the results of God's work (11:32-35a). Others saw only a partial fruit from
their trials (like Abraham who saw only one descendant and owned only a cemetery in Palestine). Others
never saw anything (11:35b-39). Our society would tend to view the first group as "successes", the
middle group as partially successful, and the latter group as "failures".
God has a very different view. He commends the latter group for their faith (11:39), just as He does the
first and second. Our calling is to be faithful only to what we know and has been revealed to us. That's freeing.
Let God handle the results. That's His department. Be at rest.
6. Develop the character quality of endurance (Hebrews 12:1)
The writer of Hebrews says: "Let us run with endurance the race marked out for us." That means:
Don't give out. Don't give in. Don't give up.
Jesus tells us in Luke 8:15 that it is those who endure that will be saved. So endurance is a very important quality to
have. In James 5:7-11 we are exhorted to develop the farmers perspective on life, who plants the seed and works it in
faith and perseverance.
Endurance is also a key word in James 1:3 and Romans 5:3 which are all Scriptures teaching us how to handle trials.
The bottom line is that we won't make it in this live without endurance.
When he was seven years old, his family was forced out of their home on a legal technicality, and he had
to work to help support them. At age nine, his mother died. At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. He
wanted to go to law school, but his education wasn't good enough. At 23, he went into debt to become a
partner in a small store. At 26, his business partner died, leaving him a huge debt that took years to
repay. At 28, after courting a girl for four years, he asked her to marry him. She said no. At 37, on his
third try, he was elected to Congress, but two years later, he failed to be reelected. At 41, his
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four-year-old son died. At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. At 47, he failed as the vice-presidential
candidate. At 49, he ran for the Senate again, and lost. At 51, he was elected President of the United
States. His name was Abraham Lincoln, a man many consider the greatest leader the country ever had.
Some people get all the breaks.
Abraham Lincoln was great because he was a man with the character quality of endurance.
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7. Consider Jesus (Hebrews 12:2, 3)
Jesus is our example of how to handle suffering and trials. But how
can the Son of God identify with ordinary human beings? Hebrews
4:12-16 tells us that there is nothing that you are experiencing, no
trial too unique that Jesus cannot identify and empathize with you
in your suffering. In His human life Jesus knew rejection, loss of
loved ones, pain, fear, and all our weaknesses, temptations, and
emotions. The reason Jesus can empathize is that He Himself
experienced every single trial that you or I have faced or ever will
face.
Our God is not distance, but extremely personal, empathetic, and
understanding. Consider Jesus as your example and fellow sufferer.
8. Remember that one of the main purposes of trial is training (Hebrews 12:4-11)
I have often heard people say, "If I only knew why I was going through this, it wouldn't be so bad." Pain without
knowing the purpose is frustrating. On the other hand, we are more willing to experience pain and suffering if we know
the reason for it -- for example, child birth or exercise.
Well the Bible gives us a purpose for our suffering. It may not be the specific purpose we would like to have, but it is a
good general purpose. Suffering trains us. As we suffer and make right choices we are trained for righteousness. In
other words, whatever other purposes there might be for our trial, we know that one of its purposes is for sanctification
(making us more like our Father).
For more about this see the New Life teaching entitled "PURPOSES OF SUFFERING".
9. Remember He is always present with us in our trials
(Hebrews 13:5, 6)
We are not alone in our suffering. And we are definitely not abandoned by
God. The writer of Hebrews tells us that God is very close and present. He
has placed His own Spirit with in us to prove His promise to never leave or
forsake us. Other Scriptures assure us of this fact too. "Ye though I walk
through the valley of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me" (Psalm
23:4). And the Apostle Peter wrote: "Cast all your anxiety on God, because
He cares for you....And the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal
glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you
and make you strong, firm, and steadfast" (1 Peter 5:7,10).
Conclusion: "While my husband Frank and I were living in Pakistan
many years ago,
our six-month-old baby died. An old Punjabi who heard of our grief came
to comfort us.
'A tragedy like this is similar to being plunged into boiling water,' he
explained.
'If you are an egg, your affliction will make you hard-boiled and
unresponsive. If you are a potato, you will emerge soft and pliable, resilient and adaptable,'
he said.
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It may sound funny to God, but there have been many times when I have
prayed, 'O Lord, let me be a potato.' "
-Billie Wilcox,
Guidepost Magazine
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