ICS Daily Devotions
Test, Trial or Tribulation?
Luke 5:18-20 (NKJV) Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralysed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
As believers, none of us can avoid the three T’s in life, namely test, trial and tribulation, because we live in a broken world, and we need to deal with the flesh as well as the attitudes and responses of unbelievers who are dominated by the sin nature and the god of this age.
Although God is good, there is a devil who wants to kill, steal and destroy our lives. Not only do we need to know how to deal with him, but more importantly, when we are faced with adversities in life, we need to differentiate between the work of the devil and what God has allowed to come our way to mould our character. God has asked us to put on the full armour of God to fight the against the fiery darts of the devil, which includes the shield of faith and the sword of the Holy Spirit.
In this passage, the paralytic was helpless and hopeless in his situation until he heard that Jesus was in town. Although not many people are physically paralysed, suffering and hardship is just another form of paralysis, because some tribulations can cause us to feel completely helpless just like the paralytic in the passage. However, this man knew whom he should approach for help, and he sought his friends for help to bring him to Jesus. Many of us fail to come looking for Jesus and even accuse God as the source of the tribulation. We have forgotten that it is possible for us to have good cheer and take courage because we have direct connection with the Father and the ability to pray in Jesus’ name. God has sent Jesus to redeem us and removed the separation from His love. We are more than conquerors!
Remember that God is not the source of our tribulation and persecution, because the devil is allowed to sift our faith, just like he sifted Peter’s faith on the night of Jesus’ arrest. However, God will test us, and if He is testing us through a trial, we need to be wise to allow Him to mould our character by adjusting our attitudes, values and principles. As such, we need to identify whether it is a trial, tribulation or test that comes our way, but whichever it is, there is a place for our friends to journey with us. The prerequisite to fighting a good fight of faith is the knowledge and deep conviction that God is always good.
Sermon Series: Friends (Part 2) – Facing Test, Trials and Tribulation with Our Friends
