I shared this article with a friend who was asking me how not to fear trials that come our way, but to face them with courage and faith. None of us knows what 2026 will bring, but no doubt it will have its difficult moments as well as its wonderful ones. May we wisely prepare our hearts and minds to trust God through trials when those difficult times come.
Intended for Good
“In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Faith is like a forward memory, allowing us to believe as if what is promised has already happened. One day we will see how Romans 8:28 was true all along, even in those moments we most doubted it. Joseph, after suffering through years of persecution, enslavement and wrongful incarceration, saw it. In Genesis 50:20—the Romans 8:28 of the Old Testament—Joseph said, “You intended it for evil but God intended it for good.” (Notice Joseph didn’t merely say, “God made the best of bad circumstances.”)
In this two-minute video, I share an analogy that can perhaps help us better understand this verse:
Worth the Price
Here’s a question: How long will it take living with God on the New Earth before you say, “At last, all that suffering has been worth it”? Five seconds? Five minutes? Five years? Maybe you’re a pessimist and you think, “It would take 500 years before it would be worth it!” Even after 500 years, you’ll have an eternity of unending, God-centered happiness in front of you, paid for by the shed blood of Jesus. Can you anticipate anything better?
Have you ever thought, I would never do to my child what God has done to me! He must not care”? Picture Jesus stretching his nail-scarred hands toward you, and asking, “Do these look like the hands of a God who does not care?” God’s Son, by taking upon himself our sins, suffered far more than any other person in history.
If God decided all the suffering of history is worth the price paid, who are we to say otherwise? He knows everything and took upon himself the lion’s share of human suffering. Hasn’t he earned the right to be trusted?
Take some time to list the worst things that have ever happened to you, then list the best things. You’ll be astonished by how many of those best things came out of the worst things. Trust God to do the same with things that don’t yet make sense. In the hands of a God of sovereign grace, our sufferings will give birth to future happiness beyond our wildest dreams. Jesus said our sorrows will turn into joy—not just be followed by joy, but transformed into joy! (John 16:20). For God’s children, our pain will ultimately be transfigured into both glory and joy.
The Playing Field of Suffering
Benjamin B. Warfield, world-renowned theologian, taught at Princeton Seminary for 34 years until his death in 1921. Students still read his books today. But most of them don’t know that in 1876, at age 25, he married Annie Kinkead. They traveled to Germany for their honeymoon. In an intense thunderstorm, lightning struck Annie and permanently paralyzed her (Some biographers are uncertain of this but believe nonetheless she was traumatized by the storm, with permanent physical results.). After Warfield cared for her for 39 years, she died in 1915. Because of her extreme needs, Warfield seldom left his home for more than two hours at a time during all those years of marriage.