Blessing After Trial

At church, a song came to mind titled, "God Will Make This Trial a Blessing." I wanted to sing the song, and I prayed if it would be a blessing, that I would be asked to sing. Not long after the prayer, the pastor gave me the privilege of singing this song! God confirmed that He wanted this song to be sung. The song reminds us that we are not the only people who have ever gone through trials and that God's Hand is guiding us in our time of trial. Your trial can turn into a blessing.

There are many examples of trials being turned into blessings in the Bible. Think of poor Job. He had many possessions of great wealth and a family to share it with. All in the same day, he lost everything he had, including his children. Later on, Job lost his health, and his wife even told him to curse God and die. Job was sitting on an ash heap scraping his boils. What misery and suffering Job endured! Yet, God did not leave Job on the ash heap. God has a way of taking ashes and making beauty. He restored Job's possessions even greater than he had before, and he also had the same number of children!

Think of Hannah. She bore the reproach of being barren. She longed to have children of her own. She was so desperate when she prayed to God for a child that Eli the priest thought she was drunk. God blessed Hannah with a son. Her son, Samuel, was a blessing as a prophet to the nation of Israel. God still answers the cries of women who want to be mothers today. I know of a couple of women personally who have overcome infertility by God's grace.

Look at the life of Joseph. His story started out great. He was the beloved son of his father. He got a special coat of many colors, and his brothers didn't. This made the brothers jealous. Then Joseph's perfect little world turned upside down. His brothers sold him to some merchants. The merchants sold Joseph as a slave to Potiphar in Egypt. Potiphar's wife lied about Joseph, and he was thrown into prison. Going from pampered to prisoner, Joseph must have questioned why all this happened to him. Finally, by interpreting Pharoah's dreams, Joseph was made Pharoah's right-hand man. All of Egypt was at Joseph's feet. When Joseph finally saw his traitorous brothers and revealed his identity to them, he told them that God had brought good out of the evil they had meant for him. God sent Joseph ahead to Egypt to preserve life in the time of famine.

Think of Ruth. Her father-in-law, her husband, and her brother-in-law were all dead. Her mother-in-law, Naomi, was returning to her homeland. Naomi told her daughters-in-law to stay in their own country. Ruth clung to Naomi and refused to leave her. The two widows returned to Naomi's hometown. Ruth eventually met Boaz as she was gleaning some grain. After a time, Ruth and Boaz were married and had a son named Obed, which was the father of Jesse, which was the father of David. David became the King of Israel, and the lineage of Jesus Christ came through this family. What a blessing came out of Ruth's trial! A blessing that is still changing lives this very day!

I am still waiting for God to turn some of my trials into blessings. Some have dragged on for years on end. One day, I will see Romans 8:28 come to pass in my own life. He will work everything out for my good and His glory. Until then, I can have peace knowing that God is with me during these difficult times.

My son loves to flip through the Bible during church. As he was doing so today, I caught a glimpse of this verse in Romans that I thought was very encouraging. So, I will leave you with the words of Romans 16:20, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”