the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Voice of the Lord
How blessed is the man who perseveres through temptation. ...he will receive as his crown the Life which God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).
During the year since Rita's husband had left her, she had developed a serious medical condition that required extensive treatment. Then Rita suddenly lost her job when her manager was ordered to cut his work force in half. "Why is all this happening to me?" she asked. "Why is God allowing all this trouble in my life?"
When we experience trials, we often ask, like Rita, "Why is this happening to me?" David writes, however, "Adonai tests the righteous" (Psalm 11:5). Rabbi Eleazer comments on this verse, "When a man possesses two cows, one strong and the other feeble, upon which does he put the yoke? Surely upon the strong one! Similarly, God tests none but the righteous, as it says, 'The Lord trieth the righteous'" (Genesis Rabbah 55:2).
To ask God, "Why is this happening to me?" is the wrong question. It is better to ask God how he will bring us through the trial and what he is teaching us; how God will use it to perfect our faith and prepare us to receive as our crown the Life promised by God. Like Rita, we cannot always avoid trials, but we can choose to respond with the right question: not "Why?" but "How?"; how is God going to use this trial to bring blessing into my life?
...thank God for the trials in my life and look for the blessing that he wants to bring about through them.
RR
The Voice of the Lord, Copyright © 1998 by the Lewis and Harriet Lederer Foundation, Inc. Published by Messianic Jewish Publishers, Distributed by Messianic Jewish Resources, www.messianicjewish.net. All rights reserved. Used by permission. No part of this article may be reproduced in print or on the web, or transmitted in any form, without the written permission of the publisher.
