The Field Trip of Trials

Psalm 119:65-72

When we were still in school, most of us probably preferred the hands-on learning of field trips to classroom lectures. A lot of adults, however, no doubt wish they could absorb life lessons from a book instead of from their own painful mistakes. But the truth is, there are some things we learn best through experience.

Some trials are the result of sin and can play a big corrective role in our lives. God might use them to draw our attention to unhealthy habits, attitudes, or activities we have tolerated or overlooked. No matter how trivial we may think a sin is, it should have no place in a believer’s life.

Or it could be that God is showing us something we need to release to Him—perhaps a relationship, goal, or ambition. And sometimes He calls us to exercise self-control so that we can pursue Him to a greater degree.

If we never had any troubles, we would continue in what’s comfortable, easy, and enjoyable but might end up missing God’s best for our life. That’s why the psalmist said, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, so that I may learn Your statutes” (119:71). Any hardship that drives us to God and His Word is good for us. That’s because what we gain in knowing the Lord is worth so much more than all the wealth and fame the world can offer us.

Bible in One Year: Deuteronomy 21-22