How do You Face Tests in Your Life?

In a small town in America there lived a post office clerk who faithfully fulfilled his duties for many years. He was considered to be the model of a hardworking, faultless official. That is why everyone placed their trust in him, and he was treated with honor and respect by all. But one day, something happened that brought upheaval and that completely changed the public’s minds about the post office clerk.

A letter that contained a considerable amount of money had gone missing. It was verified that the mail sack with the letter in it had been handed over to the clerk. Now the letter had disappeared! Could it be possible that this respected man had embezzled the money? This question was the topic of conversation on the streets for the next few days. – The post office clerk was tried in court, questioned, and sentenced to twenty years in jail.

Seventeen long years had passed. No one thought anymore about the man and about the letter that had disappeared. Everything had been forgotten until the rumor began circulating that the letter that had gone missing back then had been found!

While repairing some old mail sacks, the yellowed letter had been found hidden in the lining. The innocence of the post office clerk was proven. He was immediately released and received a large financial compensation. His former friends were truly sorry about his fate, and everyone now respected and honored him much more than before.

This incident was once told to two young Christian women. One of them said: “Oh, I would go mad if something like that happened to me and I had to suffer so innocently!” The other young lady objected: “Certainly it is very, very difficult to bear such shame. But I believe it would be easier to bear it if I were innocent, for my conscience would be pure and silent. But a guilty person has both to bear: shame and the accusations of a conscience that knows its guilt. I would try to forget about the shame and be joyful that my conscience is pure and spotless before God and man.”

Paul and Silas suffered shame and disgrace when they sat in the prison in Philippi. They were bound and beaten. But despite this, they could sing and thank God from their hearts.

In all the many centuries that have passed since that time, God has not lost any of His power and might. He still wants to give what He has promised in His Word to all who trust Him and believe His Word.

Not many of us are tested as much as those who we’ve read about here. The tests we have to endure are those that everyday life brings us and that want to rob us of our peace. If we do not pay attention, they can become so difficult that we believe we can no longer endure them. If we do not remain close to God and grab hold of the weapon of His Word, we will not be able to “count it all joy when you fall into various trials,” as the apostle tells us to in James 1:2. If we allow ourselves to be led by God’s hand in the storms of life, every battle will become a victory.

But if we stand still in the test and do not focus on God, we will lose our joy and our sure hope in the Lord. The thought of God’s guidance and leading, His vigilance, care, and love brings us a joy that minimizes tests and even completely eliminates them.

Here is the secret that God reveals to those who know Him and who follow His voice. This little secret helps us and strengthens us so that we are able to consider everything as joyful, even tests themselves.

How do you face the tests in your life: with a heart of displeasure and resentment that infect your surroundings, or with a joy in your heart that can thank God even in the most difficult days? 

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3).

K.N.