From Trials to Triumph

Trials Are Worth the Pain They Cost

In the experience of the apostle John there is a lesson of wonderful strength and comfort. God causes the plottings of wicked men to work for good to those who maintain their faith and loyalty amid storms of persecution, bitter opposition, and unjust reproach. God brings His children near to Him that He may teach them to lean on Him. Thus He prepares them to fill positions of trust and to accomplish the great purpose for which their powers were given them. TT 301.1

In all ages God's witnesses have exposed themselves to reproach and persecution. Joseph was maligned and persecuted because he preserved his virtue and integrity. David was hunted like a beast of prey by his enemies. Daniel was cast into a den of lions. Job was so afflicted in body that he was abhorred by his relatives and friends. Jeremiah's testimony so enraged the king and princes that he was cast into a loathsome pit. Stephen was stoned. Paul was imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and finally put to death. And John was banished to Patmos. TT 301.2

These examples of human steadfastness bear witness to God's abiding presence and sustaining grace. They testify to the power of faith to withstand the powers of the world. In the darkest hour our Father is at the helm. TT 301.3

Jesus calls on His people to follow Him in the path of self-denial and reproach. He was opposed by evil men and evil angels in an unpitying confederacy. His unlikeness to the world provoked the bitterest hostility. So it will be with all who are imbued with the Spirit of Christ. The character of the persecution changes with the times, but the spirit that underlies it is the same that has slain the chosen of the Lord ever since the days of Abel. TT 301.4

Satan has tortured and put to death the people of God, but in dying they bore witness to the power of One mightier than Satan. Wicked men cannot touch the life that is hid with Christ in God. Prison walls cannot bind the spirit. TT 302.1

Believers in Christ, persecuted by the world, are educated and disciplined in the school of Christ. On earth they follow Christ through sore conflicts; they endure self-denial and bitter disappointments; but thus they learn the woe of sin, and they look on it with abhorrence. Being partakers of Christ's sufferings, they look beyond the gloom to the glory, saying, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18, RSV. TT 302.2