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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 2, 1915

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 92, No. 43.

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EDITORIALS

By F. M. W.

Trials and Their Uses

ONE has said that he who has never known trial has never really come to know God. We believe that this is true. Trials have their uses in the development of Christian character. As by sunshine and shadow, storm and quiet, vegetable growth is developed, strengthened, and solidified, so it is in the spiritual world. The stalwart oak becomes strong and mighty through resistance of the blast. Its anchor roots strike the more deeply into the earth. Its cell structure becomes strong and stable. Trial makes the Christian strong, teaches him his own weakness, and drives him to the source of all strength for succor and help. It eliminates from his character the dross of sin, and develops in its stead the graces of the Spirit.
The apostle Paul declares, “We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience.” And the apostle Peter, in speaking of the temptations which come to the believers, says: “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”
In his beautiful discourse to the disciples, just preceding his betrayal, the Lord likens Christian believers to the branches of the vine. Just the same as the husbandman finds it necessary to prune the branches, sometimes cutting them back and relieving them of superfluous growth in order that they may bear fruit, so the heavenly Husbandman finds it necessary to prune and purge the branches of the spiritual vine. He declares, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
Upon this scripture the servant of the Lord, in the Review and Herald for Nov. 2, 1897, makes the following helpful comment:—
Even fruitful branches may display too much foliage, and appear what they really are not. The followers of Christ may be doing some work for the Master, and yet be doing not half what they might do. He then prunes them, because worldliness, self-indulgence, and pride are cropping out in their lives. The husbandmen clip off the surplus tendrils of the vines, thus making them more fruitful. The overgrowth must be cut away, to give room for the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness.
Have we suffered disappointment in life, loss of property, bereavement through death? Have we wondered why it was that God permitted these things to come into our life? Have we thought him cold and unsympathetic to our pleading prayers for deliverance? Have we been asked to drink the bitter cup to its very dregs, and has its bitterness driven the sweetness out of our lives and the peace out of our hearts and left us broken and bitter in spirit? Oh, if we could but realize that these trials are the pruning knives, and see that, although the pruning process seems so painful at the time, submission on our part will bring blessed results, and that we shall glorify God through eternity for what the ministry of suffering wrought for us. We quote again from the pen of Sister White:—
The heavenly Husbandman, in order to promote the fruitfulness of the branches, comes with the pruning knife of disappointment, loss, or bereavement, and cuts away the hindering growth. . . .
Our sorrows do not spring out of the ground. In every affliction God has a purpose to work out for our good. Every blow that destroys an idol, every providence that weakens our hold upon earth and fastens our affections more firmly upon God, is a blessing. The pruning may be painful for a time, but afterwards it “yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness.” We should receive with gratitude whatever will quicken the conscience, elevate the thoughts, and ennoble the life. The fruitless branches are cut off and cast into the fire. Let us be thankful that through painful pruning, we may retain a connection with the living Vine; for if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him. The very trial that taxes our faith the most severely and makes it seem as though God had forsaken us, is to lead us more closely to him, that we may lay all our burdens at the feet of Christ, and experience the peace which he will give us in exchange.—Review and Herald, April 10, 1894.
The purpose of trial is expressed by a striking figure in the writings of the prophet Malachi. He likens the pruning process to a furnace. Of the work which God will do for his children he declares:
“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” The old-time refiner of gold and silver sat over the furnace watching the work of the fire upon the molten metal. When the dross was so purged away that he could behold in the liquid before him a perfect reflection of his own image, he knew that the work was complete. By this figure God represents the purifying process which he seeks to carry on in our lives. When he can look into our characters and see there a reflection of his own divine image, “then,” as stated by the prophet, “shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord.” God knows that his grace has not been received in vain. Let us not rebel against the One who in infinite wisdom is seeking to do for us this pruning, purging, and purifying work.
This is the primary use of trial, but it has a secondary use in Christian experience. It is by the trial, and by the comfort which we obtain in trial; that we are enabled to become the ministers of God’s grace to those who are in need. For this fitting and service the apostle Paul blessed God in these words: “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” 2 Cor. 1: 3, 4. How difficult it is to minister comfort to others which we ourselves have never shared; to enter into the feelings perchance of one who has lost a dear friend or a near relative, when we have never known the touch of such sorrow in our own lives. It is by personal suffering that we are brought into touch with the suffering of our fellows. Through such experiences we come to realize that our sorrow is not the only sorrow, but that there is a brotherhood of sorrow and suffering among our fellows.
Many seek selfish relief from the trials which God permits. They seek to run from them, to avoid them, to turn them upon others. This is not in God’s order.He has promised us a way of escape from trial and temptation. He says: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” 1 Cor. 10: 13.
When we look at life as God’s great training school, the wear and grind and the stress and storm of life’s experiences as the process by which we are fitted to become partakers of the heavenly reward, the bitter drafts of life will become sweetened; we shall learn to rejoice in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience. We shall learn how to rejoice in the Lord alway in possession of that peace which passeth all understanding. Seeing the wisdom of God’s way, remembering constantly his infinite love for his children, we shall rejoice in the ministry of trial and suffering which the divine purpose imposes upon us.
F. M. W.