Proven Faith

It’s easy to believe in God when life is going well. When our finances are in control. When you’re living in your dream home. When you’re driving a nice car. When everything’s good, it’s easy to genuinely believe that God is good, that He loves us, that we are freely given His grace, His mercy, and His love.

Its really hard to believe those things when you’re facing hardship. When you’re handed a painful season. When you’re walking through darkness that you didn’t sign up for.

There is a purpose to this testing of your faith.

“Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we’ve been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for; including a fortune in heaven- and the future starts now. God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The day is coming when you’ll have it all- life healed and whole. I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire come out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine.” (1 Peter 15-7 MSG)

Other translations say “In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

Notice the phrases “genuine faith” and “proved genuine.”

This earthly life is not immune to hardship. It’s not immune to walking through dark seasons. It’s not immune to grief and loss.

But it is through those hard seasons where your faith becomes tested. Where you are given an opportunity to practice what it is you preach. To prove what you post on social media is really who you are. To prove what words you sing during worship are actually what you believe and not just a song that sounds pretty.

It is an opportunity to declare that He is the same God in the valleys as He is on the mountaintop.

We don’t get to choose our circumstances. I know many of us would choose differently if were given the choice. You don’t get to choose the family you’re born into. You don’t get to choose how your parents raised you. You don’t get to choose if your parents stayed together or if they got divorced. You don’t get to choose a lot of the cards that life deals you. But as you mature and grow into an adult, you get to choose how you respond to those circumstances.

Maybe your parents didn’t teach you how to communicate your feelings. But enter into a marriage and it’s now your responsibility to learn.

Maybe your parents didn’t teach you about finances and the importance of having good credit. But if you ever want to own a home, it’s your responsibility to learn.

Maybe your parents didn’t teach you how to lean on God during the hard times. But suffer through grief, it’s now your responsibility to learn.

The same way you mature into an adult and have to take responsibility over your own life, as you enter into a season of spiritual maturity, you have to take responsibility over your faith.

Because it will be tested. Time and time again. And many of the circumstances we don’t get to choose. But you have the choice, to use the excuse of “well I just wasn’t raised that way,” or “I wasn’t taught how to fight through hard seasons,” or to choose to believe that God is still faithful, even in the hard.

You get the choice to believe that He loves you, even when you face trials.

You get the choice to believe that He is merciful, even in the darkness.

You get the choice to believe that He is there to provide you comfort, even when it hurts like hell.

You grow from walking through pain. You either conquer it or you let it destroy you. But you do have a choice in how you navigate it. The darkest season is where you have the opportunity to meet the strongest version of yourself.

The season in the valley is what leads you to the season on the mountaintop.