A purpose for the trial or affliction may be to teach us to live by God's statutes. It is easy for us to declare how we would live in certain situations, but to be in them and then live by God's statutes is a different matter. Because of our sinful nature, each statute of God goes contrary to our natural instinctive response. Therefore, we need God to move us into the direction that he would want us to go. This teaching processes is much like when a herdsman goads his animals so as to move them in the direction that he desires. We too must be goaded by God so as to live like him. The trial of affliction with the Holy Spirit's leading is the goading that we need. Without the trial, we would miss opportunities to learn of God and to live by his precepts.
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. (Psalms 119:71)
Trials are never pleasant, but God wants us to learn of him. Life may be difficult with the trial, but a life of disobedience or away from God is always empty, troubling and sorrowful. We need to begin viewing trials as opportunities for knowing God better and to be drawing closer to him.
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