Why does God sometimes allow His people to walk through trials instead of removing them immediately?
As a rule, whenever any ‘why’ questions are asked, I always throw out this counter: WHY NOT? I find that it is good to flip the script to get into the heart of the matter. So…
Why should God NOT allow His people to walk through trials and hardships?
By the way, did you notice that I didn’t add the word ‘sometimes’? You follow the Bible narrative closely and you will discover that our Father in Heaven not only allowed but He had, most times, actively led His loved ones to walk through ‘the valley of death’ before reaching green pastures.
- Abraham had to leave a life of comfort and live his whole life as a nomad to enact a promise that will bless the nations.
- Joseph had to endure slavery and imprisonment for years to save his family.
- Moses had 40 years of humility to learn before He became God’s instrument to free the Israelites from Egypt.
Story after story in the Old Testament showed God guiding people towards hardships. Finally, though, He placed Himself in the same situation as us, for us. For the ultimate salvation of mankind, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant… a slave, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:7,8) Keep in mind, God did not have to do this, but He did.
Some may claim about the perceived cruelty of a loving God purposely putting people in difficult situations. But then no one will make a fuss over a parent training their child to push harder to win a race or push their child to study harder to get the desired grade. Everybody knows in principle that when one goes the easy way, little is achieved, but when facing trials regardless of the outcome, valuable lessons are learned and character becomes stronger.
Listen to what Paul and James wrote:
Romans 5:3-5
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
James 1:2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Johann Quisumbing 