It is hard to imagine what life will throw at you from one day to the next. Some moments are almost hilarious, while other days are anything but funny. Either way, the point is that we usually were not planning for any of it to happen. Life comes at us with circumstances we did not schedule and problems we did not anticipate. So how do we, as Christians, apply biblical truth no matter what situation we are walking through? There is room in that question for both the larger, life-altering trials we face and the smaller ones that show up in the ordinary course of a day.
For clarity, small issues are also trials. In my role as a biblical counselor, people will sometimes almost shamefully tell me about their “little problems,” as if they do not deserve much attention because someone else has it worse. But in reality, the problem is a big deal to them. It is pressing on them, exposing desires, revealing fears, and drawing responses out of their heart. That is a trial. By God’s grace, most of our trials do not include physical persecution, but the challenges of leading families, parenting children, sending emails, maintaining relationships, keeping the household afloat, and simply getting through a demanding week can contain any number of trials. That is why it is important to frame these things correctly, because if we misunderstand the nature of the battle, we will likely bring the wrong tools to fight it.
I remember loving the game of paintball in my youth. It was a blast running around with my Tippman 98 Custom paintball gun, which had been customized pretty thoroughly, pursuing my enemies or being pursued by them. I remember one game, however, when we were invited to play somewhere different with a new group of people. They showed up with slingshots. They played paintball with slingshots and thought nothing of it. We had CO2-powered paintball markers, and they stood little to no chance. They came to the battle with the wrong tool, and they lost (several times).
Christians can do the same thing in daily life. Do we recognize that when we do not want to clean the entryway, when we do not want to shut off the television, when we lash out at an ever-growing task list, or when we become angry over one more email that needs to be sent, there is often something spiritual happening beneath the surface? The television is not the devil, and the entryway is not somehow evil. The email itself is not the enemy. But what comes out of our mouths and what takes place in our thoughts can certainly reveal sin. The anger, selfishness, fear, entitlement, bitterness, and frustration that surface when life does not go according to our plans are not spiritually neutral.
Spiritual warfare for the Christian is not anchored merely around whether or not you read your Bible and prayed today. It is happening through the ordinary decisions we make and the responses we give throughout the day. It permeates all of life. That is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” He says something similar in Colossians 3:17, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Whether we are eating, drinking, parenting, working, cleaning, speaking, resting, or sending an email, we are called to do it for the glory of God. Our responses to the little things matter because even the little things are lived before God.
Consider the disciples in Luke 8:22-25. Many of them were fishermen. They knew something about nets, boats, weather, and the rhythms of fishing. They knew the water they were traveling on and had likely spent a great deal of time in boats. Yet when the storm came, they were afraid. Luke writes:
“One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they set out, and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. And they went and woke him, saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?’”
The storm came while they were doing something that, at least for some of them, was familiar. They were in a boat, crossing the water. I recognize that a life-threatening storm is not quite the same thing as cleaning a closet or sending emails during a busy week, but the principle is important. The trial arose in the middle of ordinary life, and what was exposed was spiritual. Jesus did not merely ask them whether they had handled the boat correctly. He asked them, “Where is your faith?” The storm revealed something about their hearts.
That is what trials do. James 1:2-4 says,
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
Trials come in various kinds. They come in different sizes and shapes, with very different things on the line, but they test faith. The point is not that we should go looking for trials in order to conquer them. Trials have no difficulty finding us. Rather, the question is what those trials will reveal and what God will produce through them.
Trials reveal our hearts, no matter their size. It might be a list of emails that need to be sent. It might be children getting into the cabinets and destroying something. It might be a spouse struggling with lust. It might be a person trying to figure out how to pay the IRS what is owed. The circumstances differ greatly, but the actions that flow from our mouths, hands, and feet come from the heart. Jesus says in Mark 7:20-23:
“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Our thoughts, words, and deeds come from within. What our heart treasures will eventually come out in the way we live, and trials tend to intensify that process. Pressure has a way of revealing what is already there. If we worship our children, that idolatry may remain subtle when things are going well, but when something threatens them or threatens the future we have imagined for them, our hearts become easier to see. We may even begin changing our theology to make room for what we desperately want to happen. Our hearts have been set on our children rather than on God.
The same thing happens with comfort. If our hearts are set on comfort, we will naturally build our lives around maintaining it. Then, when our comfort is threatened, we may become angry, controlling, withdrawn, harsh, anxious, or demanding. We begin defending what we worship. The things we pursue in life and the reasons behind what we do consistently flow from the heart. When circumstances put pressure on us, what is in the heart is often released into the open.
As a biblical counselor, these passages come up constantly because they help explain what is happening beneath the surface of everyday life. Trials reveal hearts, just as the storm revealed the hearts of the disciples in the boat. Normal people doing normal things reveal what they worship. Sometimes it is easiest to hear in the things they say, but what a person treasures can also be seen in what they do. By God’s grace, most of us do not regularly go through violent trials. I do wonder, though, whether many Christians are preparing themselves mentally for some great future test of faith while failing in the daily trials already before them. The words spoken to your spouse, the frustration with your children, the response to a coworker, and the decision you make at work may seem small, but those moments matter because they reveal what is happening in the heart.
Fortunately, the account of the disciples in the storm does not end with Jesus exposing their weak faith and leaving them there. He continued to disciple them. He continued to teach them, correct them, reveal Himself to them, and grow their faith. God used what the storm revealed in order to shepherd them forward. That same grace is available to us. First John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When a trial reveals anger, fear, pride, selfishness, unbelief, or misplaced worship, the answer is not to excuse it or hide it. The answer is to confess it, run to Christ, receive his forgiveness, and then learn from what the trial exposed.
The storm revealed a weakness in the disciples’ faith. That weakness was not good, but Jesus did not waste the moment. These were men who would later proclaim Christ boldly in the face of tremendous opposition, and God was preparing them. He was growing their faith through the circumstances He placed before them. Nearly two thousand years later, He is still doing the same kind of work in His people.
God desires to make us more like Christ in a world constantly buffeted by storms. He intends for His people to trust His plan in the trials that are taking place around them, and He intends for us to continue moving forward in faith. The spiritual battle has already been decisively won in Christ Jesus. We are not fighting in order to earn victory, but we are called to live faithfully because Christ is victorious.
So when the next trial comes, whether it is enormous or seemingly insignificant, it is worth asking what God is revealing. What is coming out of my heart? Where is my faith? What am I treasuring? Where do I need to repent, believe, and grow? The practical use of scripture is not limited to life’s great crises. God’s Word is meant to shape how we respond to the storm, the marriage conflict, the crying child, the overflowing inbox, and the dirty entryway.
Let us be a church that walks in faith, trusts Christ in both large and small trials, and is willing to grow in the areas of weakness that God graciously reveals.