God desires that we put our trust in Him through direct experience, beginning with a process of maturation and culminating in sharing His sufferings for the sake of His work. But many people limit themselves. They are unwilling to pay the high price of following God, so they never undergo the process. Yet it is through life experiences and the maturing process that we are trained to trust God. After that comes an even harder stage: sharing in Christ’s sufferings, bearing burdens with Him in ministry.
Why did God not bring Israel straight to a fertile land? Why did He lead them to face the Amalekites and force them to breach the walls of Jericho? As a result, the Israelites who did not understand began to distrust God and said, “Are there no graves in Egypt?” They even accused God of intending to destroy them in the wilderness.
The life of Israel as a community cannot be our sole standard for spiritual life. We can learn from their history, but our standard is the lives of the exceptional—Abraham, Joseph, David, Daniel, and ultimately Jesus. Israel’s standard was oriented toward material blessing and communal outcomes, without an exclusive personal relationship between God and the individual. If they obeyed, they were blessed; if not, punished. But for believers called to an exclusive relationship with God, obedience does not always bring comfort. Even when obedient, they may still suffer persecution.
Early Christians lived obediently and faithfully, and they gave themselves to defend Christ. What did they gain? Wealth? No. Honor? No. They experienced persecution, even death. Today, we may not face the same physical persecution, but the struggle remains, only in different forms.
We have only one life. So why not build the closest, most exclusive relationship possible with God? Then we will undergo the process by which “God works all things together for good for those who love Him.” We decide our life choices; we decide whether our love for God is just constant or grows fervent. In that fervent love, God shapes our character and brings us to share in Christ’s sufferings.
God knows that if everything were made easy, humans would not develop a quality trust in Him. So, he leads us into a world that feels strange and uncomfortable. Believe this: God is worthy of trust. But if we are unwilling to live holy lives and to renounce love of the world completely, we still doubt Him. We have not yet trusted as Jesus meant when He asked, “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” Do we have the widow’s bold integrity? In today’s world, whose standards have drifted far from God’s holiness, do we still maintain integrity, faithfulness, and obedience?
God promises He will quickly vindicate. But two questions remain. First, will He find Christians who truly dare to live in holiness and abandon love of the world? Second, will He find Christians who are willing to give their lives without limit for God’s work—even when God seems not to defend them? Like the early Christians, whose portion was suffering and persecution, yet who remained faithful to the end. This experience is not for all Christians, but for those who love God constantly and whose love grows ever more fervent.