Three Causes Of Trials
Any ill-timed or misdirected effort made in such circumstances will bring about a miscarriage of God's dealings. When people come crying to us in the midst of an ordeal, let us pray for great wisdom to discern whether this is:
1) dealings of God,
2) self-induced trouble they have brought on themselves, or
3) attacks of Satan not within God's will.
Response To Trials
1) If It Is God's Dealings: Submit. If it is God's dealings, help them to "Submit [themselves] to God" (Jas 4:7) and draw on His grace to go through the trial victoriously.
2) If It Is Self-Induced; Learn. If it is S.I.T. (Self-Induced Trouble), try to help them learn from the problems they've brought on themselves.
3) If It Is An Attack Of Satan: Fight. If it is satanic attack beyond God's will, then go to battle for them and resist the devil. "He will flee from you" (Jas 4:7).
Trouble Tests Our Faith
In God's Word "Every word of God is purified... " (Prov 30:5 lit). "The words of the Lord are pure [purified] words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" (Ps 12:6). Compare these verses with Psalm 105:19, "Until the time that his [Joseph's] word came, the word of the Lord tried him. " Joseph spent somewhere between ten and twelve years in an Egyptian prison for refusing Potiphar's wife the adulterous relationship she sought. She falsely accused him of trying to rape her. For this, Joseph spent many years suffering for righteousness' sake. God had promised to make him a ruler. What do you think ten or twelve years in prison would do to a leader who had a promise like that? I know what it would do to me. It would frustrate and distress me beyond belief. Yet, God allowed Joseph's situation. Why? So the word of the Lord to him could be "tested like silver, tried in a furnace... purified seven times " (Ps 12:6). Every great man of God endured a fiery trial as a result of hearing instructions from God. The process of trying to implement what God said became very costly for them.
Noah was told to build an ark. It resulted in the people scoffing and mocking him. Only his family and some of the animals were saved.