You’ll Never Have One Without the Other

There’s a constant theme in all of our lives.

We are blessed, we have much to be thankful for…and yet we all have trials or struggles.

I’ve heard it said that we’re all either in a trial, have just come through a trial, or will be facing one very soon

Trials come in different sizes and shapes. I’d think of a smaller trial as something like walking out in the morning and seeing that a car tire is flat. It’s very inconvenient to take the time to go get the tire fixed when you have a full day planned.

A larger trial would be someone losing their job or a sick family member going to the hospital.

Trials might be physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual. They can be tied to our marriage, children, friendships, work, or finances. Perhaps it’s just an unexpected disappointment.

Regardless, we all think of a trial as something that causes pain or suffering.

This quote from Spurgeon that I read recently was a huge encouragement to me.

“Thou shalt never find a bundle of affliction which has not bound up in the midst of it sufficient grace.”

I like the word picture of “a bundle of affliction” because that’s what a trial often feels like. We’re just surrounded by it. We can’t get away because the difficulty fills our thoughts all the time. We can’t sleep because we’re worrying and fretting about how it’s all going to work out.

Yet in the middle of that distress, there’s sufficient grace.

Praise God for His grace. That freely given, unmerited favor of God.

“But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”” ~Ephesians 4:7

And it’s not just a token grace, but a sufficient grace.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” ~2 Corinthians 12:9

I see a fellow Christian encounter a hard thing, and I wonder, “How can they get through that?” Yet I know from my own experience that they’ll be given the exact grace they need moment by moment.

These trials that we go through are necessary for our spiritual growth. What weak Christians we would be if we were never forced to turn to God, to exercise our faith, to recognize Him as the only one who can work in a certain situation.

“But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” ~Job 23:10

Trials refine us by making us see what’s really important. All the extemporaneous stuff goes out the window and our focus becomes laser sharp.

They build our faith. Every trial we go through gives us the confidence to face the next one.

“Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:” ~1 Peter 1:6,

Today, right in the midst of whatever bundle of affliction you might be unwrapping, may you find for yourself the sufficient grace of God.

My Lord never said that He would give
Another’s grace without another’s thorn.
What matter, since for every day of mine
Sufficient grace comes for me with the morn.

And though the future brings some heavier cross,
I need not crowd the present with my fears:
I know the grace that is enough today
Will be sufficient still through all the years.

~Author Unknown

Related posts:

• You Can’t Measure Hard, and You Can’t Measure Grace
• No Grace for That
• What Kind of Grace Do You Need Today?