January 3, 2021 THE FRUIT OF TRIBULATION
Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we exult in our tribulation, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
No one in their right mind enjoys tribulation. However, we can gain certain benefits by going through tribulation and trials; knowing that going through tribulation produces good fruit does ease the pain. Once we understand and embrace the fact that tribulation produces good fruit in us, we can actually rejoice, or exult as Paul did, in our own tribulation. The definition of exult is: “feel or show triumphant elation or jubilation.” To exult in tribulation may sound like a stretch for us, but that can be the case when we focus more on what God is doing in us rather than focusing on the tribulation itself. This does not mean that we deny the pain of the tribulation that we may be enduring. God has compassion for us and comes to comfort us in our tribulations and difficulties. 2 Corinthians 1:3 tells us “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” A key part of this process is that we receive comfort from God in the midst of our troubles. When tribulation comes, we have a choice to make; we can either go it alone or try to endure it ourselves, or we can express the pain and the heartache we have to our heavenly Father and pour our heart out to Him and receive His comfort. I have found that listening to worship music for extended periods of time and pouring my heart out to Him and confessing to Him that I have no hope apart from Him does indeed help. I find comfort when I yield every aspect of my life, every part of my being and every circumstance to God-including my health, my finances, my relationships, my finances, my future, and the well-being of those I love. This yielding everything to Him is part of the process of turning our hearts to Him-and that is what He wants. Another thing we must yield to Him is our trust; we must trust that whatever He does is right and good. It may be difficult for us, but we must give up on what we want Him to do or how we want Him to answer our prayer. Jesus suffered and endured hardship in this life, and so will we, but God will comfort us in such times when our heart is turned to Him.
1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time, having cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares about you.”
Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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