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admin · Site Admin Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 5404

Trial or Tribulation?

How does one discern between a 'Trial' and a 'Tribulation'?

Regardless of our religious beliefs, we have all at some point in our lives, been told that some challenges we're passing through, regardless of the duration, is either a Trial or a Tribulation, and most times our sympathisers (real or fake) advice us to take heart that the season would soon be over.

Their desire is to encourage us and give us hope, but sometimes without knowing the distinction, and especially when the challenges seem endless, one cannot but wonder whether they are actually God's Trials or devil's Tribulations?

One can pray for discernment but sometimes that does not suffice in providing the much needed answers or most importantly the solutions desired. So beyond praying for discernment, how can one know the difference, since such knowledge is the information needed for one to know whether one is truly fighting a winnable battle against the devil and his forces of darkness; or whether one is simply wasting one's time as God will only end His own test at His own appointed time?

Cxsm
15th July '05

© Cxsm 2005 All Rights Reserved

P.S. Feedback is welcome as this may help others pondering similar questions. If you choose to forward this and you receive feedback, please forward such feedback also. Thanks.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 5404

Chill@......com wrote:

This is a good question, and I do have some thoughts on it. First of all, that sometimes God's Trial and the devil's Tribulation are the same thing. Take Job for example- God allowed the devil to do such things. But it wasn't purely a tribulation. It was also a trial. God said that Job had a good character, and He had such confidence in Job that He was willing that Job be put to the test. I think we should respond to Tribulation as though it were a test- with prayer and faithfulness and worship and love and joy and peace and patience.

Another example was that of Esther. She didn't actually have to undergo the extermination of the Jewish people from Persia- but there was a threat of it. It must have been very distressing. I think it was both a tribulation and a trial. Also, for Mordecai, who fasted and prayed, and called others to do the same. The devil sought to persecute them, and for a time, God allowed the devil to think he was going to get away with it. But in the end, God's people were faithful and trusted Him. Mordecai firmly believed in God's sovereignty and believed that God placed Esther in a position
of authority for the purpose of saving them. God put an end to the plans of the devil. I don't know if He would have if they had responded in fear and distrust. If they had become angry and said, "Well, God, if you aren't going to protect us, then I don't want to follow you! I'll do my own thing" I don't know if God would have used His power in their favor.

I think oftentimes, it is all about our response. Whether it is trial or tribulation, are we going to choose to follow Him? Will we choose to grow? Will we choose to trust Him and glorify Him no matter what?

I wouldn't say that it is always both, however. In the case of Hannah, for example, I don't think that the devil was causing her to be barren. God put her through the trial of infertility for a purpose. Maybe part of it was to test her, to bring her to her knees before Him. But ultimately, her desperation caused her to make a promise- to give the child wholly to the Lord. God wanted a prophet; He had a plan for Hannah's son. He would be very special, and God desired Hannah's wholehearted support of that plan.

Honestly, the only time I think it is ever tribulation and not trial, is for people who are not walking with God. If you are in Christ, you are in the protection of God's wing. He allows things to happen. He could stop them. But He doesn't. Just because we are Christians doesn't mean we live a charmed life- we get to experience the pain of the real world. But it is seeing how God works in these situations- how He reveals more of Himself to us and helps us to grow that causes our testimony to be different than that of the unsaved soul.

Whenever we go through tribulation, we go through trial also. (And with God, we come out the better for it.) But if we are walking in sin, we can step out from under God's protection, and tribulations can come our way. If we don't turn back to God, it will bear pain without fruit. For people who don't have Jesus, this is always the case. Pain is pointless and hopeless. It is frustrating and infuriating. There's no good thing about it. It's just a lot of suffering. They try to say, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger." But it's just not true.

The fact is, suffering without God to turn it to good fills a sinful heart with pain and brokenness. The way I see it, there are two ways to respond, if you don't have Jesus: One way is to become a tenderhearted, delicate fragile wreak of a person. The other way is to put up walls and turn down emotions, to become a hardhearted, invulnerable fortress of a person. (Pharaoh is a good Biblical example of hard-heartedness.)

The fragile wreak is the one likely to find strength in Christ. The hardhearted person is in a bad place. Tribulation leads nowhere. You can be hard, but most likely, you will also become brittle. Also, when you become hardhearted, you also greatly increase the likelihood that you will add more pain to the world. Love requires a certain amount of vulnerability and resilience; it requires passion and emotion. But

I'm getting off track. Here's what I think: For a Christian, trial and tribulation often go hand in hand. And sometimes, it's just trial. For a non-Christian, it's pretty much always tribulation without any of the benefits or rewards of Godly trials.

Ca....

admin · Site Admin Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 5404

Dear Ca...,

Thankful for your well thought out response. I definitely would share it with others, and hopefully, will get back other responses to share with you. Another reason, the question is important is so that people going through either can not only discern whether what they are presently experiencing is a Trial or Tribulation, so they may also know what kind of prayer points to apply.

If it's a trial that one needs to be requesting mercy and praising God for, but one is instead binding satan's demons, etc., obviously ones prayer would be totally ineffective. Likewise if the scenario is vice versa, and one is spending his/her time praying for mercy and praising God when one should be in a spiritual war mode of defeating the spirit behind the tribulations, then one would only end up feeling defeated wonder why God is not answering ones prayers; unbeknown to the person that his/her prayers were inappropriate and thus ineffective in having any impact or making any tangible changes in ones situation.

Any man unaware of his situation cannot effectively change it. Such was the scenario involving Job, wherein all those privy to his situation (his wife and friends) reacted differently and advised him based on their understanding of it and their level of faith. He likewise acted based on his level of faith and understanding.

Personally, I believe that the lack of understanding of most of our situations and our inability to discern is the reason most people feel frustrated, seek help from people we assume are better at discerning spiritual situations, (sometimes only to be misjudged, misled and/or further confused), thus prolonging our 'Trial or Tribulation' period.

Further feedback is welcome. Thanks.

Cxsm
24th May '07

admin · Site Admin Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 5404