Strange

"Why should we complain as though some strange thing had happened to us?... The idea of strangeness in our trials must be banished at once and forever." This is from today's selection of Spurgeon's morning by morning. He's speaking here of the commonness of our trials. He refers to 2 Samuel 15:23 where King David passed over the brook Kidron into the wilderness - just like all the other people. David was the Lord's anointed, yet he still had to pass through the wilderness and through affliction.


Why is it that sometimes when we go through trials, we feel like that we're the only one going through it or that we're the only who it has ever happened to? What makes us any different? Nothing. Our trials are nothing new. God has taken people through them times and times before. He was and is faithful to rescue and deliver. "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it."(1 Corinthians 10:13) Our trials are common - nothing new; it may be new for us, but it isn't new for God. God will take us through. We have Christ as our example. He was tempted in all ways and yet did not sin. "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted."(Hebrews 2:17-18) God sent His Son to be like us (yet without sin), thus, He experienced all the pain and suffering that we may experience. We have Someone who's gone before us and God delivered Him. He'll do the same for us as well. So instead of complaining or worrying about feeling like we're the only one going through a particular trial, we need to look to Christ and see that the Father sustained Him in His trials, and He'll do the same for us.