If you know anything at all about Sherlock Holmes then you know that he is a man of logic and reasoning. From his point of view everything that happens has an explanation for it so therefore he does not have any fear. I personally love the character of Sherlock Holmes and I really enjoyed BBC’s show simply called, Sherlock. Now without giving away any spoilers(because I want you to see it for yourself) Sherlock went through a traumatic experience as a kid which resulted in him losing his best friend. It was a really bad experience that no one would want to go through. Well in the series finale of this show Sherlock was able to save his new best friend John Watson because of this traumatic experience he had as a child. In other words his trial, in the long run, wound up being a source of great help instead of just a hindrance.
We all have a looming fear of the trials and storms of this life. We dread knowing that there is nothing that we can do to completely avoid them, but that doesn’t stop us from at least trying. We spend so much time focused on our fear of the trial that that is all we have time for. I think it is high time that we started to think differently about our trials. Rather than focusing on how scared we are of them how about we start focusing on God instead?
Going off of what I just said we spend a lot of time fearing the trials of life but have you honestly ever seen that help you get through the trial? I didn’t think so. The more we think about the trial the more vile it becomes. It will eventually get to the point to where you are consumed by the fear of the trial before the trial even enters your life. So the obvious solution to to put our focus on something else, or rather someone else.
1) Overpowered by the trial.
Did you notice that in the text that Israel is doing all they could to just simply survive? All of their sources of food are being attacked and destroyed. They can’t even live in their own homes anymore. They are searching for anywhere to go and hide from this massive enemy(trial) that stands before them. Keep in mind that they lived like this for seven years. They had seven years of fighting for any food they could and living with this impending sense of doom. Needless to say they were overpowered. They were overpowered for a number of reasons but they were overpowered mentally by their fear of the enemy(trial). They were so focused on how scared they were, let’s be honest we would be the same way, that they just let the enemy(trial) overpower them. Which is exactly what we do when faced with a trial of any kind.
2) Overturned by the trial.
Trials often have one of two effects on us as believers in Christ. They either pull of closer to God or push us away from God. I fully believe that their purpose in our lives is to push us closer to God but sometimes our own selfishness gets in the way so we push God away. What happened with Israel in this story was that after seven years of living in this trial they finally got pushed to turn back to God. They reached their breaking point if you will. They were overturned from their old ways and put back in the right direction heading towards God. How long you stay in your trial remaining fearful is up to you. If you let yourself be turned over to God before anything else then you might not have to spend seven years in your trial.
3) Overwhelmed by what the trial reveals.
Trials tend to have one more effect on us. They tend to reveal something inside of us that we didn’t even know was there. They show us our true colors, what we really look like, and most of the time it is not a pretty sight. After Israel turned back to God they got reminded of just how they turned their backs on God. God reminded them of all He had done for them and yet they still walked away from Him. I am sure that while the prophet was telling them this they were hanging their heads in shame. Trials can reveal our hidden secrets and bring them into the light for all to see, which is scary but also needed. God uses these difficult moments in our lives to set us back on track for Him so while it might hurt there is no need to fear.
Conclusion: How will you respond to what your trial reveals in you?
So when your trial shows up and you are overpowered, overturned, and overwhelmed, what are you going to do? Will you turn to God and run full force into His open arms and let the healing begin or will you turn away from got and let the rotting of your heart continue? This is a decision that I cannot make for you but I do have a suggestion on what you should do and what I want you to do.
Application: Don’t live in fear of an overpowering trial!
Stop living in fear of your trial and let the trial turn you closer than you have ever been to God. Don’t fear the trial, fear God instead. In other words when you get slammed by difficult circumstances, be it big or small, seek God first before taking matters into your own hands. If you do this who knows, maybe your seven years will be shortened.
