Trials In The Believer’s Life

Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape; Incline Your ear to me and save me.

Psalm 71:2

When in the hospital during my bout with cancer, I awakened in a morphine-induced grogginess with the thought to read Psalm 71. I recall noting the hour—3:00 a.m.—but could not remember who, prior to coming to the hospital, had encouraged me to meditate on that particular psalm. I reached for my Bible and began to read the words of the psalmist, who wrote concerning a dark night he had been through. The words of that psalm were a bright light in a dark night in my life—and can be for you as well.

Regardless of the name of the author of this psalm, we do know this about him: he was thoroughly familiar with the ways and words of God. It is a compilation of truths about God’s deliverance of His saints during times of trouble.

It is not the absence of suffering but the response to suffering that makes Christians unique. Believers are not exempt from trials in life, but we can be exempt from failure in those trials.