TTT

As mentioned at the end of my last article, we take part in the sufferings of Jesus Christ as well. In general, the sufferings are classified into three types. I call them TTT and the term stands for Tests, Trials and Temptations. I would like to deal with different types of troubles and problems we face in our life both physical and spiritual but the stress is on spiritual side of it. First, we should understand the basic difference of the three so that whenever we are in a situation we can assess the situation and found what we are in exactly. If we understand the type, we can better respond to the situation.

Test is the first type where God tests a particular person to certify him, to approve him. The best example I could take from the entire scripture is God's calling of Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac on altar. So difficult, isn't it? It is a biggest test of the faith in Abraham. "And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of." Gen 22:1,2. The phrase says "that God did tempt Abraham" but I believe the right way of telling that would be "God did test Abraham" because God is never a tempter as we see later. This is the greatest shadow of the God, the Father is going to give His only begotten son, Jesus Christ on cross as burnt offering. As I wrote already, here God needed the approval of Abraham to give His son Isaac as a sacrifice so that He can give Jesus as sacrifice on cross. But you may ask, why that is required? Simply because of the fact Jesus Christ is going to be Abrham's son as well in future and only if Abraham who represents God the Father of GodHead (as he the Father of Israelites) willing to sacrifice His son Isaac who represents Jesus Christ, the son of the GodHead, then only in future, the Father can give Jesus on cross. When Isaac was thought of as human son of Abraham, the ram (Jesus Christ) which was caught in thorns by its horns is the substitute of Isaac (who represents all the believers) and it was eventually sacrificed in place of Isaac. What a figurative representation? 

Abraham succeeded in this greatest test of faith by strongly holding on his faith on Lord. This is beautifully explained in Hebrews as "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure." Gen 11:17-19. No more explanation required. These kinds of tests would come and essentially they test our faith and if we stand strong, we will receive greater blessing. When Abraham offered the ram in place of Isaac, the angel of the Lord called from heaven for the second time and assured His promise and blessed Abraham greatly. Because, Abraham just fulfilled God's divine plan of salvation in shadow. Praise God, to Him be the glory now and forever. "And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which  is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies". Gen 22:15-17. Peter says about this type of test as, "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perish, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see  him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of  your souls." I Pet 1:6-9. 

The second 'T' stands for trials. We can also call this as tribulations. I would like to classify this as the distresses from having a small difficulties like suffering from a minor disease to deep sorrows and distresses like losing our loved ones and losing our life itself for the glory of Lord's name. That's why this is also called tribulation. The best example I can quote from Bible is none other than Job. None of us could ever imagine a Job like situation happening to us. Here the devil, one who accuses the brethren all the time (Rev 12:10), put a blame on Job in the presence of God and we all know what happened later. God gave everything that Job had in hands of satan. Job lost all His possessions, all His sons/daughters all of a sudden in one day. Not only that, the devil made Job to suffer with sore boils. His pain was too great that even his wife encouraged him to curse the Lord and commit suicide. Even his friends who came to console him, couldn't recognize him and cried for seven days and seven nights. Job chapters 1 and 2. Unimaginable situation. More difficult than losing our lives for the Lord. If we are killed, the pain is for a matter of few minutes and then we will be with the Lord for ever. But, living like that for few months is horrible, cannot be expressed. The rest of the book of Job is a lamentation book with the friends trying to accuse him and Job trying to justify himself and we all knew that. This stands for tribulation.

But, when God put a challenge on a person, He will give him enough strength such that the person overcomes the tribulation. That's what happened in Job's situation as well. Finally, Job as he himself said, came out like gold purified in the furnace. The Word of God states that "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly". Job 1:22 and finally God testifies Job that he spoke upright. "in that ye have not spoken of me  the thing which is right, like my servant Job." Job 42:8. God blessed Job twice than his earlier state. None of us need to go through such a trial. Because, Job's situation is completely different than ours because during Job's time there is no mediator between God and man during that time and the Holy Spirit, who is the comforter and counselor was not indwelling in humans that time. Even Job states the need for a mediator "O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour" Job 16:21. This mediator who pleads for us is Jesus Christ. Regarding this types of trials, which we call as tribulations, Paul writes in his epistle to Corinthians that "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." I Corinthians 10:13. Here, I believe we can replace the word trial for temptation. It makes more sense. 

We can say this also means as chastisement where a Father chastises His son so that he can learn some good thing. Hebrews chapter 12 quotes the verses from Proverbs to explain this. "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" Hebrews 12:5-7 and the fifth verse is taken from Proverbs 3:11,12. When God brings you through such situations, He will either make you more pure and righteous or he will teach you how to respond to certain situations. Anyway, it will be beneficial to you on a long run. Remember, our Lord is good all the times. "but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness" Hebrews 12:10.

Let's see the third type which is Temptation. This is the dangerous one of all the three. Though the other 2 gives us suffering and difficulties, this is the one that impacts our eternal glory. Temptation comes from the word tempt and this refers to the situations that lead us to sin, thereby making us sliding down from our spiritual standards, make our conscience guilty thereby separating us from our Lord. More important point to note here this doesn't come from God but from devil. You may ask me Job's sufferings too didn't come from God but came from devil. True, but there is a catch. Devil has to take permission from the Lord to touch Job and his possessions there by making Lord indirectly responsible. That's why it was written in the last chapter of Job, it was written "and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him" Job 42:11. So, it was Lord who permitted devil so this was attributed to Lord indirectly. But, it turned out in a greatest testimony to Job and his righteousness and it meant to give way for the book of Job that shows how much a man suffered but yet lived sincere for the Lord and it was set as an example. On the other hand, the temptation is the direct weapon of the devil and he absolutely doesn't need to take permission from the Lord before tempting a person. Remember, the devil didn't take permission from God to tempt Eve on garden of Eden. It is permitted for him. But, devil was only given permission to tempt us but he cannot force us into committing sin. This is one of the biggest subjects for study and I am postponing that to the next chapter where we see the temptation cycle from the book of James, Eve's temptation and the three tempting attempts on Jesus.

Hope this article is useful for your spiritual life. Taste and see that the Lord is good. All glory, honor and praise to God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May He be exalted now and forever, Amen.