Like Mount Zion That Cannot be Moved: Standing Firm in the Face of Trials

“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.” (Psalm 125:1 ESV)

I usually find my heart moved while scrolling through social media pages and seeing peoples’ announcements of promotions, weddings, birthdays, convocations, etc. One can easily come under pressure – the pressure to perform – while reading regular posts of this nature. It is easy to forget that social media is where most people showcase the best of their lives and quietly conceal the not-so-attractive parts.

On some rare occasions, however, some individuals are bold enough to share very touching, heart-wrenching stories that simply are a stark reminder of the realities of life. Scrolling through LinkedIn in the last couple of months, I took note of some posts of people who themselves or whose relatives “beat cancer”, had a successful surgery, eye operation, kidney/heart transplant, etc.

One notable story that left me transfixed as I scrolled through the posts was about a young lady who was suddenly diagnosed with a dangerous form of cancer (if I remember correctly) in a country where she was a foreigner and who had to be operated on in the absence of her family. Of course, as is expected, the LinkedIn community congratulated her for her bravery. In her picture, she lay on the operation table in scrubs at the end of her operation.

She looked happy with a beaming countenance and dazzling eyes. She was a beautiful lady (but I didn’t lose focus while looking at her post, believe me). I can’t imagine the turmoil her family members must have gone through to probably hear that their daughter/sister, who they had sent joyfully to pursue higher education in a more developed country, had to suspend her education for a couple of weeks to undergo a potentially dangerous surgical procedure in order to beat a rare form of cancer.

If she was from my country of origin, they would have said, “her village people have come for her”, meaning some jealous relatives of hers had used juju (black magic) to negatively affect her health with the hope that she’d not study successfully (or worse still, that she’d die) and the joy of her family would be turned into sorrow. Reading through her post and visualising her experiences brought back to my memory some of the trials I’ve also had to endure.

As believers in Christ, we have faith in God’s promises that “He that keeps Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers” (Psalm 121:4), and that “No evil will befall you…” (Psalm 91:10), etc. Nevertheless, we very quickly forget some other verses of the Scripture that say, “Though you walk through the fire…” (Isaiah 43:2), and “In this world you will have tribulation” John 16:33.

God’s promises and His faithfulness do not exclude the trials of life. No matter how righteous, holy, fervent, and prayerful a believer is, the vicissitudes of life often come to test our resolve. God also does not necessarily preserve us from all circumstances that come to test our faith because it is only through the testing of our faith that we can develop character and become matured and entire, wanting nothing (Romans 5:3-4, James 1:2-4).

Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was not excused from going through the necessary sufferings that produced spiritual maturity in Him (Hebrews 5:8). So, as much as I hate to say it so directly, it all boils down to this in reality: every one of us will go through trials of faith. It’s not a question of if but a question of when.

Untested faith is unreliable. God may permit circumstances that will shake you (or your marriage/business/ministry) to your foundations, severe temptations that will expose every loophole in your character, and seasons that will bring you to your knees and break you thoroughly until you become completely malleable in God’s hands.

If you agree that these experiences will be permitted by our Father (who loves us and who will stop at nothing until we are fully mature to step into His glorious purpose for our lives), it becomes necessary to equip your spiritual arsenal with the tools that will take you through those seasons in life so that you don’t faint in your day of battle.

This is not to make you scared, dear reader. No good student is ever scared of exams. God’s faithfulness is sufficient to carry you through every storm, if you have learned to trust in Him. I outline below four parameters of trusting God that can sustain us during these inevitable seasons:

1. Trust His Sovereignty

One of the attributes of God is that He is sovereign. This means He has supreme power and control over all things, people, and the parameters of our lives. Ephesians 1:11 says that God “works all things according to the counsel of His will.”

Take note of “all things” in that verse. Not one aspect of your life (your past, your weaknesses, your personality, your family, lost opportunities, internal conflicts, regrets, etc.) is outside the reach of God’s sovereign hand.

As a matter of fact, God is such a skilled Sculptor that He can artfully piece together the broken pieces of your circumstances to produce a marvellous masterpiece that will make the whole world wonder and make it seem like God planned even the negative experiences. In reality, God does not plan negative experiences for His children (James 1:13).

Nevertheless, there is no negative experience that cannot be meticulously factored into God’s program for your life to produce a glorious outcome that will baffle your generation. The attribute of God that makes Him able to do this is called Sovereignty. When you know you serve a God like this, your attitude will be different in the face of trials.

2. Trust His wisdom

In addition to Sovereignty, it is also necessary to remember that God alone is wise (1 Timothy 1:17). We must learn to trust His wisdom. Wisdom, in this case, means the method or strategy God decides to use to bring His promises to pass in our lives.

God often discloses His plans and purposes without specifying the method/strategy/pathway He will choose to fulfil them. He does this either because He wants to build trust in us or because His wisdom is too profound for our human minds to comprehend (Isaiah 55:8-9).

God gave the 17-year-old Joseph a picture of His glorious plan for him. What Joseph could never have dreamed of was the pathway God would take him through by His wisdom to bring him to the fulfilment of his dream.

It is still unfathomable how the pathway to the Palace would come first of all wind through the Pit (where he lost his garment of many colours), Potiphar’s house and wife (where he was blackmailed and wrongly scandalised for a crime he did not commit), and the Prison (where he experienced more breaking that helped him touch base with the realities of human suffering).

When you understand that God executes His plans through His wisdom (which often appears to us as foolishness), you can be assured that many of the negative circumstances He may permit in our lives are only the very means of bringing us into the blessings for which we have prayed.

3. Trust His unfailing Love

The Bible makes us understand that God is Love (1 John 4:8). His character and temperament is Love. He does everything from the standpoint of Love. Every single experience He allows us to pass through has gone through the sieve of His Love. His Love doesn’t fade with time like the Love of a man. His Love is unfailing. Even though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, He has promised that His unfailing Love will not depart from us (Isaiah 54:10).

Love makes Him sometimes give us what we need rather than what we want. To a sick child, his parent’s attempt to force a bitter pill into his mouth is wickedness. It looks like a sign of a lack of Love. In his little mind, the child wonders why his mom or dad is “adding” to his discomfort by forcing a bitter pill down his throat. If only he knew that that bitter pill contains some chemicals designed to fight the elements in his body causing sickness, his response would be different. The parent also usually may not attempt to explain because the child is too young to understand.

Dear reader, I want you to know that if God allows you to swallow a bitter pill, it is not because He doesn’t love you; it is rather because He has seen that that pill contains some chemicals that will be useful to your spiritual health in the long run. Note that this is irrespective of the hand He chooses to use to administer that pill. It may be that He wants to use that experience to create compassion in you so that you will be qualified to host the kind of anointing He wants to release upon you for your generation.

This is not a call to fold your hands as a believer and relapse into passivity while you watch Satan ravage you and the things you love in the name of going through trials. Many of the difficult circumstances we go through in life are actually direct assault from Satan, the enemy of our souls. We are adjourned to stand firm and resist the devil (James 4:7). Walk in the light of God’s word and pray without ceasing. Discover, believe, and declare His promises over your life and your family. So long as you walk in the light and remain under the shadow of the Almighty, you don’t have to be afraid of the devil.

Nevertheless, there will inevitably be seasons of life when your faith will be put to the test. It is in preparation for such seasons that the instructions above have been written. As I conclude, I’m reminded of an anonymous poem I came across some years ago that I find really instructive even today:

My life is but a weaving Between my God and me;
I cannot choose the colors He worketh steadily.
Sometimes He weaveth sorrow And I in foolish pride Forget
He sees the upper, And I the underside.

Not till the loom is silent, And the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas And explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful In the Weaver’s skilful hand,
As the threads of gold and silver In the pattern, He has planned.

Remember, The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver’s skilful hand as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.