February 18

Morning

I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me. — Job 10:2 BSB

Perhaps, dear struggling soul, the Lord is allowing these trials to bring out the graces within you. Some of your spiritual gifts would never be discovered without the trials you face. Have you noticed that your faith shines brightest in the dark, difficult times? Love often glows like a firefly, shining only in the darkness that surrounds it. Hope is like a star—it doesn’t appear in the bright light of prosperity but is only visible in the night of adversity. Often, afflictions are like the black velvet setting that makes the jewels of God’s children shine all the more brilliantly.

Not long ago, you prayed, “Lord, I fear my faith is weak—let me see that I have faith.” But was this not, in truth, a prayer for trials? For how can you know you have faith unless it is tested? Surely, God allows trials so that your graces may be revealed, so you may know they exist.

Moreover, trials don’t just reveal your graces—they help those graces grow. God often takes away our comforts and privileges to make us stronger Christians. He trains His soldiers not in the luxury of ease but by sending them on difficult marches and using them in hard service. He makes them ford rivers, climb mountains, and carry heavy burdens.

Dear Christian, might this explain the troubles you’re facing? Is the Lord bringing out your graces and causing them to grow? Is this why He is allowing you to go through difficulties?

“Trials make the promise sweet,
Trials give new life to prayer,
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.”

Evening

I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. — Luke 15:18 BSB

It’s clear that those who have been washed in Christ’s precious blood no longer need to confess their sins as criminals before God the Judge, for Christ has forever taken away their sins. They are no longer in a position to be condemned—they are fully accepted in the Beloved. But as children of God, when we offend as children, shouldn’t we still go to our heavenly Father daily to confess our sins and acknowledge our shortcomings? Nature itself teaches us that a child should confess to an earthly father when they have done wrong, and the grace of God teaches us that we owe the same to our heavenly Father. We sin daily, and we ought to seek daily forgiveness.

What happens if we don’t take our trespasses to Him? If we don’t seek forgiveness and cleansing through Jesus, we will feel distant from God. We’ll begin to doubt His love for us, fear Him, hesitate to pray, and grow like the prodigal son—still a child, yet far away from the Father.

But if, like a child, we go to Him in sorrow for having grieved such a gracious and loving Parent and don’t rest until we know we are forgiven, we will feel a renewed love for our Father and experience a peace that allows us to walk confidently in our Christian life. There’s a vast difference between confessing as a criminal and confessing as a child. The Father’s heart is the place for the penitent’s confession. We have been cleansed once for all, but our feet still need to be washed from the daily stains of this world as we walk as children of God.