June 16

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials — 1 Pet 1:6 BSB

Since everything in our natural self opposes the life of God, there is a necessary need for many trials and temptations to bring us out of those things that oppose God’s grace and to conform us to the image of His Son. Therefore, we need trial after trial, temptation after temptation, to rid us of worldly attitudes, carnality, carelessness, shallow and empty professions, outward forms of godliness, pride, and self-righteousness. We must be delivered from resting in superficial religion, from being content with just outward blessings and external manifestations of faith, from being at ease in Zion, mixing with all kinds of religious people without true understanding of the secret counsel of the Lord, which is given only to those who fear Him. All these marks of spiritual death are visible in the shallow professions of many today.

There is a necessary process to bring us out of this false, deceptive, hypocritical, and presumptuous form of religion, whether it is considered sound or not. The goal is to make us simple, sincere, honest, and upright—tender and teachable, with a true understanding of the broken and contrite spirit in which the Lord dwells. Since the Lord usually works this spirit of humility and love through trials and temptations, there is a need for each trial and temptation, no matter what form it takes or where it comes from.