“And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”  (Jeremiah 18:4)

Many times when trials and tribulations come into the life of a child of grace, after the dust settles and you realize where you are, and it seems that the circumstances are not soon to get better; your mind begins to set a goal of when it is over, I will do “so and so.” “I know I will be able to really serve God when all this is over.” “I have learned so much that I can use when this is all over.” You never realize that when the test or trial is over, it may be time for God to bring you to your eternal state. It is during the Process of the trial and its lessons and opportunities where God is doing His greatest work in you and through you.

When Moses had led the children of Israel to the Jordan River, the border of the Promise Land; God took Moses’ life, and Moses died. When Joshua had conquered the Land of Canaan and divided it to the children of Israel, he died. When Elijah had killed the prophets of Baal and of Jezebel; and gone on a forty day journey fast; and had anointed Elisha to be in his place as prophet, he was taken up to God in a whirlwind.

Therefore, it is not when the test or trial is over, it is in the midst of the storm, where God designed you to find the Master of the Wind and of the Waves of the Sea. It is here that you are changed, conformed to His Image, and used in His Kingdom’s Work. It is when you are walking by faith on dry ground as the walls of death are held at bay, that you are a great witness to God’s struggling sheep. It is when you have the boldness to announce in the face of the enemy, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” It is when you have the power to destroy 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Jezebel. It is in the midst of eminent death, as the boat is soon to be sunk by the raging waves of the stormy sea, that Peace speaks from the back of the boat and you see the winds cease and the raging waves come to a calm.

It is in the Process that you find out who you really are and who God is. It is here in the Process that you are Proven (Deuteronomy 8:1-6) and brought to Perfection (James 1:2-4). It is here that you are a light in a dark place. It is here that you can call your finest hour, as the war rages and you are at Peace with God and with yourself. It is here that you find the reason you were born and brought to rest in Christ as Savior, Lord, and Master.

When death overtakes us; our effectiveness is over in this life. (See Psalms 6:5; 30:9.) Therefore, the Process is God’s Plan and Purpose for His children in “this life.”

Child of Grace, don’t despise the Rod of God, for it yieldeth the Fruit of Righteousness in those that are exercised thereby (Hebrews 12:5-11). Don’t despise the trial of your faith, that you might be found “unto praise and honour and glory” (1 Peter 1:7c). Don’t despise tribulation, for “…tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed…” (Romans 5:3-5). Don’t despise trials for “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:3-4).