God is good in all circumstances.

Many good things come to you when you serve God and live by His Spirit: joy, health, purpose, forgiveness, and miracles, just to name a few. But the Spirit-led life is filled with peaks and valleys, and there are any powerful, Spirit-filled Christians who persevered despite having to endure terrible circumstances.

If you are going through a test or trial, I hope this will at least help you understand what is happening spiritually. When we’re facing hardship, it’s easy for our emotions to get the best of us. We can easily find ourselves discouraged, depressed, or even in despair. But it doesn’t have to be that way. When living in the power of the Holy Spirit, you’re not facing life alone. You’re not limited to what you can accomplish in your own strength. No matter what kind of trial you may be going through—whether it’s a financial, relational, health crisis, or even something else—you can tap into His strength to keep pressing forward until you see victory.

People want to know the will of God. They want to know their purpose, but often they are clueless: Where do I turn? Who can help? How can this change? They feel as the disciples must have felt in the upper room after Jesus’ death. They had no idea the power they were about to receive; they only knew they had none at that moment. King David is one of my favorite Bible characters. He wrote most of the psalms and tells us:

• “Be strong, and He will strengthen your heart, all you who wait for the Lord.”
• “Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be on us, just as we hope in You.”
• “My soul, wait silently for God, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my refuge; I will not be moved."

But David also wrote Psalm 69, where he cried out to God in great distress. And while David was a man after God’s own heart, he was also a violent man, and he’s most famous for taking another man’s wife and sending her loyal husband to certain death in battle. As a result, David lost an infant son, even though he travailed and begged God to spare the child’s life. There are a lot of bad things that happen to good people. But James 1:2 says, “Count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”

The purpose of the trial is to prove you. It tests your character to see whether it is good or not-so-good. The implication is that when you are surrounded by temptation, you either fall into it, or you don’t, and the encounter strengthens your character.

Daily question: One key to overcoming trials is to dwell, or rest, in the secret place, which is the presence of God, because this brings us to a place of vulnerability and submission. What does dwelling in the presence of God look like in your daily life?