What is God's ultimate purpose in our trials? It is that we will be more like Jesus…God brings everything into your life to make you more like Jesus. That is why you are experiencing the suffering you do. He wants to conform us to the image of his Son. He wants us to be dependent upon God and his grace. So when I face trials, I remind myself: this is for my good. This is so I will not be self-sufficient, because if everything goes well, I will trust in myself and I will forget about God. But God brings trials so that we will lean upon him…Luther said we grow as Christians through meditation on Scripture and prayer and trials. Meditation, prayer, and trials. And when the trials come in, well, then Scripture is so much sweeter. We wait for that word from God [while praying], Please speak to me in my pain. Comfort me. Challenge me. Encourage me. Our prayers become more fervent when we suffer, don't they? And we mature. We become more like Jesus and we see that our satisfaction is only in God, not in the comforts of this earthly life.¹

Thomas Schreiner