All of us go through trials and tribulations throughout our lives. While those trials are difficult, the Bible says in James 1:2-3 to consider it joy when you encounter various trials, “knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.” There are also a lot of examples of people going through trials in the Bible, and of those people growing in their faith because of it. Let’s look at those examples together.
What are some examples of trials in the Bible that benefitted the person?
There are many examples in the Bible of people going through adversity in their lives, and in those times they grow closer to God. The following five Bible stories are clear examples of God taking a hard situation and turning them for the good of God’s glory.
What are some examples of trials and tribulations in the Bible? The following blog post goes over multiple examples of overcoming hardship. Share on XLet’s look closer at these examples:
- Joseph
- Moses
- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
- Naomi and Ruth
1) Joseph
One of the biggest examples of a person going through a trial and becoming better for it is Joseph. Joseph’s brothers traded him in to become an enslaved person in Genesis 37, and he went through many difficult trials as a result of that. At the end of his life, Joseph says to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about [n]this present result, to keep many people alive.”
This is a wonderful example of what God does for us in our lives. Just as God was with Joseph throughout his many trials, God is with us. Through those hard times, Joseph learned to be gracious towards his brothers, he learned to show love and grace to them even though they did not deserve it, and he learned to trust God throughout his life.
2) Moses
Moses is another example of one of God’s people being put through many trials and gaining endurance from them. Moses is the man who leads the Hebrew people out of slavery. The book of Exodus is all about God’s people coming out of slavery and making their way to the Promised Land.
Throughout this book of the Bible, Moses and the Hebrew people encounter a lot of trials. Each of these trials served as a way for God to purify the Hebrew people and a way for them to grow in their faith.
3) Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
At the beginning of the book of Daniel, three Jewish men named Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stand up for what they believe by refusing to worship a false god. In response to that, king Nebuchadnezzar orders them to be thrown into the furnace to perish. But their faith and devotion to God were so strong that they survived unharmed.
These men had such strong faith amid this trial that God protected them when they should have died. Because of their faith, the king says this:
“Nebuchadnezzar responded and said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent His angel and rescued His servants who put their trust in Him, [w]violating the king’s command, and surrendered their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God. 29 Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or population of any language that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses made a rubbish heap because there is no other god who is able to save in this way.” – Daniel 3:28-29
4) Naomi and Ruth
Finally, we wanted to talk about Naomi and Ruth. In the Book of Ruth, these women were both widowed. Instead of leaving Naomi to go back to her people as Naomi instructed in Ruth 1, “But Ruth said, “Do not plead with me to leave you or to turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you sleep, I will sleep. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.”
As Ruth and Naomi go through more hard times together, God blesses them and takes care of them at every turn.
Many More Examples
There are many more examples of people who went through many trials and tribulations throughout the Bible. Each of the people in the Bible who went through something horrible ended up growing in their relationship with the Lord.
The truth is, God uses our trials to better us just as a blacksmith uses intense heat to shape a piece of metal into something beautiful.
ORBC is Here For You
At ORBC we believe what James 1:2-3 says, and there are many examples in the Bible where this is proven. God uses the trials to purify and better us so that we gain endurance and patience.
Contact us to learn more about the Bible and what it says!
