What can we learn from tragedy?

My heart goes out to all those who experienced tragedy this last week. Most of the world knows about the shooting at Virginia Tech and the tragedy that occurred there, some of you may have heard about the two miners killed in Barton, which is 10 miles or so from Frostburg. On Monday of last week we also had a three year-old little girl killed when a boulder the size of two softballs crashed through the windshield of her father's truck and struck her while she sat in her car seat.

I was reading over an old sermon that I preached about seven years ago on the book of James and came across this list of eight reasons scripture gives us as to why Christians go through trials

1. To test the strength of our faith—trials can show a Christian strengths or weaknesses in their faith that they need to work on. If someone goes through a trial and does not come out strong, but comes away bitter, resentful, and with self-pity, we can see that their faith in Christ is not strong to begin with. Throughout scripture we can see the testing of faith that strengthened people like Job, Habakkuk and even Moses.
2. To humble us—to remind us not to allow our strength in the Lord turn into presumption and self-satisfaction. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:7 that, “because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!”
3. To wean us from dependence on worldly things—the more we accumulate things, knowledge, education or prestige, the more we are apt at allowing those things to become our strength, instead of our strength coming from God alone. At the feeding of the 5000 Jesus turned to Philip and asked, “where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?’ This He was saying to test him; for He Himself knew what He was intending to do” (John 6:5–6). Philip with his reply failed the test, “Two hundred denari worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little” (v. 7). Philip looked at the material worldly side of the situation instead of looking to Christ to provide for the need. We often do that and need to take our focus off what we have to get through a situation and look to what Christ has to help us get through a situation.
4. To call us to eternal and heavenly hope—Paul tells the church at Rome, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Rom. 8:18). Trials come so that we don’t look at earthly things, but look to our heavenly future.
5. To reveal what we really love—We see this in Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son on the altar. It proved his true love for God.
6. To teach us the value of God’s blessings—Our intellectual reason tells us to value the things of this world, and our senses tell us to value pleasure and ease. But through trials, faith tells us to value the spiritual things of God with which He has blessed us abundantly—including His Word, His care, His provision, His strength, and, of course, His salvation. David exulted: “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips will praise You. So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.” (Psalm 63:3–7)
7. To develop His saints for greater usefulness—You have to look no farther than Peter to see this quality. Peter went through trial after trial and failed time and again. But all those trials prepared Peter for greater usefulness. We see Peter at Pentecost preaching and 3000 were saved.
8. To enable us to help others in their trials—We can come back to Peter again. He was not only tried for great usefulness, but also to help others as well. Paul put it this way to the church at Corinth: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer.” (2 Corinthians. 1:3–6).