2Cor 4:7 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
We live in a fallen world full of pain and suffering but even in the midst of it believers can be different from the world by learning to profit from trials. I was talking to a dear sister in the Lord who lost her daughter last year. She shared her pain and her triumphs, her sorrows and her joys, and God’s presence and preservation during the painful times. She learned to profit even from her trials.
Three men in the NT tells us how we should respond to afflictions/trials. For James, we ought to count it all joy. For Paul we should consider them light. Peter on the other hand encourages us not to think them strange. Paul says the light working for us far greater things. These men were not minimizing the reality of pain, they imagined that in comparison to what God has in store for believers, what they faced was light and temporary. “In order for faith to grow, adversities must be faced. Through trials and tribulations strength is found” (Faith T. Johnson). Only by the GRACE of God can one speak and live in the light of such words with confidence.