In life, we stretch many things. We attempt to make a dollar go further on a budget. People who exercise or play sports stretch their muscles to improve flexibility and reduce injury. A lot of us also use rubber bands since they easily increase in length to fit around objects and hold things together.
Money, muscles, and rubber are not the only things that can be stretched. God actively works in our lives to stretch our faith and help us grow. He does so for our benefit, desiring us to become increasingly mature believers.
As many of us know, though, the process of stretching can be uncomfortable, even painful at times. When physically stretching, our arms or legs can burn and hurt. We may feel as if we are doing more damage than good. However, if we do not stretch, our muscles will remain tight. Over time, tight muscles could lead to an injury.
The same is true of spiritual stretching. When God is widening and lengthening our faith, we might find the process hard to endure. At times, we could feel as if we were reaching the point of breaking. Some of us may already feel as if we are broken, like a used rubber band.
In those moments of stretching or even brokenness, we can take heart. The Lord is still at work. He can take a period of struggle or pain and turn it into something good. Even if we do not fully understand what God is doing in our lives, we can trust that He is working for our benefit (Romans 8:28). The spiritual stretch may hurt a little like physical stretching, but it is good. It can help us grow stronger to walk with Christ.
The question, then, is how do we know when God is trying to stretch our faith?
Most times we will not be aware of what the Lord is doing in the moment. Those who are growing in their faith and becoming stronger followers of Jesus are rarely aware of it themselves. However, some situations in life provide opportunities to spur us on to greater growth.
Consider these five ways that God is trying to stretch your faith.
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1. A Trial
Scripture teaches that God uses the trials we experience to refine us, motivating us to step out of our comfort zone and grow in faith. The Apostle James said that we should delight in trials because the testing of our faith produces the fruit of perseverance, which brings us closer to Christian maturity (James 1:2-4).
Trials push us out of what we perceive as comfortable. No one has ever referred to a trial as being pleasant. Yet we can praise God for the process because the testing and refining purifies our faith like gold (1 Peter 1:7).
In a sense, any situation that God uses to stretch our faith will involve some measure of discomfort. We cannot stay in the area in which we feel comfortable and expect to grow. Our faith can only stretch by being exposed to challenges and hardships.
Imagine David’s discomfort at being forced to run from Saul. The man he had faithfully served wanted to kill him. David could not go home but was forced to hide in caves and the wilderness. Such trials would leave anyone fearful and depressed. Yet, amid the trial, David found strength in God. Multiple Psalms were inspired by his time spent in hiding, ones that continue to encourage believers today (Psalm 54, 57, 142). In many ways, David learned more about the Lord’s faithfulness during those times of discomfort than he ever did during times of ease.
When we encounter challenging situations that force us to do things we would not otherwise choose to do, then God is working to stretch us. He is growing in us the ability to persevere and mature. We can choose to resist his work, but if we are wise, we will lean into what He is doing. The process is uncomfortable, but worth it.
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2. A Season of Grief
The Lord can also use a season of grief to stretch our faith. All of us will experience the pain of grief at some point in our lives – if we have not already. Those we love, our friends and family, will eventually die one day. When they do, we will find ourselves thrown into a dark season of grief.
Death is an unnatural and terrible reality in a sinful, broken world. Thankfully, Jesus has defeated death (Acts 2:24). Because of His death and resurrection, we have the promise that we will live even when we die (John 11:25). We will see our believing loved ones again.
Those biblical truths become even more important when we experience the death of others. We can cheerfully talk about eternal life when things are going well, but when someone we love dies, we must rest in our faith, trusting Christ’s words to hold us up. No longer is His promise a happy thought on a sunny day, but a reality to cling to during a storm.
Grief forces us to lean on the goodness of our Lord and the truth of His Word. We can do so because He is with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:4). He gives us His comfort so that we do not have to be afraid.
By going through a season of sorrow with eyes fixed firmly on Christ, we grow in our faith. No longer are the promises about eternity a nice thought or far-off truth, but a reality. What Jesus did for us on the cross and through the resurrection becomes even more important when we encounter the death of someone we love.
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3. An Uncertain Future
Another way that God stretches our faith is when we face an uncertain future. This could be in the form of a job loss, a health crisis, or other situation. Regardless, when facing a future in which everything seems bleak, there is an opportunity for the Lord to grow our faith.
Many people in the Bible faced uncertain futures. When we read about their lives, it is easy to read their stories with the end in mind. For example, we could forget about the uncertainty and fear David felt when running from Saul because we know that he would eventually become king. Yet David did not know this at the time. He had to trust firmly in the Lord.
Or consider Esther. She did not know how King Xerxes would respond to her. He could have killed her for approaching him without being summoned (Esther 4:11). However, she bravely chose to do the right thing, even if it meant risking death (Esther 4:15-16). Her faith in God grew because she had to trust Him with the uncertainty.
The truth is, we cannot know what will happen tomorrow, next month, or many years from now. So much in our lives is uncertain, and we have little to no control over trials or losses. Yet even as we face uncertainty, we have a faithful God who never changes (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17). He has promised to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
Going through periods of fear or worry about tomorrow can challenge us to trust in our unchanging Lord who will be with us no matter what happens.
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4. A Call to Obedience
Obedience to the Lord is vital in the Christian life. We show that we love Him by following what He says (John 14:15 and 2 John 1:6). Thus, when we encounter a passage in Scripture that calls us to action, we should obey and do what the Lord says.
However, following the Lord in obedience is not always as simple as reading and doing. Fear can hold us back, as can worry about what others will think. Sometimes we can struggle to live in obedience because we are too attached to a certain way of thinking or want to stay comfortable.
In any of these instances, a call to obedience is a way that the Lord can stretch us. We grow when we step out of our comfort zones and take a risk to follow Christ.
Maybe you want to obey the command to make disciples and decide to share the gospel with a friend or family member, but you hold back (Matthew 28:19). You fear their response. Or a verse stands out to you about sharing with those in need (Psalm 37:21; Proverbs 19:17). You have skills and other resources that could help the poor. Yet, you hesitate, fearing the cost and what others will say.
Taking that step to follow the Lord will require a stretch of faith. There is a risk that others will reject you or think you are strange, but obeying God is worth that risk. As you keep choosing to obey instead of giving into fear, you will grow and become a more fruitful disciple.
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5. An Invitation to Deny Yourself
Finally, another tools the Lord might use to grow us is through an invitation to die to self. Anyone who wants to follow Christ as a disciple is called to take up their cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). This involves letting go of desires or plans, and willingly laying aside personal interests to instead serve and follow Jesus. Many Christian writers and thinkers have called this “dying to self.”
The process of dying to self is difficult. The self constantly tries to rise and resurface, attempting to convince you to keep your fist clenched over dreams and desires. A Christian must fight against the temptation to serve self, opening his or her hands when Jesus asks.
To deliberately deny yourself to better serve God takes an act of faith. We are giving up something, maybe even something we love, to serve the One we love the most. Denying ourselves requires a steadfast belief that Jesus is worth more than anything we might lose (see Philippians 3:8).
Being placed into a situation where we give up something in life enables us to become a stronger and more devoted disciple. We will be able to say with confidence that we have counted the cost and are willing to give up anything, even life itself, to love and follow Christ (see Luke 14:25-33).
Jesus wants all, and He will use invitations to deny ourselves to stretch and mold us. The process can seem challenging, even painful at times. However, from the stretching and shaping of trials, grief, uncertainty, and wrestling with self, we will emerge with a more resilient faith.
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Originally published Tuesday, 12 March 2024.
