Change the way you look at problems: "God uses problems to inspect us" (Blog 2 or 4)

God uses problems to inspect us.

My daughter Lilly has a bike that I recently put a new tube in. When I put the tire on, it looked like everything was fine. So I grabbed the hand pump and began to add air pressure to inflate the tire. When I did I heard a noise. There was a weak spot in the tube, it had a hole in it, that needed to be fixed. So I took the tube out, replaced it with a new one and Lilly was riding her bike in no time. 

The tire looked fine, until air pressure was applied. It was the pressure that revealed a hidden problem with the tube. 

We are a lot like that bike tire. We may think that we are perfectly fine when life is good. However, when stress comes, when the problems pile up. We see the leak. Our temper flares up and we realize that we are easily angered and maybe need to deal with some deeper issues that could cause us and our family more problems down the road. 

Problems like air pressure reveal to us our imperfections. We begin to see that - we have an issue with trusting people, forgiving others, or maybe we have Daddy issues that have not been properly dealt with. 

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:2-4

When trials and testings come our way, maybe we need to see them as more than just problems to be solved. Maybe we should view them as God allowing pressure to be applied to our lives to reveal where we are weak, in hopes that through our trust and obedience to Him, HE will be made strong in our weakness.