God’s equitable trials

By Daniel Francis

While sitting in church last Sunday, I began pondering on the gospel reading (Mt 25:14–30). It spoke about a master giving his three servants talents to see what they do with them.

One servant was given five, the next two, and the last, one. I know the focus of that reading was on investing those talents and having them multiply and used as a learning lesson for developing the talents that God gives us. But interestingly, my mind ran on how equitably God assigns trials to us, His children, and it reminded me of the best teacher I ever had and the peculiar way that she taught my class.

In secondary school, my favourite class was Biology. The teacher had an interesting approach to our class, which at the time we complained about, but I have come to respect and appreciate her methods.

She assessed each student with her rubric based on our abilities. We assumed she would pay attention not only to our grades in exams but the speed at which we finished exams, how we managed our homework, how often we helped the other students in the class, etc. Then based on her assessment she would put us into categories. The category you were in decided your workload.

For instance, the students who were doing very well in her class got extra questions during exams with the same time limit as everyone else. If the test was 60 questions, the students that were high performers in her class would get 80 or 90 questions. They would also get more challenging homework assignments and they were expected to keep their high standing in the class.

On the flip side, they were given more autonomy and the students who were not doing so well were given more attention by her and the more advanced students were expected to help those students actively, in and out of the classroom.

As a young student, I hated this. I would often ask, “Why am I expected to do more work than the rest just because I was doing well in this class?” I often wondered how she was getting away with this.

Her efforts made me work harder and achieve levels of abilities that I would not have reached if not for that extra push. So much so that when I started my undergraduate degree in Biology, none of my classes were much of a challenge because of the strong foundation that she forced me to build in her class.

I even set up study groups to help the weaker students while in college because I was so accustomed to doing something like that based on being in her class. We are all different and we all have various levels of ability. Would it then not make sense for God to challenge us in an equitable way to match our abilities? You hear the saying that God never gives us more than we can handle but, in those moments, we whine about how difficult it all is and why Tom and Jane next to us have it so easy.

We do not realise that we are being pushed based on our ability and those challenges are preparing us for a great future. Equity does not mean that everyone gets the same share, but each person gets the share that fits their position.

In the context of this article, it also means that you get the share of work and challenges that fits your abilities so that you can adequately grow. God knows what He is doing. He knows us through and through and He knows the enormous potential that we have.

He wants us to develop into individuals of great strength, so he sends the equitable challenges our way to help stimulate our development. Much like my teacher, God knows we may not understand in the moment the blessing He is bestowing on us in the form of work and challenges. However, He knows that it will make us strong.

So always remember that your struggles are made for you because you can overcome them and grow from them even if you cannot see that in the moment.

Daniel Francis is a millennial helping other millennials. He is a two-time author of the books The Millennial Mind and The Millennial Experience, and an entrepreneur. Over the past four years, he has served as a Personal Development Coach whose work targets Millennials and helps them tap into their full potential. He is also a Self-publishing coach and has guided hundreds on self-publishing their book successfully.

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