Trials

But then sometimes God does this to prepare us for something. It is a rule of the Scriptures, and a rule which is confirmed by and exemplified in the long history of the Church and her saints, that when God has a particularly great task for a man to perform, He generally does try him. I care not which biography you pick up, you may take the life of any man who has been signally used by God and you will find that there has been a severe time of testing and of trial in his experience. It is as if God would not dare to use such a man unless He could be certain and sure of him. So one may have to pass through this kind of experience because of some great task ahead.

Look at Joseph, and at the things that happened to him. Can you imagine a more dismal kind of life? Everybody seemed to be against him. His own brethren were jealous of him and got rid of him. He was taken to Egypt and there people turned against him. He had done nothing wrong but because he was what he was things went against him. But in all this God was only preparing the man for the great position that He had in store for him. And it is the same with all the great men of the Bible.

- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Trials, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure