"No matter what you're going through, you can rest assured that the Lord is behind it. He is testing you, trying you, in order to bring something glorious out of you—and that is a total confidence in his faithfulness."  I read this quote from an article earlier today.
 
Let's be more specific and add specific "trials" to the statement in bold letters.  "No matter that you are being sexually abused, abandonded, rejected, raped, physically abused, verbally/emotionally abused, you can rest assured that the Lord is behind it."  "No matter that your little girl is suffering with cancer you can rest assured that the Lord is behind it."  "No matter that your loved one was murdered you can rest assured that the Lord is behind it."  Is this truly the message we are suppose to get and give?  Even in the scripture the author references, Psalm 66, I do not see where that supports that God causes any of these to happen.  I don't see that He is "behind" any of these things.  Just before the quote above, the author gives his interpretation of Psalm 66 verse 10; "This is all God's doing. He has led you into this trial for a special purpose. God is proving you. It is not the work of the devil."

My heart truly aches when I read scripture interpretation like this.  I don't wonder why people outside the church (and I'm not talking about the building) want nothing to do with those of us apart of the church.  What I feel this author is missing in a big way is the fact that there are different trials in this life.  God will bring good out of them all if we allow Him too.  Some trials are caused by sinful, evil choices others make and we suffer the consequences like sexual abuse as an example.  My father made a very evil choice and I have consequences to suffer because of his choice.  Was God behind that?  Absolutely not!  This was most definitely the work of the devil to try to destroy me.  My father allowed himself to be used as a tool.  Some trials are caused by my own sinful choices.  For example, if I don't "love my neighbor as myself", meaning if I don't show love to others and treat them with kindness and respect then I won't have healthy relationships.
 
For me, the idea this author is trying to promote does not fit with what I know about God.  I know that God is angry about sin and hates sin.  If I am being afflicted because of someone else's evil choice then God is angry about the evil and His heart is breaking for me.  I don't see anywhere in scripture where God would be sitting back and saying to me, "Well, Karen, I brought on this "trial" to bring something glorious out of you."  Now, I want to be clear here.  I do believe that through the healing process, He will make something beautiful of my life...ABSOLUTELY!  However, He did not need for the trial to happen in order to make something beautiful out of my life.  I am already beautiful, not perfect, but beautiful because I am His creation.  I am already rich in so many different ways because I belong to Him.  This is the second thing the author misses.  He misses who we already are in Christ.
 
Thinking about this on a more practical level.  I see my relationship with God similar to my relationship with my children.  Never do I wake up in the morning and think, "I will cause something to happen in Kaley's life today so that we can work on her selfishness."  That would be totally ridiculous of me as a mom.  However, I do take advantage of opportunities to teach her and guide her when she is being selfish.  I believe God works the same way in our lives.  Trials will come, most definitely, and it is important to understand the cause to this degree; is it a sinful choice from someone else?, is it a sinful choice I made?, or is it plainly because I live in a fallen world?  In all three cases, God is there with us.  He will never leave us and He will work all things for good if we allow Him too.  Why is it important to understand why or where the trial came from because if it is a choice I made then I need to learn how not to make that choice again.  Let's say I don't pay my electric bill and the next month my power gets shut off.  I could blame the power company for shutting off my power but ultimately it's my fault because I did not pay my bill.  I need to learn that lesson.  If I am suffering because of someone else's choice or simply because I live in a fallen world, then that is how I need to look at the trial as to not get angry at God but to get angry at evil and sin.  God is angry at evil and sin and so should I be.
 
At the end of the article the author does talk about trusting God and seeing His hand at work through the trial.  This I do agree with.
 
I've written about this because I feel if we continue to support this type of scripture interpretation, we will soon enough adopt this interpretation as our own and be of no effect to those around us and we will not have an understanding of who God really is based on truth.