The Value of the Trial

Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, Phil 2:14-15

Paul tells the church at Philippi that a situation, which may cause grumbling or disputing, is there to “prove yourself to be a blameless and innocent child of God…” The word “prove” is not as our translation, “to prove a point” or “proving one is right” but rather, in the Greek, its meaning is “to become or cause to become” and would best be translated, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may become blameless and innocent, children of God…” In other words, don’t grumble about your circumstances, as they are there to cause in you a blameless innocence. Your circumstances have a purpose. They are there to produce something in your life. Grumbling is counterproductive. The children of Israel could have completed their journey, to the Promised Land, in two weeks. It took, however, 40 years, because they kept grumbling.

James too reflects on this principle when he pens, “Consider it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance…” James 1

Rather than grumbling, meet the trial with joy, not because it is joyful but because of the end result, endurance and perfection, completeness and lacking nothing. 1:4

The value of the situation or circumstance, where God has led you, is to cause you to be perfect in Him. (The word "perfect" in the Greek is correctly translated "complete").