 This is Word to the Wise with Dr. William Blocker, President of the College of Biblical Studies. Vance Hafner said, You can't sharpen an ax on a cake of butter. Trials are necessary in order to teach us to depend on the Lord, not our circumstances. In Psalm 36 and 7, David wrote of a time when sickness helped him to see that he needed to depend on God in times of prosperity as well as in difficulty.