Each Friday morning, I find a newsletter called Friday Update in my email from a pastor - Mike Woodruff- who collects news of note, adding his comments and wisdom. Today he opened with this good thought. “We can learn much about ourselves, God, and life by suffering. Many say as much. The tuition is high, but some go so far as to thank God for it — i.e., for cancer, unemployment, and similar challenges. Not everyone, of course. And we need to be clear: not everyone gets better via suffering. Some simply get bitter. Growing through suffering requires the right conditions, starting with reflection, humility, and faith.” . (click here for a free subscription)
If your life is full of sunshine, love, and plenty - give thanks to God and enjoy it. Know this - sunny days will give way to rainy ones. Because we live in a world where there is sin and brokenness, we will inevitably run into hard times; some the result of our own choices, many simply because things like aging, illness, economic cycles, and imperfect people are part of the world in which we live. How we walk through those days, the choices we make, can make us better or bitter. I really like Mike Woodruff’s line. If we want to grow deeper and stronger in life, “the tuition is high,” but the result is so worth it, my friend. Faith grows. Love flourishes. God comes nearer to us. The Psalm says -“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word.” (Psalm 119:67)
The value found in suffering is revealed in so many of the stories of the Bible.
Joseph would never have become the salvation of his family and the Prime Minister of Egypt without the horrific trip through slavery, false accusation, and imprisonment.
Daniel might well have concluded that his life was over, before it even started, when the Assyrians took him from Jerusalem to become a servant of the court of Babylon, but God turned a slave into a counselor to kings, changing history. Daniel did his part by doing what was right and godly, even when it looked as if he had no reason to do it.
David walked into a face to face challenge that looked ridiculous, a hero on the other side named Goliath, and he, a teenage shepherd from a backwater village. Mocked by the champion, David showed his heart. “You come to me with sword, spear, and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies—the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today the Lord will conquer you.” (1 Samuel 17:45-46)
Jesus was taken down from the Cross, buried by dispirited friends who thought it was over. I would like to know what the conversation among those disciples was like on Saturday. Regrets, perhaps? Recrimination? But, God was not finished. His Son had entrusted Himself to the Almighty and on Sunday morning, the earth shook, the stone rolled away and death was conquered.
Paul was beaten up by life, opposed by enemies –
spiritual and human – and his rivals dismissed him as just a ‘big talker.’ In
city after city after preaching the Gospel of Christ he found himself rejected,
arrested, and sometimes in peril of death. In Corinth it got so bad that he
concluded his life was over. But, God was not finished with him.
Reflecting on that time later in his life, he wrote - "We do not
want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the
province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to
endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the
sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but
on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and
he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to
deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our
behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of
many." (2 Corinthians 1:8-11, NIV)
From my own experience, I can tell you that God is faithful
and that He accomplishes His purposes in us when we are willing to wait, to
trust, to humbly accept His will, and to lean into His love. I barely
recognize the man I was three decades ago. Success found me early. God blessed
me with a beautiful wife, wonderful children, with a fulfilling life that
overflowed with good things. Sadly, I allowed myself to think that
somehow I had made it happen.
Pride overtook my heart and choices I made led me
into a wilderness I did not seek. But God was there and I grew to know His
grace in a way that I could not have known until that time in life. A decade
ago, the awful diagnosis of cancer came to my wife, my love, and in 20 months
her life here came to an end. It was the worst blow I had known in my life -
emotionally and spiritually. But God was there; leading and loving me.
And I know this- I have not yet graduated from the school of discipleship!
Our strength is not blind faith. It is Christ-centered faith. We are not fatalists fumbling our way to the finish. We are people of purpose, called to follow the Spirit, assured of His promise and our ultimate place worshipping eternallly around the Throne of God. So, let’s go make a difference. Finish the game, for the glory of God.
The word from the Word: "I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 1:16-20, NLT) And He "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." (Ephesians 3:20, NIV)
Let’s grow on!
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(Video of this blog at this link)
Be Thou my vision
O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me
Save that Thou art
Thou my best thought
By day or by night
Waking or sleeping
Thy presence my light
Be Thou my wisdom
Be Thou my true Word
I ever with Thee
And Thou with me Lord
Thou my great Father
I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling
And I with Thee one
Be Thou my shield
And my sword for the fight
Be Thou my dignity
Be Thou my might
Thou my soul's shelter
And Thou my high tow'r
Raise Thou me heav'nward
O pow'r of my pow'r
Riches I heed not
Nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance
Now and always
Thou and Thou only
Be first in my heart
High King of heaven
My treasure Thou art
High King of heaven
When vict'ry is won
May I reach heaven's joys
O bright heaven's Sun
Heart of my own heart
Whatever befall
Still be my vision
O Ruler of all
Eleanor Henrietta Hull | Mary Elizabeth Byrne
© Words: Public Domain
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