Category Archives: hardship

Bewilderment, Daily Struggles of Life, Doubt, God's care, God's goodness, Humility, Perseverance, Prayer, Psalms, Scripture, Struggles, Suffering, hardship

The Trust Fund

Posted by admin on August 18, 2010 at 4:06 pm.

 

How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you (Ps 31:19).

 

                Unanswered prayer is the grief of many Christians today. There are usually no answers to the questions of “Why does He delay to answer me? Doesn’t He see how much I am suffering?”

 

                As one who has wrestled with these questions many times, I have taken great comfort in Psalm 31:19. It seems that the Lord has a “savings account” of His goodness toward me that I will one day be able to cash in. Perhaps a better illustration would be a “trust fund,” because it is an account that cannot be drawn from whenever I would like. Someone else determines when I will receive it.

 

                To access this “trust fund” of God’s goodness to me I must exercise the same kind of faith that a child with a financial trust fund would exercise. It is only a matter of time before I will receive my store of God’s blessing. I must trust that the Word of the One that is managing this fund is true. The only difference is that the time for me is uncertain while the child will know when his inheritance will be given to him.

 

                While I am waiting for the display of His goodness the verse tells me the two things I must continue to do: fear Him and take refuge in Him. These are not passive, but active verbs. “Fear” carries the idea of seeking Him wholeheartedly, rather than in just a perfunctory way. “Taking refuge in Him” is an admission of our own weakness and inadequacy.

 

                Some believe that this verse suggests that the display of God’s goodness to us will be apparent to all at the Judgment, but my opinion is that the phrase, “in the sight of men,” is that it will be here on earth, just at a later time. David had earlier stated, “I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Ps 27:13).

 

                The Lord has His goodness in store for those who trust Him. We don’t always understand why He tells us that we must wait, and it sometimes distresses us when people around us are looking for external evidence of His reality, but He has His purposes, and those purposes are perfect.

 

                Spirit of God, descend upon my heart. Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move;

                Stoop to my weakness mighty as Thou art, And make me love Thee as I ought to love.

 

                Teach me to feel that Thou art always nigh; Teach me the struggles of the soul to bear:

                To check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh, Teach me the patience of unanswered prayer.

(George Croly, 1780-1860)

Daily Struggles of Life, Prayer, Purpose, Scripture, Struggles, hardship

Prayer’s Content

Posted by admin on June 3, 2010 at 10:18 am.

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Eph 3:16-19).

                Prior to almost any group session of prayer, it is the usual custom to ask the group for specific requests that should be prayed for. Typically these requests include a relative’s minor physical ailment or an acquaintance or family member that has become involved with a vice of some sort. There is nothing wrong with praying for these things. God is concerned for every care that weighs down our hearts.

                But when we read the New Testament we see a completely different content to Paul’s prayers than ours. The prayer quoted above (and it is representative of many others) is not concerned with relieving the temporal physical needs of individuals. Paul seemed to know that if his Ephesian friends understood how great is the God we serve, the minor physical needs would take care of themselves. The goal of his prayer seems to be closer to the formation of the likeness of Christ in his friends than it is to the relief of some physical pain.

                Now we all understand that there are times when a physical malady inhibits our service to Christ, so it is appropriate to pray about that physical malady. But why not rather make the focus of our prayer to be the restoration to fruitful service or to the accomplishment of the internal qualities that God may be seeking to develop rather than simply the relief from physical suffering?  An outsider might properly get the impression that our first and foremost concern is freedom from pain and difficulty. This was not the kind of prayer that Paul modeled for us in the New Testament.

                Here’s a challenge: identify an individual for whom you regularly pray. Then find a passage of Scripture that describes what you think God wants to accomplish in that person’s life. For example, since I want my son to take the Truth he has been taught and apply it more fervently to his life, I pray “that the eyes of his heart be enlightened that he may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe” (Eph. 1:18-19).

Each day as you pray for him/her, remind God of His own Word. By the end of a week you will have accomplished two things: (1) you will have prayed for your friend about what God Himself says He wants accomplished, and (2) you will have memorized a passage of Scripture.

9-11, BP Oil Spill, Christian, God's people, Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina, Matthew 5:45, Samaritan's Purse, Struggles, The Christian & Misisonary Alliance, Why does God Allow bad things?, hardship

God’s Care Amid Trouble

Posted by admin on June 1, 2010 at 11:56 am.

He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matt 5:45).

                Disastrous events like Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico typically cause people to question the goodness of God. Why does He allow these things? Why doesn’t He intervene? Isn’t He interested?

                These kinds of disasters often evoke warnings of judgment from God by the nation’s prophets, just as were heard after 9-11. Their warnings were true, though the men themselves were rebuked for not being “politically correct.”

Most of the disasters that confront us afflict the godly as well as the ungodly, largely because the proof of our faith as believers is in how we respond in times of adversity. If believing in Christ shielded us from pain and trouble, how would we know in ourselves whether our trust in Him was because we loved Him or whether it was because He provided for us? He who discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart (Heb. 4:12) would know, but we could never be sure.

Another reason that disasters afflict us all is that they give opportunity for God’s people to demonstrate His care to a world that denies His existence. Most unbelievers strut about imagining their invincibility until a force against which they are powerless suddenly emerges. Then they are confronted with their own mortality, or at least their own impotence, and their minds suddenly must try to make sense of the whole of life. That is when they are able to listen to His voice.

Wisely, therefore, my church – the Christian & Missionary Alliance – has a relief arm to its ministries that arrives in the aftermath of a disaster to give aid to the people. The assistance is offered to all freely (though it is usually dispensed through the local church) as a way of demonstrating the love of God for hurting people. Following the Tsunami disaster of 2004, the Muslims went into the westernmost island of Indonesia – Sumatra – and immediately rebuilt the mosques that were destroyed. But Christians – including the Alliance and Samaritan’s Purse – went in and built boats to restore the fishing industry that is the lifeblood of that region. Their concern was for their religion; ours – and God’s – was for the people.

Daily Struggles of Life, Death, Discipleship, Humiliation, Perseverance, Struggles, Suffering, hardship

A Choice Group

Posted by admin on May 18, 2010 at 4:48 pm.

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; when we are slandered, we answer kindly. Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, the refuse of the world (1 Cor 4:8-13).

                It’s no wonder that there is a high dropout rate among people in ministry, if this is what we can expect! The consolation, of course, is that the retirement is “out of this world!”

                The United States Marine Corps calls their people, “The few, the proud, the marines!” because they are an elite group. They don’t mind a high dropout rate because those that do stick are choice men and women. There is a character about them that nothing but hardship can create. It is what makes them elite; it is what gives them confidence in each other in tough times; it is what makes them valuable to our nation.

                But as impressive as the military is, the character that has been tested by the hardships of ministry is even more so. The New Testament describes these as “men of whom the world is not worthy” (Heb 11:38). They are humble because they have been humbled; they endure because their eyes are fixed on the One who endured for them. They are not all impressive by the standards of this world; indeed, there were not many “wise…influential… [or] noble” (1 Cor 1: 26), but there is a quality about them that makes them precious to the Church and to her Lord. He can rely upon them to represent His interests before a watching world. And He will one day reward their faithfulness, whether or not it receives the applause of men.

                The famous words of Theodore Roosevelt apply to these people: “The credit belongs to the man in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”

Church Today, Humiliation, Miracles, Power, fasting, hardship

On Fasting (Part One)

Posted by admin on April 13, 2010 at 5:00 pm.

Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust (Acts 14:23).

                This is the third reference in two chapters that spoke of Paul and Barnabas fasting. In chapter 13, while they were serving the Church as teachers in the city of Antioch, they were fasting during a time of worship with the other teachers/leaders of that church. In the midst of those circumstances, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to those assembled and said, “Set apart Paul and Barnabas…” to take the Gospel where it had not yet been proclaimed. It is clear from the text that followed that before they actually left, the church – or at least the leaders – fasted again, most likely to appeal to God for His provision for their journey. Then in chapter 14 when they were about to appoint leaders in a newly formed church, they fasted again.

                Fasting is an ancient practice that involves abstaining from food (or certain foods) for a period of time in order to appeal to God for some purpose. During Isaiah’s time it was understood that when we fast, we “make our voice heard on high” (see Isaiah 58). Apparently they wrestled with unanswered prayer as we do in our day. Ancient believers saw fasting as a way of intensifying their prayers before God. It is like a kid that uses a magnifying glass to concentrate the sun’s rays on some kindling to ignite a fire.

                This discipline was practiced in times of personal crisis as well as in times of national emergency. Paul and Barnabas practiced it here to ask God to either direct or confirm their choices for leadership in the fledgling church. Daniel practiced fasting at a time of personal crisis of conscience when he and his friends were being required to eat the ceremonially unclean food in the court of Nebachudnezzar (see Dan. 1).

                Probably the most famous instance of fasting in a national emergency was the fast called by the king of Nineveh after the preaching of Jonah. This act of humiliation prompted God to spare their city, to Jonah’s dismay. It was also part of the appeal of Queen Esther on behalf of the Jewish people who were threatened with extermination by Haman (Esther 4) and was called by King Jehoshaphat in II Chronicles 20:3 when his nation was threatened by an alliance of several nations with a vast army. In the latter situation God ordered them to approach the battlefield with priests singing praise to God and by the time they arrived, the various nations had turned on themselves and wiped each other out.

                With such wonderful testimonies of the responses of God to the discipline of fasting, why don’t we practice it in the Church in this era? There is a small resurgence of the discipline, and I am grateful, but it is far from the norm. But then, real earnest seeking of God through prayer and Scripture is far from the norm also. Although far from complete, the answer to my question likely is that we are too comfortable. We are not faced with such perilous situations that would warrant the disruption of our comfortable lifestyles by something as radical as fasting. But perhaps this is changing in our era.

Church Today, Daily Struggles of Life, Pain, Struggles, Suffering, Training, hardship

Basic Training

Posted by admin on April 4, 2010 at 8:14 am.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Gal 6:9

                For the past few days I have not had the opportunity to write because I have been away from home at my son’s graduation from Basic Military Training (BMT). He is now an Airman in the USAF. We are very proud of him.

                One of his buddies joined us for lunch one day just after a ceremony because his family had not yet arrived. As we talked about the BMT experience, he told us that there was one day, about 2-3 weeks into the training, that things got so bad that he had to duck into the latrine to keep from crying and giving up. The comment was made in our conversation that everyone reaches that place in any significant endeavor. I thought to myself, “How true…how many times I have ‘ducked into the latrine’ myself to keep people from seeing that I was ready to give up ministry.”

                The verse above is only representative of the thrust of much of the Scripture, encouraging us to press on despite adversity. Adversity tests our resolve; it helps us understand our true motives, some of which would not really be known without the trial.

We in the human race are very adept at deceiving ourselves. God, of course, sees our true motives, but often we sugar-coat our attitudes with noble thoughts of how good and pure we are. NOT! Trial helps us see ourselves for who we are. Jeremiah was right when he wrote, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9).

The USAF (and the military as a whole) has always understood the necessity of BMT. My son understood going in that the purpose of these two months would be for the Training Instructor to “get into his head.” God wants to do the same.

Daily Struggles of Life, Maturity, Pain, Perseverance, Prayer, Purpose, Struggles, hardship

Never Give up

Posted by admin on March 8, 2010 at 9:08 am.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. Luke 18:1

                One of the most famous speeches that Winston Churchill ever delivered was given, as I understand it, after WWII. Churchill was the Prime Minister of England who stood up to Adolf Hitler, instead of giving in to the “peace in our time” policy of his predecessor. In this famous speech, he came to the podium and simply said, “Never… Never… Never give up.” Then he sat down.

Whether my memory of this speech is exactly accurate or not, it is the same theme that Jesus had in His parable in Luke 18. I admit to you that I don’t understand why prayer often seems to go unanswered, but the reason is not the apathy of the God we serve. Neither is it that He is too busy or that He has forgotten us. As best I can understand, it has something to do with the work He is trying to accomplish in me.

Unlike parents whose job it is to give their children “roots and wings,” maturity in Christ involves an increasing dependence upon Him for every need we have. The more we are conscious of our need, the greater will be the glory He will receive when He answers our prayer. It was not a failure on God’s part that Abraham and Sarah were barren up to her 90th birthday; it was not an oversight that Moses found himself between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army; it wasn’t because God didn’t care that Jehoshaphat the king found himself threatened by a vast army; and it wasn’t because God had overlooked something that Hezekiah faced impending destruction at the hands of the Assyrian army. Each of these events – and many more – became an occasion for the Sovereign King to show the glory of His power before a watching world. Each of the human characters found himself in an acutely uncomfortable position, but they had surrendered themselves to His purposes and to live for His honor.

This is what Jesus tells us we need to do as well – never give up. We are to recognize that unless He delivers us, we are lost; unless He intervenes, we have no hope. Though this position is exceedingly uncomfortable, our comfort is not His primary concern, and should not be ours either. We are here to glorify God – to demonstrate the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness and into His light. And if we die in the process – either figuratively or literally – our reward will be that much greater.

Jesus' Teachings, Messiah, Pain, Scripture, Sin, Struggles, Suffering, hardship

Hang on Jesus’ Words

Posted by admin on March 5, 2010 at 5:20 pm.

Every day he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words. Luke 19:47-48

                Things certainly are different in our day! Today we ignore, rather than “hang on to,” His words. The difference between the response in the time of Jesus and our own is not a matter of the delivery because the Holy Spirit has breathed life into the words of Scripture just as the breath of Jesus carried them through His lips. It is also not because men are innately different today than in that day. I would suggest that the reason we don’t hang on Jesus’ words because we don’t have the motivation that they had in the time of Jesus.

                The people of Jesus’ day were looking for a Messiah, a deliverer. They were oppressed by an authoritarian political regime that didn’t care about their Jewish laws and practices. Rather than being the head, they were the tail (see Deut. 28:13-14) because they had not paid attention to the Lord’s commands. His judgment upon them had led to their subservient position.

                People in America today – even Christians – are not looking for a Messiah, at least not a Messiah like Jesus. We are too comfortable in our position on top of the world. When our bank accounts run dry, when our health gives out, when our families decide to blow us off, then we’ll hang on Jesus’ words. But probably not before, unless we have been trained well (and sometimes, not even then!).

                I’m glad that the Church can be there when life happens for people in our world, but the truth is that the fix is not an easy one. It’s always simpler to get into trouble than to get out of it, because the source of that trouble is always sin. Sometimes it’s the original sin that plagues all mankind on this side of heaven, sometimes it is a specific sin that has led to our circumstances. But either way, the remedy is Jesus – His death for us or His words to us.

                I am very thankful for the easy life God has blessed us with in America with our many freedoms and creature comforts and I recognize their Source, but I fear that unless we wake up and hang on his words again like our Founding Fathers did, we’ll repeat the cycle that plagued the Jewish people.

Church Today, Military, Struggles, Suffering, hardship

On Service

Posted by admin on March 2, 2010 at 11:02 am.

“Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”  (Luke 17:7-10)

                My son recently joined the US Air Force. Right now he is in Basic Training learning his rightful place. Although we as parents didn’t succumb to the prevalent societal opinion that his “self-esteem” was fragile and needed to be constantly propped up, he did know the security of a family that loved him and cared for him, and, I believe, he would express that if he were asked.

But there is something good about learning that we are on the bottom of the ladder; there is something good about understanding that we are the servants rather than the masters. We in the American Church have fallen into the vile condition where we expect God to do our bidding rather than the other way around. We want to be the General, not the Private. Hardship is unknown to us, or, if we do experience it, we expect some fantastic reward at the end. The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that our “chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”Note the order of this. “Enjoy” follows “glorify.” We don’t glorify God IF He lets us enjoy life; we glorify Him and the result will be that He will give us joy, though there is no promise that the joy will be immediate.

All of the saints of Scripture understood this principle. A cursory reading of the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11 will reveal that hardship was their lot, and they didn’t complain about it. Paul told Timothy to “suffer hardship as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (II Tim. 2:3). While we tend to see these great saints as exemplary – and they are – they probably would not have considered themselves to be exemplary, just servants.

Hardship refines us, burning away impurities in our lives, especially the impure thought that we deserve more. It is especially important that we see this when we are young. Jeremiah wrote, “It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth.” When we bear this hardship and still can see God as loving and merciful toward us, our lives will be characterized with joy in the end (consider Psalm 90:14).

Military service often changes our young men and women. We often hear that “it makes a man out of him” or matures him. It is interesting how being immersed in a strict authoritarian structure makes us mature. I’m anxious to see how it affects my son; I’m praying that it will impact his spiritual life in a similar way.