The Goodness of Trouble in its effect on our lives

         One of the major reasons why God sends or allows trouble to come our way is to make us realize our absolute dependence on the Lord because it is that, more than anything else, that will humble us and keep us from being proud, which is the devil's pernicious sin and our constant temptation. 'God alone knows how to humble us without humiliating us and how to exalt us without flattering us and how he effects this is the grand truth of the Christian message.” Ravi Zacharias, 'Why Jesus?' page 59

         We didn't create ourselves and we can't even keep ourselves alive. We must look to God for the very breath we breathe and for the ability to do so. So much trouble came to the Apostle Paul and his fellow workers that they 'despaired even of life.' 'We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.' And they knew why that happened: 'But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God.' 2 Cor. 1:8-9 NIV So they learned to look to God and to depend on Him and not on themselves to take them through their problems.

         And they had a promise to help them do that: 'God will not allow you to be tempted [or, tested] beyond what you are able to bear, but will with the [testing] provide a way out so that you are able to endure it.' 1 Cor. 10:13 HCSB, NIV, ESV, NAS

       And one of the best promises of all in the entire Bible is one of its most famous verses:   Romans 8:28 ^'And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.'

         Not all things are good, but God can use even the hardships, difficulties, and problems in our life to work them together to bring about good. Good? What kind of good? Character good, exalting Christ good, realistically good—NOT cynical or hopeless, but anticipating the glories that most certainly will eventually come about as God works all things after the counsel of His will. And His will and His ways are what we have to learn. 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.' Isaiah 55:8 ESV

        Both of my daughters have recently been telling me about a book that has been very helpful in their lives: I read it a year or so ago and it was a great blessing so let me quote just a few things I underlined in that book for my own benefit. The Promise: God Works All Things Together for Your Good by Robert Morgan, 2010.

        'The Holy Spirit, who doesn't waste words in the Bible, began the sentence, not with an emphasis on what God is going to do, but with an emphasis on what our attitude should be about it. The primary subject is the pronoun we, and the primary verb is know. Romans 8.28 thus begins with a statement of certitude. . . .

          'We don't hope, hypothesize, or hallucinate. We don't postulate, speculate, or fabricate. We don't toss and turn in anxiety. We simply know. We know God, therefore we know His power, understand something of His providence, and can trust His provision.

        'It's certain. For sure. Positive. Fail-safe. Inevitable. It's God's guarantee, and it can never be otherwise.

         'This is an attitude we see throughout Scripture. The word know occurs 1,098 times from Genesis to Revelation, and we're instructed to approach life with total trust in the realities of Christ.

'I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.' Job 19.25

'I have written these things . . . that you may know that you have eternal life.' 1 John 5.13

        'Faith is the ability to tackle life with confidence, come what may, knowing that the trustworthy promises of God are precisely as real as the transient circumstances around us. Faith is believing that God will do exactly as He has said. Living by faith isn't a matter of sticking our heads in the sand and hoping for the best. It's confronting the realities of life from the perspective of God's immutable, unbreakable, unfailing Word. Those who live by faith don't have a 'hope so' optimism. They live in the society of the certain.

         'Yes, the Bible does use the word hope. But in the Bible, hope is not synonymous with maybe. Biblical hope refers to sure and certain expectations, which, because they're still in the future, create in us a sense of anticipation.'

        These are truths that last and that God uses to take us all the way Home where He will 'bring us safely into His heavenly kingdom.' 2 Tim.4.18 They are the anchor that holds and grips the solid rock. 'We have this hope [this 'expectant certainty'] as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.' Heb. 6.19 It wouldn't be much of an anchor if it didn't include certitude. The promises are rooted in the character and strength of God Himself.

          But don't miss that all-important immediate personal element: it is the Lord Himself who will do all of this: “. . . no one came to my support . . . but the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength . . . . The Lord . . . will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.” “I will never leave you nor forsake you” is another of His promises. Heb.13.5-6 ^'Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. . . ' Ps.23.4

How did your day dawn?

                                              How did your day dawn?
        Many years ago when we were living in Puebla, Mexico for a semester, a lady there often would ask me the first thing in the morning, "¿Cómo amaneció?" meaning, "How did your day dawn?" I was just learning Spanish and seldom knew what to say so I would just tell her, "Bien, bien." meaning "Well, well–or ‘fine.’" And of course that is always accurate for a Christian, "All is well. All is well." 
     
        But I’m thinking this morning, "What are your very first thoughts in the morning?" Is it a day you are anticipating because of something you’re planning to do? Or perhaps dreading because you don’t want to take that examination or do some unpleasant chore or talk to someone about some responsibility that is not being met? Is the weather bad and you have to go somewhere? A lot of good thoughts are possible as you rejoice in the fact that you know the Lord and so do others in the family. Do you have food and clothing and shelter for today? Are you thankful for those gifts?

        What if you have terminal cancer or some other dread disease? [And we’re ALL "terminal cases" if you stop to think about it! . . . .]You’ve been asleep and all of that is out of your mind. And then when you wake up, the remembrance suddenly hits you again, "This cancer is literally killing me and I’m dying" and the consciousness of the pain and the somber reality floods back into your mind. How do you handle that??

         In my research for the book I’m writing I came across a letter from one person dying of cancer to a friend whom she was trying to comfort and help him live his last days with peace from the Lord and rejoicing in Him despite what was happening to his body. For those of you who know them, my wife Minnie wrote an e-mail to Billy Bennett on October 23, 2008. We didn’t know it at the time but Billy had less than two months left to live here on this earth (though he continues to live, of course, with the Lord in heaven.) But how was he going to make those last few weeks?

        Minnie told him. He must live it day by day, one day at a time, constantly looking to the Lord and rejoicing in Him. Here is how she concluded her letter, "My Daily verse is ‘This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.’ I try to live that way, not worrying about the future, but enjoying Him and the ones he has put in my life each day. This is my prayer for your sweet family. Love, Minnie"

         ". . . enjoying Him and the ones he has put in my life each day." People were more important to her than the outward circumstances. Jesus often told His disciples to love one another and to serve one another, doing even mundane things when necessary, including washing one another’s feet. And I can tell you as my testimony that being my wife’s care giver for three years was almost the greatest task God ever gave me in my life. And He poured His love into our hearts just as He promised, "God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." Romans 5:5 Minnie said several times in her last few months, "I love him more now than even when we first got married." She wrote to our granddaughter Julie on September 25, 2008, "Tomorrow will be our 53rd anniversary. How wonderful to grow old with the love of your youth--and I love him more today than then. It just gets better and better." And we both knew where that love came from. God gave it to us and we were thankful for it.

         But don’t miss the first part of her statement, "enjoying Him . . . each day." It was in fellowship with the Lord that she found her strength. She went "from strength to strength in the Lord" "Wait on the Lord and He shall strengthen your heart." "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

          Take your focus off what's causing you anxiety and worry and put your focus on the One who will either 1) bring a solution or 2) give you the grace to endure and go through the trial. As your day dawns with the Lord, so He goes with you through each valley, and in the end you know His promise, "Lo, I am with you always. . . even unto the end of the world." Mt. 28:20
                                                                   –Pastor Burnside

God tests us–and He does it for a purpose

God tests us–and He does it for a purpose--and He tells us what some of those purposes are

"For you, O God, have tested us;" Psalm 66:10 ESV

         And then by "parallel structure" explains what that means. "Parallel structure" is a major characteristic of Hebrew poetry in which a truth is restated and in the process the second part helps to explain the first. In this case "you have tried us as silver is tried" enlarges and explains what kind of testing God does. God’s "testing" was to burn out the dross the way silver is "tried" or "tested" by melting it in a fervent heat.

          And what kind of "testing" did God send? Many kinds–
1) You brought us into the net [you did it, God!]
2) You laid a crushing burden on our backs; [you did it, God!]
3) You let men ride over our heads;
4) we went through fire and through water. 66:11-12

           Have you had difficulties that could be characterized by any of those? How do you deal with it? Keep in mind the purpose and the end result–look to the future for what God is accomplishing and producing in your life. Here it is: "yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance."

         The end result. The arrival at your destination. The accomplishment of God’s purposes–some known, some hidden. Your usefulness to God and your ministry to other people is being developed and enhanced. Your "patient endurance" is being developed. That’s why the New Testament tells us to "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4 ESV

      The Psalmist goes on to tell us what he did while he was being tested: he went into the presence of God and he reminded himself of how God ministered to his soul and spirit and sustained him in the midst of the painful trial. "I cried to Him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue." 66:17
He knew he would eventually be "brought out to a place of abundance"–probably in this life, but certainly in that which is to come–so keep focused on that which is above and the glory that awaits when the journey is ended.

       "Blessed be God, because He has not rejected my prayer or removed His steadfast love from me!" Quite the contrary–He is ever faithful. God is our refuge and strength–and underneath are the everlasting arms. Always.