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

“Father of the fatherless”

“Father of the fatherless”

          The other day we were talking about Psalm 10 and how God sometimes seems to “hide” Himself from our view so that the “eyes of our heart” don't sense His Presence as we usually do. He's “there” but we're not strongly aware of it. He's teaching us to walk by faith and not by feelings.

          That Psalm also has one of my wife's favorite verses, one that she told me about many times. You know that her father died when she was only 11 years old. That was in 1949 and he was 39 years old. Minnie's mother was 31 with 5 children and no insurance and no social security and only a rented house to live in.

        When Minnie, age 11, came home from work at the cafe at 10:00 at night, she would sit by her dad's bed and talk to him for awhile every night. They were very close and he had a strong influence on her life. He often told her that the hardest thing about his illness (cancer) was having to leave his wife alone with 5 children to raise and he couldn't be there to help and provide for them. You can well imagine what an intense pain inwardly this would be for a conscientious man such as he was.

           So he told little Minnie that he found great comfort in three verses in the Psalms that promised God's provision for the “fatherless.” One of those verses is Psalm 10:14, “thou art the helper of the fatherless.” And Psalm 68:5 ESV describes “the helper” actually as the Father of orphans and adds provision for the widows: “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation.” The third Psalm is 146:9 NIV “The Lord . . . sustains the fatherless and the widow.”

         Need I tell you that God, in fact, did those things? He provided and sustained and strengthened that little family. The young widow and all the children worked at whatever jobs they could find and God provided in a whole host of ways. Including the men of the town who, with their wives, had several money-raising projects and then with volunteer labor built that little family a simple house for them to live in and own. 

      They “gathered” and worked with and prepared what God had provided, but it was God who made the provision. As in Psalm 104 where God is providing for the animals and birds: ^“These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.” 104:27-28 ESV

       Psalm 10 starts with a lament, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” But it ends with a praise: “O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will listen carefully, doing justice for the fatherless and the oppressed.” 10:17 ESV & HCSB

"Therefore . . . we do not lose heart"

“Therefore . . . we do not lose heart”

           We have a large extended family and many friends from all over the world. So I talk to a lot of people and exchange e-mails with many more. It burdens me that so many of them seem discouraged much of the time and dissatisfied with so many things in their lives. And of course we all have to contend with “the world, the flesh, and the devil.” But you should be able to do that without losing heart and getting discouraged, shouldn't you? After all, “we are more than conquerors through him that loved us” 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.” Romans 8:37, 28 We have the Holy Spirit who indwells us and Jesus has promised, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” And the anticipation of the glories and joys of heaven that await us should fill us with awe and give us a desire to know more about that which is yet to come.

           So why do we get discouraged? “Why art thou cast down, O my soul and why art thou disquieted within me?” Psalm 42 And more importantly, what can you do about it? As with so many other everyday practical things, scripture has a lot to say about the problem. One category of verses are those which say, “Therefore . . . we do not lose heart.” Let's look at about 4 of those today. 1- Jesus' words in Luke 18:1 esv are so simple and so practical:

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” When we are tempted to be discouraged, we should automatically go into the prayer mode, talking to the Lord as we go our way in a sort of unbroken conversation with the Lord, even while we do our daily work. You're focusing on Him and His glory and what He can do about your problems rather than stewing about the problems themselves.

2- 2 Corinthians 4:15-16 (ESV) For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. God is at work extending His grace and working in and through us and for that we should be thankful to be servants of the Most High God, using us for His glory.

And then he goes on to tell us in verse 17 what our problems and afflictions are bringing about, what they are accomplishing: ^'For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. . . .” They are doing something, they are accomplishing what God set out to accomplish.

3- Hebrews 12:3 (ESV) “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” Keep your focus on Jesus and think about Him and what He did and how He acted and reacted so that you do not lose heart.

4- Isaiah 40:31 (ESV) “but they who wait for 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.” Wait on the Lord. Look expectantly to Him. Expect Him to renew your strength because though our body is getting older, the Holy Spirit renews our inner person day by day.

So hold onto those 4 principles to deal with discouragement:

1. Pray always. Always pray.
2. Realize God is accomplishing something of value through your afflictions.
3. Focus on Jesus and set your mind on things above
4. Wait expectantly on the Lord, expecting Him to give you renewed strength.
5. And add a 5^th principle: “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7
6. And a 6^th: “Rejoice in the Lord always!”