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
