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

Learning to Let Christ Carry your Burdens

         Do you ever wonder how you're going to “carry” all those burdens the Lord has allowed you to experience or sent your way? All those troubles and problems that the people you love face and you do what you can but you can't handle it all. It's impossible. There's just too much. And the world seems to fall apart around you sometimes. How do you handle all that? Well, you can't and you know it.

        Besides, you realize how weak you are. And you're not really courageous and you have no desire to be either a hero or a martyr. “When I am weak, then He is strong.” Weakness? Oh, I meet that criteria very well. Inadequate? My problem is not that I feel inadequate My problem is that in reality I am inadequate! More than inadequate. Totally helpless sometimes, unable to affect the outcome of so many problems.

         It helps a lot that God teaches us to be content regardless of our outward circumstances, but that doesn't mean being content with the status quo. Sometimes there are changes and modifications available to you. Contentment is not an easy achievement! But though we've learned to be content in whatever situation, how do we learn to avail ourselves of one of the most sweeping, helpful promises of scripture: Psalm 55:22 “Cast thy burden upon the Lord and He shall sustain thee: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” And the one we all love: 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” We all know how to do that, don’t we? Well, maybe not “all your care”—but some of it anyway and after all, “every little bit helps!” Partial is not sufficient, is it?! “All” is all just like “all things” in Romans 8:28 it’s certainly not “partial.”! But what a reassurance to know He “cares” for us—in a double meaning! He cares in the sense that He loves us. And He takes care of us as well. The meaning of the Greek word is “the watchful care of interest and affection.” (Vincent, I, 669)

         “Casting” means throwing something on something or someone else—like throwing a blanket over a horse's back to get him ready to carry your load. What we can “cast” on the Lord for Him to carry for us is “all discontentment, discouragement, despair, questioning, pain suffering, and whatever other trials we encounter [because we] can trust His love, faithfulness, power, and wisdom.” (John MacArthur)

         How do we prepare for the future, for what is yet to come—when we don't even know what it is? By casting our burdens on the Lord and waiting on Him and His good time. In answer to a very important question, HOW do we cast our burdens on the Lord? I wrote this e-mail on November 4, 2008.

        “Here are some of the things I've learned in struggling with the same question. And they are important answers because I know the Lord has pulled me along and taught me a few things in my 75 years. [now 78]. . . . My heart is heavy when I see people in my family suffering or struggling or especially not walking with the Lord or not bringing their children up in the nurture of the Lord. And since I'm pastor of our little church I share in their problems, too--and rejoice when we see spiritual growth--which we certainly do. One of the ladies had tears as she came from the Morning Worship service yesterday overwhelmed with the reverence of communion and thinking of the passage I had read aloud from the Garden of Gethsemane. She wrote an e-mail today that "God's glory and the gift of salvation is so real that it is truly overwhelming."

So these are burdens I seek to roll off on the Lord. . . .

          What God is teaching us is to learn to walk with Him and trust Him when things are going well and when it seems like we're walking in the dark and uncertain what's next. "Walk in the Spirit" is something we have to learn and never learn perfectly this side of heaven. So it's certainly not a mechanical answer or a 4-step program or something. It's learning to know and walk with a Person, with our Lord, just as the disciples on the Emmaus Road did after the Resurrection.

       A basic presupposition is God's adequacy for whatever problem He sends (or allows) our way. The sufficiency of the Lord our Refuge. The longer you walk with Him, the more you realize how true that is.

      Part of this is patience and endurance because we are in an endurance race. They told the apostle Paul that he was going to be imprisoned and he replied, "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus. . . ." "Finish my course" is an endurance race and "with joy" is vital because "The joy of the Lord is your strength." Joy in the Lord is one of the most important parts of our life and we can have joy (and peace) even in the midst of affliction.

        So that's part of it. But listen to this: a major part is where and how you focus your attention. And I think of that in two ways: on what you are presently concentrating, that which is in front of you. And what is kinda back behind what you're doing--sort of in the back of your mind. It's easy to have those problems loom large in the back of your mind even while you're concentrating on taking care of the children. That's where you need to cast or throw them to the Lord. It's not that you can't focus on them and ask the Lord for guidance and run through the possibilities again. But not in an anxious way.

          To do this you must take your focus off what's causing 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. This is exactly what Scripture says in Hebrews chapter 12:1-3

          1. Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the [endurance] race that is set before us,

         2. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

        3. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

        This is vital. Instead of focusing on the problems, focus on the Lord and His word. You read the Word every day or several times in the day not only for food and knowledge and direction, but also to cleanse your mind.

        Those words about looking and considering are very strong. 12:2 is better translated "Fixing" our eyes on Jesus--instead of being preoccupied with the problems. The Holy Spirit focuses on Jesus to glorify Him; when we walk in the Spirit, we do the same. When we're focused on Jesus, then we can see our problems in the proper perspective. He is our example and when we don't know what to do, we search the scriptures to see if we can find out.

The joy that was at the end of the race was what Jesus focused on and that's part of our focus, too. Verse 3 "Consider Him" who endured so much.

          Here's a key quotation for you: "We do not live in our own power but in His." That includes physical strength that He gives us as a gift as well as spiritual. Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." "Christ in you, the hope of glory." So focus on Him, not on yourself because it all depends on Him and He will give you the strength to do your part. 2 Cor. 4:7 "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

        The answer to your "how" is the same answer that the angel gave to Mary's "how": "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. . . ." The Holy Spirit indwells us and Christ lives within. So our response should be the same as Mary's, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word."

         There are other parts to the answer. Surely the one Jesus gave in talking about anxiety is also vital. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matt. 6:34 NKJ In other words focus your attention on today; tomorrow is not here yet. Living one day at a time helps a lot in an endurance race.

But never let go of the joy because that's what God uses to get you through a trial. "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. " John 15:11 How do you roll your burden on the Lord? Focus on Him and His work and His joy and what He will bring to pass in the future, not on your problems.

         “Let not your heart be troubled,” but let Him carry your burdens instead.

                                                                                   Love, Pastor