As you browse the posts of my blog through the years you may notice a number of thoughts on issues regarding suffering and difficulties. I'm convinced that it is one of God's primary ways of forming us spiritually. The last two weeks I've discussed humbling ourselves and being strong in this life that has been sovereignly put before us...not to desire an easy life. An easy life does not give the results we hope for. I wish it were different. I'm sure that if there were any other way, God would pursue it. It's inevitable.
One of the painful things we suffer through is temptation. Jesus was tempted and I would say severely. This often comes upon a man or woman with its strongest power when he /she is closest to God. Someone once said. "The devil aims high." He even got Peter to say he never knew Christ!
One of the benefits of reading the biographies of great Christian men and women is that it gives us a glimpse into the challenges, obstacles and suffering they passed through to achieve God's intended purposes for them. It encourages us to know that we are not alone and that enduring all things builds great men and women.
God permits it because it does for us what storms do for big oaks - it roots us; and what fire does for paintings on porcelain - it makes it permanent.
You never really know that you have Him and that He has you until you face the onslaught of the world, the flesh and our enemy, unleashed to pull you away; it is then that you feel the pull of His right hand. What a glorious experience, knowing in your "knower" that you "know" and are known.
Bad things are not always the punishment for bad sins, but rather the trial of Amazing Graces. I was thinking of John the Beloved on the isle of Patmos...exiled there because of his faith (Revelation 1:9). I feel he had to wonder, "Lord, why am I here? Am I here because I handled things all wrong, failed in some way, because I didn't do enough, because I didn't love you more, because I disobeyed or missed You somehow in the process?" Whatever the case, he had finally settled the issue by the time He wrote the words in Revelation 1:9...he was there because he did exactly what God wanted him to do...many times this is difficult to fully receive...Selah....
Amazing Graces must be revealed in and through ignoble places...allowed by God. Yes, God has many sharp cutting instruments, and rough files for shaping and polishing His jewels, those He means to make most extraordinary. His tools are often on those who are His.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon stated: I owe more to the fire, the hammer and the file, than to anything else in my Lord's workshop. I question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When my "schoolroom" is darkened, I see the best.
It's inevitable, but endure! For the harvest will far outweigh the pain incurred.
Some material adapted from "Streams In The Desert"
Give Him Praise!
Mitch
