Monday, March 8, 2010
PURPOSE IN PAIN
By Gretchen Nelson
As a young believer,
whenever circumstances that I viewed as roadblocks to an otherwise
smoothly sailed life appeared, I took them as something to remove.
They had no business causing a detour in my well-organized,
over-controlled lifestyle. I had determined that anything negative
must be the devil's playground, and I needed many hours of standing
on the Word to void that which I perceived as his sinister activity.
However, this seemed to have no effect. Situations remained.
Avoiding them or
trying to pray the problems away was of no use either. Troubles
sometimes arrived in a rush with no advance warning. It was
confusing. Shouldn't believers be exempt from the normal living that
existed for nonbelievers? Doesn't the writer of the psalms tell us
that the crooked will be made straight? Doesn't Jesus calm troubled
waters? But I also kept coming across words such as "suffering,"
"trials" and "testing" from New Testament
writers. Could it be that somehow the Father allowed those dreadful
situations in my life? If so, why?
The more I thought
about it, the more I came to recognize that difficulties, along with
other forms of trouble, serve a purpose in a believer's walk.
Over the years, it
has become clear that if we've laid our lives out at God's disposal,
if we've determined to be His disciples, then as the God whose
sovereignty reigns over all, He is in charge of them. As His
followers, like the sheep we are, we have yielded control of our
lives to His care. Where He guides us and into what pastures He leads
us, whether full or lush greenery or dry of anything but dust, must
have His stamp of approval upon them. Ultimately, difficulties of
most kinds are for our benefit and growth in Him.
It is a tenet of the
faith that the nature of Jesus, His seed within us, is to be
developed. In order for His life to have more evidence in our own as
He becomes more enlarged as our life force, the self-life must die.
Only He can change our lives into the image of His Son. How better
than to endure a number of Spirit-led difficulties in order to bring
us into a new awareness of His presence in and with us at all times,
while at the same moment creating a desire in us to remove the
ever-present self from the throne of our hearts? It is Jesus who must
occupy that space. It is His newly created, newly birth life in ours
that sanctifies us and brings us to levels of behavior that on our
own are just so many works.
Unlike Paul's
statement to his Philippian brethren that he suffered the loss of
everything in order to become more fully acquainted with Jesus, I
have spent too much of my Christian walk complaining about the
various depressing circumstances in which I found myself and
announcing loudly to the Lord that I didn't much agree with His plan
for my life. The road of discipling is a bumpy one, and I don't like
bumpy rides; they frighten me.
Perhaps that's the
way of many of us. We simply don't like disruptions, changes or
painful situations. We'd rather have a superhighway existence even in
spiritual matters. It's the human condition of our thinking and an
ease of living that we somehow expect as the true Christian walk. God
has other ideas. He will sometimes send us problems in order to train
us for His ultimate destiny. Despite the fact that we are in the
world in the physical sense, He guides us on a journey that is
spiritual in nature, while often using things of this world as His
tools. There is a type of sting in this walk, for the finger of God
will touch us with "saddle sores" of His holy pain,
cleansing crucible fires, loss of self-life and changed perspectives.
However, there's a why to all that seeming negativity. God has
a purpose in it. Despite the hurt, sorrow and defeats endured, it is
a wonderful purpose.
Looking at Rebekah's
life (see Gen. 24) as a type of our own Christian walk, we learn that
the messenger sent to get her, as a bride for Isaac is a type of the
Holy Spirit sent to prepare us for our heavenly bridegroom. Her trip
on camels was not an easy one. Neither is ours, but as believers, the
bride of Christ, we sometimes must take a peculiar and difficult
journey on the backs of some unlovely, beastly experiences on our way
to a fuller, deeper relationship with Jesus, all the while submitting
ourselves to the chastening effort of the Holy Spirit, who is
preparing us for that destiny.
Rather than seeing
our trials as stumbling blocks, let's embrace them as opportunities
to receive further preparation for that blessed day when we meet our
Bridegroom, Jesus, face to face.
Adapted from The
Camels Are Coming by Gretchen C. Nelson, copyright 2009, published by Creation House. If you're frustrated by life's difficulties and wondering why God is allowing them, this book will answer your questions. The author shares what she's learned about why God allows us to experience trouble and how He desires to bring us through them. To order a copy click on this link:
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PRAYER POWER FOR THE WEEK OF 3/8/2010
Thank God this week that He sent His Holy Spirit to lead, guide and direct you in your Christian walk. Praise Him in the midst of your difficulties and acknowledge that all will work for your good. Continue to pray for those affected by severe weather patterns around the country. Include the earthquakes in Chili and Haiti and thank Him that thousands are turning to Christ. Pray that the revival already begun will spread to all nations. Pray for those struggling in our current economy. Remember the persecuted church around the world, the peace of Jerusalem, our armed forces, president, elected officials and civic leaders. Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17-18; Ps. 122:6
Visit us at www.spiritledwoman.com (click on the address to get there now) where you'll find encouragement, inspiration, fellowship and fun. Please feel free to forward this Power Up! to a friend by clicking the "Send to a Friend" button at the top of this newsletter. (Don't use the forward button on the toolbar of your computer. If you do and one of the people you send it to "unsubscribes," you'll be unsubscribed as well and we won't know it. This won't happen if you click "Send to a Friend.")
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