Hope Learned through Trial
Jesus said, In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. According to Pastor Paul Nyquist of the Moody Bible Institute, persecution is a blessing and not a curse.
The world doesn’t know the meaning of the word blessing. It’s often a buzzword, a covert code word that conveys that someone is a Christian. The world thinks that blessings are favorable circumstances in the world around us… they think blessings are When you get the job you wanted, when your first grand child is born…. when the Angels finally win a game.
However Jesus’ definition of blessings are defined in the beatitudes. The final beatitude says, blessed are they when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, for great is your reward in heaven. According to 1 Peter 3:14, if you suffer and endure for the sake of righteousness, you shall be blessed. James 1:12 says blessed is the man who remains faithful under trial.
Thomas Payne said, the great man will pursue conscience until death. The founders of America and the signers of the Declaration of Independence suffered for their convictions. They knew that they would be persecuted for their stand for their God-given inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness based on godly virtue. To these ends they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in firm reliance on Divine Providence (of almighty God.)
The world thinks that enough is never enough. John D Rockefeller, the richest man at the time, was asked, “when is enough enough?” His answer: Just a little bit more. The lust of the flesh and the pride of life is an insatiable hunger… enough is never enough.
The perils of Paul are mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28: Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;
26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren;
27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.
28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches..
Through his suffering and pain Paul asked God to remove his “thorn in the flesh.” God finally answered his prayer. But God’s answer was not the answer Paul expected. God said, “My strength is made perfect in thy weakness… my grace is sufficient for thee.” The greatest life lessons are learned through the crucible of the melting pot and the refining fire of God’s purifying.
According to Philippians 3:4-10, Paul said, in the world’s eyes I had accomplished many great things…. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:
5. circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6. concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
Even though Paul had the right worldly credentials, He concluded, what the world values, I count worthless in order to gain Christ:
7. But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.
8. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9. and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
10. that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11. if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Paul knew that in order to live for Christ he had to die to himself…. Even though he had the right pedigree, born of the tribe of Benjamin, one of the most favored of Israel’s sons, and even though he was schooled in the strictest teachings of the Law of the Pharisees, even though he kept all 613 of the Old Testament Laws, Paul said, these things I count but loss so that I may gain Christ. He knew that his righteousness was not in the works of the Law, but in the righteousness of Christ.
He said, all of my worldly accomplishments, I count but dung, rubbish, excrement, that I may know Christ. Everything I’ve done that the world holds dear, I flush down the toilet so that I may gain the knowledge of Christ. It’s not for my own glory but for the glory of God through my Lord Jesus Christ.
Oswald Chambers said, if you enjoy being tortured and suffering pain, then you’re insane. However, if you suffer and endure for Christ, then you’re living on a higher plane than the physical comfort of this fallen world. If you love God above all, then you’re motivated to live for him and not for the pleasures of the world.
The greatest blessings of life are learned through suffering. Pete recalls that when his wife went into the operating room at MD Anderson for delicate surgery to remove her brain tumor, the doctors said, you can’t go with her into the operating room. Then God reassured Pete, you wont be there with her, but I’ll accompany her. This was the assurance Pete needed. He remembered what Suzan said, Joy is not the absence of pain. Joy is the presence of the Lord.
James said, count it all joy when you encounter various trials. For when tribulation is completed, God will reveal his perfect work in you… that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Paul said, that I may know the fellowship of his suffering…. That I, too, may die to self in order to live for God. Jesus said, whosoever shall hold on to his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake shall find it. As missionary Jim Elliot said, he is no fool who loses that which he cannot keep to keep that which he cannot lose.
Why is suffering a blessing and not a curse? When our heart’s desire is to be conformed to his image and to his suffering…. For tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience…. Proven character, the character of Christ in us the hope of Glory…. And in endurance and long suffering we will know by experience the meaning of hope and love…. For proving the character of Christ in us produces hope of the return of our Lord, and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the power of the Holy Spirit…
That through the trial and suffering and enduring, we may live to the praise of the glory of Thy grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
