Don't run away

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1: 12

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast. Psalm 139: 7 – 10

All of us will go through trials and tests in our Christian walk.  Sometimes circumstances will seem to build up against us and at other times they come from our own mistakes and sin. God permits them in order that what is on the inside is exposed to us. Often it is only through difficulties that we get to see what is really in our hearts. Sometimes this is not good viewing!

Under pressure our attitudes, prejudices and beliefs come to light. It is often when things are tough that we discover what ungodly beliefs, pride, selfishness and insecurity are underneath the surface. This is not a surprise for God but can be a big surprise for ourselves. There have been times when I have been mortified by what has been exposed in my heart by the time of testing.  However this is not to make us feel bad about ourselves but to free us from sin, pride and insecurity.

The first thing that can happen though is that we want to run away and hide and we would be in good company. Adam, Elijah and Jonah all tried that one. Moses argued with God and tried to get out of an assignment that seemed to expose all his weaknesses. Our model though instead should be David. 

When caught in adultery and murder, he went straight to God and pleaded with him not to take his Spirit from him (Psalm 51). Psalm 139 written by David shows he knew you can never get away from God – even if like Jonah you run to the far side of the sea – even there God will find you and David was comforted by this. Hiding from God and other Christians in our times of weakness and testing should be the last thing we do. Instead we must press into God and seek out the company of trusted Christian friends.

God is for us, not against us.  He does not want us weighted down and hampered by sin and weakness. He wants us free from them to enjoy the fullness of his plans and purpose for our lives. The next time you stumble or feel under attack by either people who discredit you, speak unkindly of you or reject you or by the devil spinning his lies, don’t run away. Press into God’s presence. Whether the situation is of your making or by others, seek God and his comfort. Don’t try running away – it really doesn’t help. God will find us; God will have his way and we can completely trust his loving dealings in our lives the first time.   

Psalm 13

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me? Psalm 13: 1 - 2

It is one of the hard facts of the Christian faith that it is the difficult times that produce the greatest fruit in our lives, if we make the most of them. That of course is the dilemma because it is the hard times that are most difficult to make anything out of.  All of our good intentions fly out of the window and every truth that we believe about God and our lives as Christians is tested to the limit in our trials.

A year ago our youngest son, who had been living in America for a year, was getting ready to be married to a very nice American girl in USA and two weeks before the event everything went wrong.  Our daughter in law was having great difficulty getting a British visa and to add to the difficulty the dog chewed her passport making it unacceptable to be used at all. The delay caused by getting a new passport meant she would have no passport to go with on honeymoon. They had spent a lot of money on the honeymoon, applying for a visa and now she needed a new passport as well.

In addition to all this, Hurricane Irene blew up the north east coast on USA wrecking the park they were going to use for the picnic that they had planned for their reception. They had no visa, no passport and it looked like no reception venue and no honeymoon. Everything was awful – it was no one’s fault but why had God allowed it? They were two lovely Christian young people who had been faithful to God and now on the biggest day of their life so far everything had gone pear shaped. Why hadn’t God intervened?  It just wasn’t fair!

They were upset and all parents on both sides of the Atlantic were upset and personally I found it very hard talking to a devastated son who was thousands of miles away. I felt really down and moaned and moaned to God. My attitude was not good but at least I was talking to the only person who could actually do anything about the situation. Two days later I felt so low and quite ‘by chance’ I listened to a song called Psalm 13 by one of the Vineyard bands. The lyrics touched me deeply as they spoke right into the situation. I read the psalm and the last two verses were ‘But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me’ Psalm 13: 5 – 6. The light bulbs came on and with no evidence to support it I declared that I will trust in God’s unfailing love – why?  Because the Lord has been good to me.

I may have been squeezed till I almost screamed but I could never deny that God had been good to me so I could trust him despite all the evidence to the contrary. I knew all would be well. On the other side of the Atlantic my son’s future mother-in-law was urging them to trust God. Within a week all the situations had been turned around; the sun shone on the wedding day, another reception venue had been found for the picnic, our daughter in law got two passports – one for the honeymoon and one for the visa - and two days after the wedding her British visa was granted.

God is good and utterly reliable and trustworthy despite the circumstances and we will never discover this for ourselves till we have had this truth tested in the fires of adversity. I now KNOW I can rely on God because he has been good to me and even in the midst of difficulties God is still good to me and all his children.

Do not fear the fires of afflictions but ask God to help you walk through them with integrity and honesty, praising and worshipping our Creator who is good and wonderful no matter how hard the road we are walking on. You will bear increasing fruit as you trust him because you will know for yourself the truth of God’s goodness and faithfulness even in the midst of adversity. Cross references:

1. Psalm 13:1 : Ps 6:3
2. Psalm 13:1 : Ps 42:9; La 5:20
3. Psalm 13:1 : S Dt 31:17; S Ps 22:24; S Isa 8:17; S 54:9
4. Psalm 13:2 : Ps 42:4; 55:2; 139:23; Isa 33:18; Da 7:28
5. Psalm 13:2 : Ps 94:3
6. Psalm 13:3 : Ps 9:12; 25:18; 31:7; 35:23; 59:4; 80:14; 107:41; 119:50, 153
7. Psalm 13:3 : S Ps 4:1
8. Psalm 13:3 : S Ezr 9:8
9. Psalm 13:3 : Ps 76:5; 90:5; Jer 51:39
10. Psalm 13:4 : S 1Ki 19:2; Ps 25:2
11. Psalm 13:4 : Ps 38:16; 118:13
12. Psalm 13:5 : S Ps 6:4
13. Psalm 13:5 : S Job 33:26; Ps 9:14; Isa 25:9; 33:2
14. Psalm 13:6 : S Ex 15:1; Ps 7:17

 

Consider it pure joy

‘Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many kinds because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.’ James 1: 3 – 4

There are several times in the Bible when the believer is encouraged to rejoice in the face of trials or testings and persecution. For some this may be the very real possibility of losing their job, being ostracised from the family, being beaten, imprisoned or killed for their faith. When Peter and John were imprisoned and threatened by the Sanhedrin they came away rejoicing that they had been considered worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (Acts 5: 41).

Most of us will not face these kinds of threats or persecution but we can nevertheless learn how to deal with our own difficulties.  The one thing we tend not to consider when we face trials is pure joy. The first thing tends to be anger, disappointment and frustration or irritation. We rail against the instrument of the trial whether that be a person or situation and probably have a rant and rave and if the person is close, we may then do the stony silence routine. There is definitely no rejoicing!

I have learned over the years that after the initial anger or frustration that I feel, I then ask God what is going on and what can I learn from this?  This takes things away from me and how I feel. Sometimes the devil is behind it and what looks like a person being mean, unkind or inconsiderate is actually the devil using a situation which we may have played a part in to bring division, discord and disharmony – his stock in trade.

Other times it is the weakness of the flesh, mine or another’s but nevertheless there are lessons to learn and fruit to grow. Our friend forgiveness opens the door to turning a horrible experience into a situation that develops faith, perseverance and brings us to maturity. Having forgiven and been forgiven by God, we can then attack the enemy, tell him to get off the situation and ask for healing and restoration.

I have seen many domestic tiffs miraculously turned around by this. Having dealt with your own frustrations and anger and asked God’s forgiveness, we can then go and apologise (often regardless of the rights and wrongs).  The transformation can be rapid and we will have grown in maturity. Instead of a stony silence and ‘I am hurt and you’re not helping’ attitude, normal service is resumed and we will have learned valuable lessons in love and grace. We will have stepped up from ‘poor me’ or worse still self righteous indignation to becoming mature men and women of God.

Sometimes of course the situation is more serious but the same principle of not feeling sorry for ourselves but looking to God to bring healing, restoration and spiritual growth in our lives is the same. There have been a couple of times when our pastors (of many years ago) treated us quite badly and were quite inconsiderate and hurtful. I felt so let down and disappointed but managed to find forgiveness and let God heal my heart. At the time a friend told me that in years to come, I would be glad about what had happened which seemed unbelievable at the time. Now looking at the situation, I can rejoice over what was so painful and over which I shed many tears. I learned so much about trusting God not man to bring good out of situations. I have grown and so has my perseverance and faith.

Several times Jesus and the apostles talk of rejoicing in difficulties and trials because of the maturity they bring to our faith. When we face trials, let us use them as a step up to greater levels of grace and maturity and let us see them not as an obstacle but as an opportunity to grow into Christ like character.