When life becomes difficult, it helps a great deal if you
can see things from God's perspective. This isn't easy. It
takes a great deal of prayer, and a lot of dying to self.
What is God's perspective upon our problems? First of all,
we must understand that He loves us very much, and that He wants
the very best for us, even when things look very bleak. It's
sometimes hard to realize that He loves us deeply, particularly
when circumstances are difficult. But I believe that God has
every circumstance of our lives completely under His control.
There is a purpose for everything, whether or not that purpose is
clear to us.
Even when we suffer, God very skillfully uses it to benefit
us. While the enemy, or any human perpetrators of our suffering,
may have evil intentions, God can still turn all of these
circumstances around for our good, just as He did for Joseph, who
was sold into slavery by his brothers, and who, as an innocent
man, suffered many years in prison before he eventually became
ruler over all of Egypt under Pharoah, and saved his whole family
from famine.
How does suffering benefit us? Well, it has the potential
for tremendous character development. It strengthens faith and
trust in Him, if we allow it to do so. It develops our ability
to love those who are cruel to us. This takes practice, and can
only be learned in the midst of persecution. I believe this is
why God permits Christians to suffer persecution. He allows us
to be persecuted so that we can learn to love the way God loves.
Jesus truly loved and forgave those who crucified Him. If we
imitate Him in this, knowing that God is our deliverer, and
remembering that, even if our bodies are completely destroyed, no
one can permanently harm us if we abide in His perfect will, then
we will be able to withstand any storm, no matter how severe.
At this very moment, by means of adversity, He is training
us in the matters of faith. Through all of our experiences, we
are learning that God is big enough to get us out of any
difficulty, no matter how severe. He is more than able to
deliver us, for nothing is too difficult for Him.
Now, if we become bitter because of our circumstances, then
we circumvent God's purposes in our lives. He would have us to
rejoice in the midst of tribulation because trials work patience
into our lives. But this is the exact opposite of what one would
expect, and it therefore does not come easily, yet this outlook
is essential for us if we are to survive the severe storms of
life.
The attitude of joy in the midst of difficulty is not
something that we can manufacture, or work up, in and of
ourselves. We must ask God for His power to deal properly with
each situation as it arises in our lives. It usually means doing
the exact opposite of what would come to us naturally in the
normal course of our lives.
Let me give you a couple of examples. What would you do if
somebody took all of the credit for something that you had worked
hard to accomplish for many years or all of your life? Or, to
cite another example, what would be your reaction if someone, by
saying bad things about you, got a job or a promotion that had
been reserved for you? Or, what if somebody stole your life
savings? To the man or woman of faith, such things need not be
disasters, because God is our provider. He is the one who raises
up the downtrodden, and who takes vengeance upon those who harm
the innocent. We must not take retribution into our own hands or
we will lose the benefits that would accrue to those who suffer
blamelessly. In order to refrain from taking vengeance, we need
to be able to step back and consider how God views us in our
circumstances.
How, then, can we begin to see things from God's vantage
point? We must start by asking Him for wisdom and revelation.
We must ask for His help, that we may see our present situation
the way He sees it. Then, once He has granted us this insight,
we must pray for the strength and ability to act accordingly.
It's one thing for me to know that I must not retaliate when I
have been wronged, but it's quite another thing for me to behave
accordingly. When I am actually able to return good for evil
graciously, it is only through the work of the grace, or the
enabling power, of God. We must pray for an extra measure of
this power, so that we can be clothed, as it were, with the
attitude of forgiveness.
It is essential that we act according to the dictates of
conscience, and that we be scrupulous about this. If we suspect
that we might be fighting God in any area of our lives, then it
is essential that we surrender it to Him. Otherwise, He might
not grant to us the illumination necessary for our current
situation, and our eyes will not be opened to enable us to see
the storm from His perspective.
When He does grant us His perspective, suddenly our problems
don't seem as hopeless as they once did. As He deepens our
faith, we begin to see that He is bigger than any problem. As He
grants us compassion, we begin to realize that there are many
people who suffer with far worse problems than our own. As He
grants us the power to get a glimpse of the depths of His love
for us, we begin to see His hand in all of our circumstances,
using even adversity for our own benefit. This enabling power,
or grace, is an essential ingredient for our welfare. As He
grants us faith in His tremendous love for us and in His power to
do all things, He often delivers us completely from pain or
adversity.
Do you remember the parable that Jesus once told about the
five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins? The five wise
virgins were able to enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the
five foolish virgins were not. What was the difference between
the wise and foolish? They all had oil in their lamps. But only
the prudent virgins took an extra measure of oil in flasks along
with their lamps. What does this extra oil represent? I believe
that it represents the extra measure of the grace of God that
enables you to see things from His perspective and to act
accordingly. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. But
some of them did not have that extra measure of His Spirit which
was necessary when the storms of life came in full force.
The deciding factor will be whether you will be able to soar
above the problems of life from the heights of God's perspective.
The extra measure of oil represents the extra measure of the
grace of God that is needed to view things His way, and to deal
successfully with life's problems because of this heavenly
perspective.
How do we get this extra measure of oil? Before the storms
come, we must ask God to open our eyes so that we will be able to
see all of our circumstances from his vantage point, both now,
and later, when the storms are raging all about us. And we must
ask Him now for the grace we will need to face these storms when
they come.
The Lord wants us to learn to trust Him in the midst of
suffering, but it isn't easy. It requires an extra measure of
His power, or grace, but this is necessary if we are to enter
successfully into the kingdom of heaven. He is in the process of
training us now for the battle to end all battles. This coming
conflict is something the likes of which this world has never
seen. He wants us to be ready. The only way we can be ready is
to cooperate with Him right now, in our present circumstances.
Through adversity we learn faith, trust, and obedience.
According to the book of Hebrews, Jesus, who was perfect, learned
obedience through the things that He suffered. He never
complained, yet, step by step, He was led through a series of
adverse circumstances, all of which were ordained of God, in
order that he might be strengthened in obedience.
If Jesus, who was perfect, needed training in obedience
through suffering, then certainly the rest of us, who are not yet
perfect, need it even more urgently. God is training all of us
for spiritual warfare. He knows what we need to learn in order
to survive and overcome in the great contest at the end of the
age, and He is allowing certain things to happen to us in order
to prepare us. He loves us deeply, and He does not want us to be
casualties when the hosts of the enemy engage themselves against
the Lord and His armies.
I believe that we are still only in the preparatory stages,
but that a spiritual battle is coming that will require of each
of us a strength of character, and trust in God, which we do not
yet possess. For most of us, the only way to be adequately
prepared is through certain forms of suffering or adversity,
taylor made to strengthen us and give us the resilience that we
will need for the hour of testing.
If God permits certain calamities in our lives, we should
view them with the realization that He is preparing us. He loves
us and desires that we not be victims of the far worse calamities
that He knows will yet come upon the whole world. I believe that
it is His desire that none should perish, but that everyone learn
the lessons of the present moment, so that we can be preserved
during this time of destruction. He wants all of us to turn from
our former ways of doing things and to learn His ways, which are
the very opposite of our own. He wants us to flourish, and He
knows that this will be impossible unless we submit to His
dealings in our lives.
In the midst of the coming great battle, it will not be the
words that you speak, or the prayers that you pray, that will
make a difference to your survival, so much as the degree to
which your character has been steeled. What will matter is the
extent to which your training has had any real effect upon your
life and character. Your preservation in the midst of the coming
storm will depend upon the extent to which you are ready and able
to suffer reproach for Christ's sake, and whether you are able to
put the principles of the gospel into effect in your everyday
life.
May God grant us the ability to see that all of our
cicumstances, good and bad, are in His power, and that in His
love, He is using them to shape us and prepare us, so that we
will not be casualties in the storm that is rapidly approaching.
And as we begin to see things more fully from His perspective,
may He grant us the extra measure of grace that we need in order
to act accordingly, and may we honor that grace by complying with
it in our lives and in our actions. In the name of our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Richard M. Riss
Union Bible Church, Old Bridge, N.J., September 13, 1992