Lessons Learned from Weakness, Part 2

November, 2008

by: Jack Hughes

In the last Calvary Review I started to relate some of the lessons that God has recently taught me or more accurately “attempted” to re-teach through trials. Though trials are no fun and not sought for purely because of the misery they subject us to, God does use trials for our good. God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Rom. 8:28). Knowing God is working all things for the believer’s good is a comforting truth. Trials for the believer are like the threshing of wheat which releases the chaff in our life yet allows the golden grain of godly character to remain. We must learn to accept the hard truth that in order to become like Jesus we need to suffer painful trials, sometimes lots of them. The author of Hebrews surprises us when he writes in Heb. 5:8 when speaking of Christ he says, “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” This does not mean that Jesus was disobedient and then learned to be obedient through trials. It means that Jesus was already obedient and trials allowed Him to learn greater degrees and kinds of obedience through suffering. Surely if this was good and necessary for Jesus, it is for us as well. Thomas Watson in his book The Mischief of Sin wrote:

When we are brought low, let our faith be high. Let us believe that God intends us no harm. Though He casts us into the deep, He will not drown us. Believe that He is still a Father. He afflicts us in as much mercy as He gives Christ to us. By His rod of discipline, He fits us for the inheritance, [Col. 1:12]. Oh, let this star of faith appear in the dark night of affliction. Jonah’s faith was never more in heaven than when he lay in the belly of Hell (Jonah 2:4).

Talk to those lovers of God who have suffered great trials and afflictions and they will tell you some of the sweetest times they have ever had with the Lord were in the midst of affliction. God often seems closest, or more accurately, we draw closer to God, in the midst of painful trials and afflictions. God is always there, waiting for us to draw close to him but often, like stubborn mules, we will not draw close on our own. It often takes the bit and bridle of trials to spur us and prod us into close communion with Him. Once there we discover how wonderful it is, but too frequently, after the trial is past, we often wander away again.

In the previous Calvary Review I discussed three lessons God is trying to teach me from trials.

The first lesson – God is God and I am not

While this truth seems self-evident, nevertheless it is a truth I need to keep in mind. Sometimes I forget who is God and who is not. I act like the world is on my shoulders rather than God’s. If things do not go my way, my attitudes, emotions, and responses often reveal that I have forgotten who is God and who is not. Maybe you can relate.

A second lesson – I Need God All the Time

Again, a very simple truth that most Christians would be glad to give lip service to. Yet when under fire we often run to our own strength, wisdom, and efforts. When the trial that God has placed us in finally depletes all our resources, then we are forced to rely on Him, which is what we should have been doing all along.

Third, I have been reminded – it is hard to watch from the shore

When others are busy doing ministry, fighting the good fight, and sailing the stormy seas of life, and trials place me on shore, it is hard to do nothing but watch. Sometimes God takes us out of the game and puts us on the bench. It is there, while sitting on the bench, that God desires to teach us contentment, patience, and perseverance, to learn to accept that it is God’s good will that we sit and wait. And though we may feel like a thoroughbred horse, at the start of the race, behind the gate, we must wait. This waiting is good for us because it forces us to remember the first two lessons already mentioned.

Fourth Lesson – It is Easier to Prescribe Medicine Than to Take it Yourself

Have you ever had a doctor who is overweight tell you that you should lose weight? Have you ever seen healthcare professionals smoking behind a hospital or medical building? Maybe you know a nutritionist who doesn’t eat well, a physical education instructor who doesn’t exercise, or a landscaper with an ugly yard. We wince when people who make it their business to tell others how to live their life in a certain area do not live that way themselves.

The same problem exists in the lives of those who preach and teach God’s Word. We can know the right answers and yet not live them out. If circumstances are not similar, we may not even have the same opportunities to live them out. I may be able to give biblical counsel to others in a particular circumstance and yet never find myself in that same circumstance. I may never have a child die, a wife leave me, or suffer with cancer. Yet I can, through the study of God’s Word, know how to respond to these kinds of trials and encourage others to apply God’s Word to their life during trials I have never experienced.

Yet there comes a time when God sees fit to force us to take the medicine we so easily prescribe to others. It is not always easy. Sometimes it is hard to swallow the pill. Other times the medicine doesn’t take away the pain. Without even realizing it we can begin to complain and grumble about our situation and in doing so deny the sovereignty of a good God who has placed us in the trial. We act as if Jesus isn’t the great physician of souls. If someone were to come to us in the same situation we are suffering, we would be quick to advise them in a pious tone, “Sir, the Word of God says … all you need to do is …” Yet, when we find ourselves in the midst of trials we may discover how difficult it is to take the counsel we so readily give to others.

So it is good and right for those who prescribe medicine to take it themselves and patiently wait for the cure. They need to do this for several reasons. First, because it is right. Secondly, because it helps them have better bed-side manners. It is much easier to sympathize with others when you yourself have gone through the same or similar trial. It was Charles Spurgeon who said, “Those who are honored of their Lord in public have usually to endure a secret chastening, or to carry a peculiar cross, lest by any means they exalt themselves, and fall into the snare of the devil.” Sometimes the chastening isn’t so peculiar, but common. God wants us to feel the pain of others that we might learn to be better shepherds.

Fifth Lesson – Jesus is Enough.

You might be thinking to yourself, “But Jack, these are simplistic truths, infantile lessons, things every young Christians knows.” This is true, but there is a great deal of difference between knowing a thing in your mind and living out a thing in your life. We might sit watching our favorite sport, yelling at the players for not doing what we think is best, and yet we ourselves could not even run down the field without having a coronary or collapsing in sheer exhaustion. Too often when trials strike we turn to our own resources, ingenuity, and strength instead of Jesus. We may do the right thing when we see trials coming from afar and have time to prepare, but when they ambush us without warning we often don’t instinctively do the right thing. I imagine this is why Peter said in I Pet. 4:12-13, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” Often we are surprised at the fiery ordeal which comes upon us and instead of doing the right thing we instinctively do the wrong thing. It is only with practice that we learn to do the right thing when trials strike.

“Jesus is enough” is a truth most Christians know in their mind, but a truth that few live out well. When we are healthy, wealthy, and wise in our own estimation we can think that “we” are enough. Like Nebuchadnezzar we think to ourselves, “Is this not Babylon the Great that I have built?” Yet, when our armies are defeated, when our kingdom has fallen into the hands of the enemy, when our riches have been plundered, when we have been forsaken by our loved one, and our strength has utterly failed, then and only then can we truly learn from experience that Jesus is enough. When the wisdom of man, medicine, and machinery fails, and we turn to Jesus, we experience the valuable truth – Jesus is enough. It is a hard won truth, but those who have obtained it are always glad they did at whatever the cost.

Sixth Lesson – Trials Teach Me like Nothing Else

Can Because we are sin cursed children of Adam, we lust for ease and pleasure. We work hard and spend a lot of money to make sure our lives are as comfortable as possible. This is a problem because we rarely if ever grow from ease and pleasure. Charles Spurgeon who suffered many trials in his life said, “I am afraid that all the grace that I have got of my comfortable and easy times and happy hours, might almost lie on a penny. But the good that I have received from my sorrows, and pains, and griefs, is altogether incalculable… Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister’s library.”

In Heb. 11:17 we are reminded that God tested Abraham when he told him to sacrifice Isaac. This was surely not even on the radar of Abraham’s game plan, but it is what God wanted. Painful, agonizing, fearful, Abraham moved to sacrifice his son, a son that was given to Abraham through a miracle of God. Isaac was the promised child. Yet Abraham, by God’s grace, passed the painful test and followed through to the very end. In return God blessed him greatly, along with his descendants, and now he is known as “The Father of Faith.” Yet Abraham’s exceptional faith could not have been seen without an exceptional trial to reveal it. Jerry Bridges in his book Trusting God said, “If you stop and think about it, you will realize that most godly character traits can only be developed through adversity.”

Trials are God’s painful and good gift to us. This is why James wrote in James 1:2-4, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” This is what God wants for us and He gives us what He wants for us through trials.

A couple of years ago a dear Christian woman, Jody Frankfurt, discovered she had cancer. She and her husband Scott were thrust into one of those fiery trials that all of us fear might come upon us. As the cancer slowly won the battle of conquering Jody’s flesh, the Spirit was winning the battle in her and her husband’s life. On their web site they listed the “Top Ten Best Things About Our Trial”:

1. We don't need television
2. There is only today
3. Our prayer life is revolutionized
4. Jesus is nearer than we have ever known
5. Scripture is on fire as we read it
6. Our love for each other has never been stronger or more beautiful
7. Having nothing is having everything
8. Heaven dominates
9. Relationships with everyone deepen
10. God uses our trial to promote the glorious Gospel of Christ

What do we learn from trials like this? Trials can teach things like nothing else can. God loves us through trials.