Complete in Thee: "Embracing Eternity's View Amidst Earth's Challenges"

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

"Embracing Eternity's View Amidst Earth's Challenges"

(The title of this post is taken from Pastor's message on Sunday afternoon.)

The Lord has been teaching me so much lately about trials, and about seeing things from His perspective. In fact, I am becoming addicted to trying to see everything from Christ's perspective. All the events of this year have really helped me to do that. Following is some of what I have been learning.

God allows trials in our lives to make us more like Jesus. "Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations [various trials]: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:6-7). For the first time yesterday, I read 1 Peter 1 as though it had been written directly to me-- something I had never done before. I was reading it in light of Megan's and the Wagoners' deaths (it sometimes strikes me afresh as though it had never struck me before, and yesterday was one of those days), and it just seemed so real, so alive, so applicable. I learned that instead of responding to life's trials in a fleshly way (v. 14), we now have the power to be like Christ through it all, to be holy as He is holy (v. 15). During tragedy, we learn to depend on the Father as Christ did-- even though He is God. During conflicts with others, we learn to love as Christ loves-- unconditionally, sacrificially. In trials such as these, we ought not to look for others to change, but ourselves. Perhaps the Lord is trying to purge us from something in our lives, and fire is the only way.
God allows trials in our lives to glorify Himself. Read Ephesians 1. Over and over again, Paul proclaims that it is for "the praise of His glorious grace". He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace. We hope in Christ to the praise of His glory. We will one day acquire possession of our inheritance to the praise of His glory. God loves to show us how good He is, how omniscient, how omnipotent. In the normal pace of life, when all goes well, ease and carelessness clouds His goodness from our human eyes. It is in the times of trial, when we think life is so dark, that God actually pulls back the clouds and shows us how wonderful He is. I have learned more about His trustworthiness, goodness, wisdom, and strength in the past few months of tragedy and trial (big and small) than I could have in a whole year of living in a bed of roses.
God allows trials in our lives to prove us. In Matthew 7, we read of the "wise man" and the "foolish man". Usually, when we read that passage, we start singing that children's song: "The rain came down, and the floods came up..." and of course, we think the hand motions. But for once, let's try to think of that passage in a different way. Let's see it for what God is really teaching. The storms in our lives-- be they small or great, physical, emotional, spiritual-- prove the integrity of our lives and the foundation we have built upon. Trials prove where we place our hope. For instance, a huge economic crash will show whether a man put his hope in the Lord or in riches. A breakup with a boyfriend will prove whether a girl had given her whole heart to Jesus or absolutely lost it to a fallible person. A tragedy in the family or in one's circle of friends (as we had this year) will prove whether a person really believed, or whether they just said they believed, that God is always good and wise. God's Word tells us that the earth will one day dissolve, but He is unchanging, unshakable... forever. The biggest storm in life cannot shake the life that is founded on the Rock of Ages.
God will bring us triumphantly through each trial to eternal peace and blessing. In Revelation 7, we see the glorious scene of countless people, clothed in white and praising their Saviour in glorious chorus. These are the people who came through the great tribulation-- they suffered such terrible things, and yet they stood firm through Christ, and He brought them through to glorious rest. In this chapter we see such a beautiful picture of our Jesus-- He shelters them with His presence, He leads them like a Shepherd, He wipes all tears from their eyes. During trials, however big or small, we must remember this. Spring follows winter; rainbows follow the storm; peace follows pain; eternity follows earth (and proceeds it). Our struggles will one day end in glorious rest for all eternity. What a thrilling joy it will be to praise our Saviour in Heaven after the play of earth ends and we see Him glorified. What a great sight that will be! What words can describe it?

In Wives and Daughters, we follow the protagonist, Molly, through all sorts of heartache-- her father's remarriage, the man she loves throwing away his affections to another girl who

doesn't care a wit for him, friends dying, and her being criticized for things she didn't do but being unable to defend herself due to promises. But in the end, everything turns out for good. I feel like crying as I watch Roger and Molly standing in the rain... "Molly, have I any chance with you?" Through all the trials, she learns Christlike love, patience, endurance, discernment, and constancy. She comes through like gold, and when all she could wish for finally comes to be, it is even more wonderful, more exciting, than if it had all worked out in the first place, and she has grown into a beautiful, godly young woman. It the same type of story with Cranford. Disappointments, secrets, misunderstandings, even deaths... but in the end, Dr. Harrison and Sophie marry, Martha and Jem marry and are able to help Miss Mattie, Harry finally gets to go to school, Lady Ludlow finally comes to see what is important in life, Miss Mattie's brother comes back... and I just gave away a lot of spoilers... But there is joy after sorrow, and that is what makes Wives and Daughters and Cranford such sweet stories!

And here that is the way our lives are. One day we will come through, and how glad we will be that the Lord brought those things in our lives to make us all the closer to Him, and all the more joyful in Him. Now does it seem so strange that Peter says we "rejoice" in various trials? Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, "Rejoice!"

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PRAYER REQUESTS

"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints" (Ephesians 6:18)

PLEASE PRAY...

* That I would draw nearer to God every day and never allow my relationship to become stagnant ritual; particularly that I would grow in the area of submission, patience, 1 Corinthians 13 love, and wholehearted devotion

* That I might have wisdom as I edit "The Marquis' Daughter"; that the Lord would bless and work through it; and that I might find just the right publisher for it.

* That I would submit to the Lord's work in my life, whatever it may be; that I would take each opportunity He brings me (even the seemingly hard ones) to draw closer to Him and point others to Him

*That our Etsy shop might be successful and that it would be a means by which we can glorify God and share the Gospel

Ephesians 2:1-10

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

"The heart set to do the Father's will need never fear defeat. His promises of guidance may be fully counted upon. Does it make sense to believe that the Shepherd would care less about getting His sheep where He wants them to go than they care about getting there?"

"God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to."

"If God, like a father, denies us what we want now it is in order to give us some far better thing later on. The will of God, we can rest assured, is invariably a better thing."

"Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty."

"Victory over all the circumstances of life comes not by might, nor by power, but by a practical confidence in God and by allowing His Spirit to dwell in our hearts and control our actions and emotions. Learn in the days of ease and comfort, to think in terms of the prayer that follows, so that when the days of hardship come you will be fully prepared and equipped to meet them."

"And shall I pray, Oh, change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
Ah no, Lord, no, that never could be, rather
I pray Thee, Blend my human will with Thine."

"A crucified life cannot be self-assertive. It cannot protect itself. It cannot be startled into resentful words. The cup that is full of sweet water cannot spill bitter-tasting drops, however sharply it is knocked."

"And as we rest our hearts upon what we know (the certainty of the ultimate triumph of good), leaving what we do not know to the Love that has led us all our life long, the peace of God enters into us and abides. And then we see our light."

[A Practicing Christian]...it means that every single act and feeling, every experience, whether pleasant or unpleasant, must be referred to God. It means looking at everything as something that comes from Him, and always looking to Him and asking His will first, and saying, "How would he wish me to deal with this?"

Christ says: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you."

"I was not born to be free. I was born to adore and to obey."

"What is saving but taking us out of the dark into the light? There is no salvation but to know God and grow like Him."

"I will not try to convince you of anything about God. I cannot. You must know Him. I only tell you I believe in Him with all my heart. You must ask Him to explain Himself to you, and not take it for granted that He has done you a wrong because He has done what you do not like. Whether you seek Him or not, He will do you justice. But He cannot explain Himself unless you seek Him."

"Sometimes a thunderbolt will shoot from a clear sky; and sometimes into the life of a peaceful individual, without warning of gathered storm, something terrible will fall. And from that moment everything is changed. That life is no more what it was. Better it ought to be, worse it may be. The result depends on the life itself and it's response to the invading storm of trouble. Forever after, it's spiritual weather is altered. But for the one who believes in God, such rending and frightful catastrophies never come but where they are turned around for good in his own life and in other lives he touches."