08/28/2020
Our hardest, and most painful lessons in life are generally the ones that change us most completely, and can remake us at a very basic level. It is easy to teach someone how to do a certain thing, like to make up their bed when they get out of it, or brush their teeth each day, but to teach them to be a different person... not be afraid of heights, or to love God more intensely, requires a much deeper experience, and that often involves suffering, and affliction.
“It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.”
Psalm 119:71 ESV
David was not a perfect man, and yet he was called a man after God’s own heart. He learned lessons that were borne by much suffering, and righteousness from great sin that caused him incredible remorse. We read his pleading in Psalms as he was hunted by Saul, and likewise we witness his grief as the son of his sinfulness was taken from him.
“On the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him the child is dead? He may do himself some harm.””
2 Samuel 12:18 ESV
So although David suffered throughout his life, it served to transform him into the man who God took into His own heart, and these were not lessons that were easily mastered, or lost on David...
“Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.”
Psalm 119:66-67 ESV
We all pass through difficult lessons in faith that are not easily learned, but which change us in ways that more trivial experiences could never have accomplished. We have our hearts nearly ripped from within us as we lose children, and loved ones, we weep bitter tears into the long nights over sins that torment us, and sometimes we walk alone through empty wildernesses calling out the name of God with only silence returning. Yet, as if it were a sudden flash of lightning, or perhaps a long slow healing that suddenly becomes evident, we receive a taste of God’s revelation. It might come in a whisper, sometimes in a reflection of where we have been, or at other times as God snatches us from the jaws of lions, but when it comes we look at ourselves, and see more of the image of God than we could ever have dreamed possible... and our heart is lifted up as the peace of a God settles over us.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:7 ESV
So this might be a day when you are in the midst of such a lesson, and you are suffering in some immense fashion. Maybe you are praying and hearing only silence returning to you, perhaps you are mourning a loss that is ripping your heart in two, or threatening to destroy your faith, but rest assured that God is transforming you at this very moment, and that His peace awaits you on the morrow.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the difficult lessons I suffer in life, because in them you are glorified, and I am transformed in magnificent ways. Your peace awaits me Lord, as you circumcise my heart, and pare the rough edges from my faith. Make me to be as humble as Jesus, and as soft in my touch as the brush of His garment against those who seek His healing. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who leads me to the edge of my endurance, and then extends me yet further. Great are you who teaches me to trust in you as you say “Come!”, and to step out when I see no solid ground before me. Transform me Heavenly Father, and make me to reflect you in all that I do. All glory is yours Lord as the world sees me a changed man, and the image of your Son Jesus is made evident in who I have become. I pray that you are pleased in me, as I face reproach for your sake, and that you will call me to your table to dine with you forevermore.
“O Lord, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach. Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.”
Jeremiah 15:15-16 ESV
Rich Forbes