06/11/2024
We have spoken of our troubles and afflictions as they relate to our faith through prayer, and today we revisit this topic again. Pastor E.M. Bounds simply called his short devotional thought "Affliction", and wrote "The greatest value in trouble comes to those who turn to God in prayer. In fact, the only way to endure trouble patiently, is to pray consistently.” Scripture tells us this...
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”
2 Corinthians 4:17 KJV
Affliction is quite simply the pain and suffering in life. If we take all of the affliction we experience over the course of our lives and stacked it up by degree it would look like a pyramid, with the most severe instances being the pinnacle. The bulk of our afflictions would fall into the "annoyance" class of pain; while the severe troubles we face are far fewer.
Every day we pray regarding many topics and needs, but we always ask for relief from those things which are troubling us. Most days this is fairly light lifting with us asking God to remove a tweak of pain here or an inconvenience of life there, and these are met in fairly short order, but then the real troubles spring up... The heavy lifting of our prayer world.
For God there is little difference in the effort required to heal a leper or to remove a splinter, but the suffering we experience in our lives is far greater with the leprosy than the aggravation of a small sliver. What I find most interesting is that although the cure for both ills is the same... Faith and prayer... the more severe problems we experience seem to come with the requirement for a degree of hope and patience attached. For these times, our prayers must be persistent, and prayed more fervently. There is an amount of suffering associated with these difficult times as well. This suffering isn't as obvious during our typical issues and intercession.
So what is going on here? Why is it that God allows us to stew in the major problems of our lives while passing over the everyday variety with ease? I believe it has to do with the subject of the lesson He is teaching us.
When I was in grade school I remember having great difficulty grasping the concept of long division. Math wasn't one of my favorite subjects, but long division was my mortal enemy. Every time I would think I had the process down, some little detail would trip me up. So day after day I would be called to the front of the room, handed a piece of chalk, and given a series of long division problems to be solved. Invariably I would work my way through the problems only to find that my answer was incorrect yet again. The teacher would then go over my solution step by step and with great patience attempt to lead me to understanding.
The lessons of faith taught during periods of severe crisis in our lives is a spiritual form of long division. God patiently helps us work through the problem a step at a time with the goal being that, in the end, we will have learned how to solve the problem ourselves.
One day I went to the chalk board where the teacher had written some particularly difficult problems. She obviously had more faith in me than I had in myself, because I stood there for what seemed to be an eternity just staring at them... Then it happened! The light came on and what had been so difficult before became painfully obvious to me, and I began to solve each problem methodically, quickly, easily, and correctly.
I remember the excitement in my teacher's voice and the smile in her eyes as she placed a big check mark beside each solution! I was overcome by joy! The problem was over... However, the biggest problem wasn't any that were written on the board; it was in teaching me how to solve them. The greatest skill wasn't in me learning, but rather in her teaching me, and she was an amazing teacher.
The largest problems we face in our lives seem to present us with the most pain, but they also present God with the greatest opportunity for instruction! As we pray each day for God's help and our tears mingle with the sweat of fervent prayer, God is leading us patiently through the steps it takes to learn a lesson. Can we see the solution yet? Will it take another day at the chalkboard?
Pastor Bounds closed his devotional message with a few short sentences in this way... "The school of prayer is where patience is learned and practiced."
But for me, the lesson is quite different... "The greatest joys of learning are coupled to the most difficult and trying problems." Spiritually this is solving our difficult problems of faith with a worldly piece of chalk and a teacher who believes in us. God believes in us, and in our most sorrowful or trying moments He is patiently instructing us and placing us before a spiritual chalkboard over and over again until we see His light.
When I conquered long division I felt a rush of incredible joy and accomplishment, but it paled in comparison to that of Mrs. Dyer my grade school teacher (Yes I still remember her name). Like Mrs. Dyer, God doesn't take pleasure in our problems... Only in the teaching, and our ability to solve them.
This morning let's pray that the lesson God is teaching us through our afflictions is one which we master quickly, but that if we don't, that we have enough chalk and days at the chalkboard to accomplish the task.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the difficult and painful problems we encounter in life. Thank you Lord for the time we spend with you in prayer, and the many lessons you teach us as we wait for your answer to come. These tribulations come in various flavors, and each one presents us with a different spiritual challenge to face with you, but they are all valuable to our growing faith and coming to know you in a way we haven’t grasped before. Help us Father to recognize the lesson beneath every problem in life, and to become more faithful and righteous as we walk through it with you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who never fails us, and walks every step of the way with us as we journey through life, and face all the problems we encounter there. Merciful are you Father as you whisper instruction and encouragement to us, and bring us back to the spiritual chalkboard day after day until the lessons of holiness are learned, and learned well. Your grace flows over us during our days before the board, and as each step we take with you is made perfect at last. Praised be your name for all we overcome, and every new accomplishment in faith that becomes such a part of us as we suffer before our problems in prayer, your Word, and Jesus. Great are you who is the eternal Master Teacher, and the recipient of every honor and glory achieved, as you guide us through our lives. Hear our prayers today Abba, as we place our problems at your feet, take the chalk of prayer in our hands, and step up to the chalkboard of life once again. See and feel the joy in us as we master each new lesson, and hear us praise and worship you in our triumph over them. You are indeed the Great Creator and the Master over all things, and we cherish every moment spent under your tutelage, and every moment following Jesus Christ as His example in life gives us perspective in our walk of faith, belief, and through our own lives. Help us today Father, and at the completion of our days let us hear you say that after every trial and tribulation we have faced we are pleasing to you, and worthy of sitting eternally at your feet.
Amen!
Rich Forbes