Today’s
Scripture Reading (July 9, 2019): Psalm 66
&67
Well known
English eccentric, cleric, and writer Charles Caleb Colton said that “Times of great calamity and confusion have been productive
for the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace.
The brightest thunder-bolt is elicited from the darkest storm.” The most
significant trials can plant the seeds for our major successes. Of course, that
is dependent on our willingness to work through the trial at hand. If we
succumb to the test, if we go back to bed and pull the covers over our head and
try to forget that the trial exists, it is doubtful that anything will really
change. The strength that we gain from the trial is found in the resistance
that we offer as we move through the time of testing. And the greater the
trial, the greater the strength that is needed to defeat it.
One of the necessities of our resistance is a willingness to
be introspective and evaluate ourselves and our shortcomings. We have to be
willing to dig deep, and often painfully, to understand why we lost that job.
Or what lifestyle changes we can make as we battle that health crisis. Or the
origin of the conflict that threatens to bring us down. None of these things
are easy, but necessary if we are going to grow in strength as we move through
life’s storms.
The Psalmist
argues that God tests us, or at the very least, does not protect us from a time
of testing. I think one of our most commonly prayed prayers is one of
protection. “God, place a hedge of protection around us.” But for those who God
has called righteous, God tends to do the reverse. For instance, consider Job.
God removed the protection from around him because he knew that Job was his.
God had confidence that Job’s spirituality would not be impacted by sickness
and devastating loss. Instead, Job would be made stronger.
God did not
protect Jesus’s apostles. Instead, every one of them was sent through trials
that allowed them to succeed later in their ministries. He refined them like
silver, and as a result, they still have an impact on our world two thousand
years later.
Trials come.
Testing is a natural part of life. And if, while trusting in God, we are
willing to move through the fire, we will be changed and made stronger on the
other side. We should never be afraid of the testing that might come. Instead,
we should consider it a work out, a chance for us to resist, and become better
people as the time of testing passes.
Tomorrow’s
Scripture Reading: Psalm 71
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