Trusting God through Trials

Very helpful, encouraging, challenging words of testimony from the Harms family.

Smooth Sailing?

The Lord definitely called Paul and Silas on mission to Macedonia—it was indisputable:  “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night:  a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’” (Acts 16:9).  So they sailed from Troas across the north Aegean Sea toward Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea.

And in so doing, the Lord definitely led his global ambassadors into places where they’d face fierce opposition and violent persecution.  At Philippi Paul and Silas were arrested, flogged, and shackled—all due to false accusations.  In Thessalonica a mob drove them out of town (they escaped by cover of darkness).  Then, after preaching in the synagogue of Berea, raging Thessalonian adversaries hunted Paul and Silas down, and they had to run for their lives once again.

This seems unsettling:  God leads his missionary team into Mace­donia, but then he doesn’t protect them from hostile powers and intense suffering while they’re proclaiming the gospel and planting churches there. What do we make of this apparent tension?

I say “apparent” because, in God’s scheme of things, all things work together for the good of his people (Romans 8:28).  It’s just that we must allow the Lord to achieve that good on his terms and in his time.  We may think it’s wrong for Christian witnesses to suffer harm as they spread the truth of Christ.  But have we considered the value of the testimony of Christians who find their true joy in the love of Jesus even though they suffer?  Don’t forget 1 Thessalonians 1:6:  the newly born-again believers there received the word of Christ amidst much affliction “with the joy of the Holy Spirit” (cf. James 1:2-4).

Or think back to Philippi (Acts 16):  what does it say to the jailer when his Christian prisoners, bleeding from flogging, feet fastened in the stocks, sing songs of praise to God in their dark cell?  We might assume it would have been better if Paul and Silas had been kept comfortable all along their mission journey, but that assumption is entirely now-centered and self-focused.  What about eternal conse­quences?  And what about the potential impact on unbelievers?

Here’s the point:  when the Lord’s at work in our lives, his leading does not and is not supposed to mean smooth sailing.  So if you assume God owes you smooth sailing, think again.  And if your “faith” in Christ is conditional upon being granted smooth sailing, you need to get on your knees before the One who called you to take up your cross (Luke 9:23) and ask if it’s really faith that you have. 

Assuming we should have a comfy, cushy Christian lifestyle, and supposing that our witness in this world ought not to bring us into any kind of trouble, is just wrong-headed, unbiblical thinking.  Plus, that kind of self-oriented, comfort-driven vision for the church will divert us from Jesus’ mission.  He’s called us to go and make disciples among all the people groups of the world—including those in “hard” places (Matthew 28:18-20).  Scripture speaks with eyes wide open about the dangers:  “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).  “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12).

Another part of the biblical picture, of course, is that the Lord will not give us more than we can handle (1 Corinthians 10:13), and that he’ll be with us, right beside us by his Spirit, as we face any and every kind of trial (Hebrews 13:5).  We’re never alone.  “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).  The biblical picture, then, is not of Christian life bypassing suffering but of Jesus’ loving presence with his children in and through and beyond all of this world’s sorrow.

It is extremely important that those who make up a local church family—as disciples of Jesus Christ, as children of the living God, as citizens of heaven traveling together through this world—lock it down in their hearts:  trouble will come; the Lord does not intend to insulate you or me from pain.  In fact, in his wisdom and sovereign ingenuity the Lord orchestrates our lives so as to bring about great good and great gain through the afflictions we face while trusting in him:  our own hearts are reassured at the genuineness of our faith, nonbelievers are struck by the compelling joy of our authentic witness under pressure, and the Lord we love and trust is honored.  And that is GOOD.

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Sin's Devastation

Jim Elliff's list of 35 reasons not to sin piles on the sobering biblical truth of how sin brings misery and ruin upon ourselves and others--not to mention bringing dishonor to the Lord.

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God Wins!

A remarkable expression of faith in Jesus Christ from a woman battling cancer:

God Wins from The Austin Stone on Vimeo.

"Radicalized"

Back in 1970 Jim Lovell radioed from the Apollo 13 spacecraft, “Houston, we have a problem.”  Well, in a different way, today’s “radical” Christians have also run into a crisis:  “Devoted disciples of Jesus, we have a problem.”

What is it?  If you follow the incessant news coverage of the Boston Bombings, you'll notice countless sobering claims about how Tamerlan Tsarnaev had become “radicalized.”  Some years ago, apparently, he was not a “radical,” but an uncle has concerns that since 2009 his nephew had been an “extremist.”  In late 2010 Russian authorities first took an interest Tsarnaev, and in 2011 they told the FBI that he was a follower of radical Islam and a strident believer.  In 2012 he spent six months overseas, visiting the North Caucasus, an area of separatist movements and extremist Islamic ideology, and a hotbed of militant Islamic activity.  U.S. House Homeland Security Chairman Michael McCaul believes Tsarnaev received training during his trip, and became radicalized [source].  Bottom line:  a thousand times over the word “radical” is being cast in deadly dangerous colors.  To be called “radical” is fast becoming a way to be pegged a terrorist.  Being radicalized means becoming dangerous.

Shift gears to Pastor David Platt.  In 2010 he wrote a really good book for Christians entitled Radical:  Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream.  Trouble is, in our post-Boston world it’s become desper­ately difficult to use the “R-word” positively.  Today the term just drips with scary, even evil, connotations.  Is it possible to rehabilitate this once-helpful way of portraying legitimate devotion and zeal?  One wonders if every reference to Christ-honoring, neighbor-loving, self-giving, truth-telling, whole-hearted, compassionate Christian “radicalism” will need to be qualified and clari­fied and explained into oblivion.  After all, we do want to make sure no one suspects Christ-followers of the least trace of the kind of extremism that motivates the committing of murder. 

That’s where we stand as the church in 2013.  Our challenge is to encourage each other to keep on pursuing the Lord passionately ("You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" [Jeremiah 29:11]).  And don’t waver in your commitment just because sloppy journalism portrays any and all religious passion as “fanaticism.”  Christ is not honored if we turn lukewarm in our love for him just to avoid criticism.  And yet, at the same time, let’s be vigilant more than ever to convey the biblical fact that the way of Jesus in this world is the path of peace.

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