Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of the Master Orchestrator. God takes every circumstance, good or bad, and uses it within His great plan, which is too big for us to see.
I have to be a little personal today in order to share the truth God is teaching me. Some of you are aware that I am eighteen months post-COVID, improving but still limited. I am thankful for what God has taught through past health issues to help in my current struggle and also for what He continues to teach me. The thoughts below are a mixture – past truth finessed by current instruction.
The summary is expressed in two familiar verses about God’s orchestration even through adverse circumstances. “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20). “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). What is God’s intended good work?
First and most obvious, some of what God is orchestrating is personal maturity. Through everything God does in my life, He is working to develop my character and to make me more like His Son (James 1:2-4). This certainly includes godly character, but it also includes growth in understanding the Bible. Being in the midst of, or having gone through trials, clarifies or heightens scriptural perception of certain passages, because our experience gives us a better context for comprehension. “Oh, now I understand what that verse really means,” or, “Oh, now I see how that plays out (or how to put that into practice) in real life.”
Second, trials enhance our ability to minister to others. When we suffer, we understand both the perspective and the needs of other sufferers. We become more willing to reach out and more skillful in doing so. Through my current situation, I continue to gain insights about what is desired and effective for those in need. Many years ago, after my experience with Lyme disease, I wrote a devotional book for those with chronic illnesses. My brother, who has been in varied positions of pastoral care, has shared his copy with people around him. After one of these loans, the older couple came back to him and remarked, “She speaks our language.” My brother said he didn’t even realize there was a special language; this reveals how God’s personal path for us might prepare us to minister to certain people even more effectively than a pastor can. The bond of shared experience is strong. “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (II Corinthians 1:4). While primarily on a practical rather than spiritual level, Joseph’s experience had far greater impact on others than on himself; his sufferings prepared him to deliver many.
Third, trials can allow us to reach others with the gospel. Paul told the Galatians, “Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first” (4:13). The Philippian jailer is another example of how God used a trial to put Paul in contact with needy people. I continue to pray for my doctor, and it would be a great comfort to know that she came to God as a result of my suffering. I still pray for the rapture, but now I often add, “If You want to wait for Andrea to be saved, that’s okay.” Many people at my work are Christians, at least nominally, but others are not. I want to be a testimony through this time, and sometimes I feel very deficient in that, but we never know what’s going on in people’s heads. We might fall short of our high expectations, while unbelievers (or carnal believers) might be watching amazed until someday they “ask … a reason of the hope” that is in us.
Fourth, trials prompt other Christians to grow. I remember telling a parent how my illness limited me as a teacher, and she responded, “I’m glad my children have you, because I want them to learn compassion.” The Bible is filled with “one another” passages, instructions to love fervently, and admonitions to use our spiritual gifts. Those require that someone be in need to serve as the recipient. I think all of us are deficient in fulfilling those commands as we should, so sometimes God lets someone be the needed recipient for an extended time so that others get extended prompting. I have seen this in some people in my own church in my current situation – specific actions or layers of growth in service and compassion.
Fifth, trials, like all of life, are to glorify God. In essence, all of the first four considerations ultimately lead to this one. If the first four are happening, God is being glorified and will be glorified. “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a little season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 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” (I Peter 1:6-7).
Only the first of these five is really personal; the others are others-focused and God-focused. Yes, my personal trials are about me, but they are much more than that. God is not limited to working in one isolated life; He is wonderfully able to use the events of one person’s life as His tools to have a much wider impact. For me, the challenge of all this is to be willing. Am I willing to suffer so that I can grow? Am I willing to suffer so that I can better minister to others? Am I willing to suffer so that others can be saved? Am I willing to suffer so that other Christians can grow? Am I willing to suffer so that God can be glorified? Am I willing to be a small cog in God’s grand plan that extends far outside the scope of my little world?
This ended up longer and more academic than I intended, but I hope it will encourage someone to remember that a trial is never without divine purpose and design, and it is never intended to be without vast profit and benefit. God bless.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
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