Pastor's Pen

 

         My family and I are currently wading (or stumbling) through the "valley of the shadow of death."  Last month my precious 16 year old daughter died suddenly and tragically.  As a Pastor I have often walked with grieving families as they made their own journey through this dark and dismal valley.  My own journey over this past month has taught me (or rather is teaching me) lessons I could never have grasped any other way.  Of course I feel the "price" of such lessons (at least at this time) is too high.  Still, the journey is before me and the "fare" has been paid, whether or not I agree with the price. On the other hand, because the "cost" of this journey is so incredibly high, it seems that each lesson offered in this valley should be valued based on what it cost to learn it.   

        While we tend to focus on the "price" of such a terrible passage, God is patiently and lovingly taking us through a “process.“  Peter alluded to this when he wrote:  “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.”  (1 Peter 4:12,13)   Job also referred to this process when he wrote in the middle of his own tragic journey:  “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:  On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:  But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:8-10)
        Even though Job couldn’t comprehend the “whys” of his suffering, or why he couldn’t “find God” for an explanation, he rightly understood that God knew what he was going through and that somehow He would use this “fiery trial” to purify his soul.  As God’s children, there is a part of us that truly desires to “be conformed to the image of His son”  (Ro. 8:29), we simply resent or even resist the “all things” that God chooses to use to accomplish this. (Ro. 8:28)  It is rather easy to “recognize” God in the blessings, but the pain of the “fire” tends to blind us to the reality that the “Son of God” is walking with us through the furnace.  (Daniel 4:24,25)    Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me…” (John 10:27)  It’s difficult to recognize that the same shepherd who leads us to “lie down in green pastures and beside still waters” will also lead us “through the valley of the shadow of death.”  (Ps. 23)
            1 Cor 10:11 reminds us that “all these things happened unto them (ancient Israel) for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”   In Exodus 14 God intentionally leads Israel into a “trap” that would leave them vulnerable, bringing confusion, doubt and fear.  Of course they, at the time, didn’t have the benefit of the “rest of the story.”  The truth is that neither do we!  When God leads us into painful places, we are seldom able to see the “big picture” or to recognize what God is doing or even why He is doing it.   That is why it is so very important to realize that the Bible is in one sense God’s Resume.  It is full of examples of God leading His people into difficult or even impossible situations, only to bring them through the “fire” purer and stronger.  One of my favorite short poems reflects this reality: 

             “All those who journey soon or late, must pass beneath the garden’s gate;
               Must kneel alone in darkness there and battle with some fierce despair. 
              God pity those who only say “let this cup pass”, who cannot say “Thy will be done”,
              They fail to see… the purpose of Gethsemane.
 
         Every once and a while some of God’s servants seem to finally “get it” and understand what God is all about.  Oswald Chambers seemed to be one such servant.  In his devotional “My utmost for His highest” he wrote the following:
                                             The Bewildering Call of God
“ ‘… and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.’ … But they understood none of these things …” (Luke 18:31, 34).
        God called Jesus Christ to what seemed absolute disaster. And Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death, leading every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. His life was an absolute failure from every standpoint except God’s. But what seemed to be failure from man’s standpoint was a triumph from God’s standpoint, because God’s purpose is never the same as man’s purpose.
This bewildering call of God comes into our lives as well. The call of God can never be understood absolutely or explained externally; it is a call that can only be perceived and understood internally by our true inner-nature. The call of God is like the call of the sea—no one hears it except the person who has the nature of the sea in him. What God calls us to cannot be definitely stated, because His call is simply to be His friend to accomplish His own purposes. Our real test is in truly believing that God knows what He desires. The things that happen do not happen by chance—they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereign and is working out His own purposes.
         If we are in fellowship and oneness with God and recognize that He is taking us into His purposes, then we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are. As we grow in the Christian life, it becomes simpler to us, because we are less inclined to say, “I wonder why God allowed this or that?” And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into oneness with that purpose. A Christian is someone who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God, not in his own abilities. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.
      We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to get through, yet we get through for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross represents only one thing for us—complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ—and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer.      

 

NOTE:  He died November 15, 1917 (at the age of 43) in Egypt as the result of a ruptured appendix. He suffered the extreme pain of appendicitis for three days before seeking medical attention, refusing to take a hospital bed needed by wounded soldiers.  (He was a WW 1 Chaplain at the time.) 

While stumbling through this dark and difficult valley, I take comfort in the following facts:
1)  I serve the same God that revealed Himself in the Bible. 
2) If I follow Him, He will lead me through this.
3) He will not leave me alone.  (Is. 41:10; 43:1-5)  I have His Spirit (the Comforter) within me and His amazing People around me.
4) He will use the pressures of this “fiery trial” to purify and shape me.  (Is. 48:10; Job 23:10)
5) He will eventually lead me out when He’s accomplished His purposes. 

 

Pastor Keith