As a firefighter/ paramedic I did not learn the most
valuable lessons in the comfort and safety of the classroom. I did not learn skills that would keep me and
my patients alive in the controlled environment of the training field.
I learned the important stuff, the lifesaving stuff, the
valuable stuff in the fire. It was in the mangled wreckage of a vehicle, with a patient’s
life hanging in the balance that I learned the skills of extrication. It was in the choking black smoke and the intense heat of
a burning house that I learned the importance of positive pressure ventilation
in fighting fires. It was alone in the engine room of a sinking tugboat with
water rushing in from above that I learned NOT to go into a dangerous situation
by yourself or without someone knowing where you are.
These and a hundred other “skills” were learned, not from
a book nor from an instructors power-point lecture but they were learned by
experiencing the problems, the dangers, the fear and uncertainty of actual
emergencies. Looking back now, I get that.
Let's see if we can apply that to our Christian life.
I don’t know this for sure, but I guarantee it
has happened in my life and am pretty sure it has happened in yours. We learn life’s most important lessons not
when we are sitting in the swing, enjoying a glass of iced tea and watching the
children play in the yard but when that child is sick, in the middle of the
night and you don’t have any way of getting his fever down and the only thing
you can do is “call out to God” for help.
Lessons are not learned from the times when all is well
in your marriage and there are no bills to pay or mortgages due or cars that
are broken down with no money to fix them.
Lessons, important lesson of life are learned when you are facing
financial short comings and bills you can’t pay and the coffers are empty and
the wallet is empty and the bank account is empty and your only option is to “call
out to the Father” for help.
I don’t know about you but I have knelt at the bedside of
my parents. I have held them and watched
them take their last breath here on earth.
I have gone as far as I could humanly go with them and knelt there
HELPLESS with my only option being to “cry to Jesus” for strength.
You and I spend much of our time worrying about the hard
times we are facing or will face. We
spend much of the time on our knees praying that God will deliver us from these
unpleasant times we are going through. We spend many hours of our day fretting
about “What if this happens or that
happens”.
We know how we learn.
We know how we grow. We know how
we mature as Children of God yet our prayer is “God deliver us from these times”? It’s almost like we are saying “God
if this is the only way I can learn and grow and mature, just forget it. Let me be a dumb, small and under-developed
Christian”.
One writer said it this way “By coming again and again to the limits of our own resources; by failure, defeat, disappointment and despair. We learn to rely on God by swallowing our pride and acknowledging our humanity, and our mortality. We learn when we understand our limits.” Like Clint Eastwood said in one of his movies “A man has to know his limitations”.
I’ve told you before, that’s hard for me. I wasn’t brought up to accept that. I wasn’t trained to admit that. It is natural for us to trust in
ourselves. James Denney said
it this way:
“It is so
natural, and so confirmed by the habits of a lifetime, that no ordinary difficulties
or perplexities can break us of relying on our own strength. It is out of our despair
that superhuman HOPE is born. It is out of helplessness that our soul learns to
look up with complete trust in God.” THAT’S
GOOD STUFF.
Peter learned this
lesson the hard way. It wasn’t reclining on
the grassy hillside eating fish and bread, listening to Jesus teaching the
multitudes. It wasn’t walking beside
Jesus, making footprints in the sand, along the Sea of Galilee. It wasn’t sitting in the upper room with his
fellow disciples, listening as the Lord taught about life and death, but it was
in the storm that Peter learned the important life lessons he needed to live a
life that glorified God. The faith that
kept Peter as he suffered and died hanging up-side-down on the cross was faith
he learned in the storm.
Paul learned
from frustration and failure not to rely on himself and his own strength. Physical illness, unjust persecution, the
threat of death, misunderstandings from his fellow Christians and failure of
some of his work, all became part of the lesson Paul had to learn, “Rely on God and not my own strength”.
Listen to Paul’s words from 2 Corinthians 4: 7-11: “But
we have this treasure in (earthen vessels) jars of clay, to show that this all-surpassing
power is from God and not from us. We have
troubles on every side but are not in distress; perplexed, but not in despair,
persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death
of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made clear in our body. For we who are alive are always being given
over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His life may also be revealed in our
mortal body.
Did Paul know hard times were coming? Sure he did.
Did Peter know his death was eminent?
Of course? But they realized and accepted that hard times were a part of
life. Death was a part of eternity. Oh, that you and I could understand
that.
Will we have problems? Absolutely and I worry about that. Because I just don’t think I have had any problems yet. MY wife and I just celebrated 32 years of marriage. As I look back I can’t think of very many “bad things” that have happened. That makes me think, “Wow, they are all ahead of me. Look out these next few years are going to be tough”.
But what I should be thinking is “Wow, look at all the great stuff God has for me to learn in the next few years I have to live here.” I don’t care how old you are or how close to death you may be, you have lessons to learn and most likely those lesson will be learned through troubles. Your troubles will draw you closer to the TEACHER.
A pretty good writer once said, “Men are more receptive to the Savior in the storm.”
I don’t want to discount your problems this morning. I know you have them. I know that to you, right now, those problems seems insurmountable. I know that you may not see any way out. But can I encourage you to look at them through a different lens? Can I encourage you to understand that “Storms don’t stay”?
When I was in the Coast Guard I went through a lot of
storms…literal storms. Those storms were
real and massive and terrifying but those storms have passed. I have a hard time now even remembering them. Your
storms will pass too.
Name your storm…go ahead, whatever it is. Recognize it as a storm. Accept that you can’t fix it. Admit that it is beyond your control and then
REST in the fact that your God is able to handle it AND, AND to teach you a
life lesson in this storm that will make you a better follower of Christ.
Why do we learn? Why does God give us this understanding and knowledge? He gives us this knowledge so we can pass it on down the line to others. It is wonderful if God teaches me all these great lessons but if I don’t pass them on I’m being pretty selfish.
I’ve mentioned this poem before but it fits well here and
I want to share it again. It’s entitled “The
Bridge Builder” and was written by Will Allen Dromgoole.
An old
man, going a lone highway,
Came at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him;
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,
“You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again must pass this way;
You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide—
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?”
The builder lifted his old gray head:
“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,
“There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that has been naught to me
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”
The troubles and trials that you are going through will
not be easy. They will come, Jesus said
so. He said, “In this world you will have tribulations but BE OF GOOD CHEER, I HAVE
OVERCOME THE WORLD”.
Can I encourage you today, whatever it is that you are
going through; know that it’s for a purpose.
·
This trial will strengthen you
·
This trial will give you a lesson to pass on
I have a blessing for you this morning. I want to bless you with trouble. I HOPE YOU HAVE TROUBLES THIS WEEK and I hope
you grow strong from it, learn from it, and pass it on to those who come behind you.
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