In the USA, we've just celebrated Thanksgiving. Deliberately set for the time just after harvest, the holiday traditionally called for joy and thankfulness when provisions for the next year had been safely gathered in.
Though not everyone farms or gardens these days, we still use this time to remind ourselves just how blessed we are. Those who know the Lord, and even some who don't, thank God for what He has given.
But I've learned from farming friends and history that not all harvests are created equal. One can do everything possible to raise a crop, but one can't make anything grow. Bad weather, drought, insect invasion, or plant disease can diminish, if not totally wipe out a crop.
Some Thanksgiving seasons find us overflowing with burdens rather than blessings.
What then?
It's relatively easy to thank God in times of health and plenty. But in times of want, illness, or sorrow, are we exempt from thanking God?
I think of Philippians 4:11-12, where Paul says, "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need."
Content in all things? Even in hunger or need?
Why would God allow His children to suffer need?
To convict of sin. Often in the Old Testament, when Israel looked to idols or other countries for help instead of God, God allowed them to suffer need. This wasn't vindictive or petty. In love, God had to let them see that other sources they looked to were useless and powerless. This doesn't mean every trial or need comes because one has sinned. But trials provide a good opportunity to see if any sin is hindering God from answering our prayers.
To sanctify and humble us. Paul said his thorn in 2 Corinthians 12 was given "to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations" given to him.
To help us grow. In John 15, Jesus said He was the vine, his Father the vinedresser, and we're the branches. Then He said, "Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit" (verse 2). I'm not good with plants, but I have discovered the truth of this principle. Many plants don't grow as they should if they're not cut back at times.Trimming the branches helps the plants grow not only more healthy, but more blooms. So when God removes something from our lives, we grow in ways we would not have without that pruning.
To bring us to maturity. James i:2-4 says, "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."
To turn our hearts to what is most important. At the end of Israel's years in the wilderness, God told them, "You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
As a testimony that we don't serve Him just for His blessings. That's what Satan accused Job of: that Job only served God because God had blessed him so much. Take away his blessings, Satan urged, and Job will curse You (Job 1). Job went through a rough time and questioned God, but he didn't turn away from Him in faithlessness.
Elisabeth Elliot wrote in her September/October 1984 newsletter (which was later published in Keep a Quiet Heart), "It had to be proved to Satan, in Job's case, that there is such a thing as obedient faith which does not depend on receiving only benefits. Jesus had to show the world that He loved the Father and would, no matter what happened, do exactly what He said. The servant is not greater than his Lord. When we cry 'Why, Lord?' we should ask instead, 'Why not, Lord? Shall I not follow my Master in suffering as in everything else?' Does our faith depend on having every prayer answered as we think it should be answered, or does it rest rather on the character of a sovereign Lord?"
She goes on to say, "Genuine faith is--the kind of faith that overcomes the world because it trusts and obeys, no matter what the circumstances. The world does not want to be told. The world must be shown."
You might think, "Okay, I can see why God might allow us to suffer need sometimes. But how can I be content even then? I have a hard enough time being content even when everything is going well."
In the Philippians 2 passage mentioned earlier, where Paul speaks of being content in every situation, whether in plenty or need, he follows that statement with a verse that we take out of context and apply to everything else: "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."
I've found it amusing when two Christian ball teams claim Philippians 1:13 as they compete against each other. They're thinking of it in terms of winning. But one team will need His strength to lose well.
In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Paul shares that he prayed three times for God to remove his "thorn in the flesh," whatever that actually entailed. But God did not remove the difficulty. Instead, he promised, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (NKJV).
Paul's response? He didn't whine, "That's not fair." He didn't get angry. He said, "Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Perhaps that's the main reason God sometimes lets us suffer need: to cause us to rely on Him.
This doesn't mean we never seek help or take measures to deal with our needs. But we realize God is the giver of all good gifts. We can't do anything without Him. He's promised to meet all our needs. We don't have to worry and fret: we can rest in His care and timing.
One time I experienced these things was minor in the grand scheme of things, but major at the time. I was getting ready to leave for a writer's conference and prayed for a good night's sleep. I wasn't consciously nervous, at least not like I had been the first time I went. But I only got about an hour's sleep all night. I tossed, turned, went to the couch, tried all my usual tricks like listening to soft music, prayed and prayed and prayed. Yet sleep wouldn't come.
I got up around 4:30 and took a shower. I had a three-hour drive ahead of me, but knew it wasn't safe to get behind the week in the state I was in. I had asked the Lord to search my heart for anything amiss and to help me know if this was His way of telling me not to go. I decided to try to take a nap in my desk chair and asked God to multiply my sleep like the loaves and fishes so it would be enough.
I woke up and headed out. I missed the opening session, but it wasn't critical, and I had a wonderful time at the conference.
However, I was still confused, and even hurt, to tell the truth, that God had not answered my prayer for a good night's sleep.
Over the next few days, some of these principles came to mind and helped. Then I realized God had answered my prayer---just not in the way I expected. The sleep I got was sufficient for my needs, even though it normally would not have been.
I'm still not sure why God allowed things to happen just that way. All I know is, sometimes He brings us to the end of ourselves so that all we can do is lay our need before Him. When we look to Him alone, He gives us the strength and grace we need.
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