Tests and Trials

Tests and Trials

Shaped for Glory
During the Great Depression, a good man lost his job, exhausted his savings and forfeited his home. His grief was multiplied by the sudden death of his precious wife. The only thing he had left was his faith-and it was weakening.
One day he was combing the neighborhood looking for work. He stopped to watch some men who were doing the stonework on a church building. One of these men was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing a spot where it would fit, he asked, "Where are you going to put that?" The man pointed toward the top of the building and said, "See that little opening up near the spire? That is where it goes. I am shaping it down here so it will fit in up there."
Some of you are going through terrible troublesome times. You may be experiencing some heartbreaking sorrow. Or perhaps you are enduring some painful physical illness. Or it may be something else-maybe even too excruciating to talk to anyone about. The blows of the hammer and chisel hurt.
But hold on to your faith. These difficulties will not get you down. They are only temporary. Glory is coming. It is the harsh blows to the outward man that often bring the greatest strength to the inner man.
Keep praying. Keep believing. The Master has to do some shaping of us down here so we will fit in up there. The Great Divide of Life
High in the Canadian Rockies is a rushing stream called Divide Creek. At one point in its course, the waters reach a large boulder.
The water which travels to the left of the boulder rushes down into the Kicking Horse River and finally into the Pacific Ocean.
The water which travels to the right of the large rock makes it down into the Bow River which empties into two more rivers and then into the Atlantic Ocean.
Once the water divides at that boulder, its ultimate destiny is decided. Downstream from that great rock the course cannot be altered. The left side goes to the Pacific and the right side goes to the Atlantic.
Every person meets his divide point. It comes when one decides to accept Christ or to reject Him. This Great Divide determines one's eternal destination and whether that one can have abundant life here on earth.
"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him" (John 3:36 RSV). The Flood Releases the Fruit
Do you know how cranberries are harvested? When the fruit is ripe, the cranberry bog is flooded with water. As the water covers the bush, the ruby red berries separate from the bush and float to the surface where they are gathered and distributed to cranberry lovers around the country.
When the flood waters of trouble and trials sweep over your soul, what is the result? Is fruit "meet for the Master's use" released to bless and meet the needs of the hungry world around you?

Precious Lord, Take My Hand
Thomas Andrew Dorsey was a black jazz musician from Atlanta. In the twenties he gained a certain amount of notoriety as the composer of jazz tunes with suggestive lyrics, but he gave all that up in 1926 to concentrate exclusively on spiritual music. "Peace in the Valley" is one of his best known songs, but there is a story behind his most famous song that deserves to be told.
In 1932 the times were hard for Dorsey. Just trying to survive the depression years as a working musician meant tough sledding. On top of that, his music was not accepted by many people. Some said it was much too worldly-the devil's music, they called it. Many years later Dorsey could laugh about it. He said, "I got kicked out of some of the best churches in the land." But the real kick in the teeth came one night in St. Louis when he received a telegram informing him that his pregnant wife had died suddenly.
Dorsey was so filled with grief that his faith was shaken to the roots, but instead of wallowing in self-pity, he turned to the discipline he knew best-music. In the midst of agony he wrote the following lyrics:
Precious Lord, take my hand,
Lead me on, let me stand.
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light;
Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.
If you live long enough, you will experience heartache, disappointment, and sheer helplessness. The Lord is our most precious resource in those hours of trauma. "The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble (Psalms 9:9). Tom Dorsey understood that. His song was originally written as a way of coping with his personal pain, but even today it continues to bless thousands of others when they pass through times of hardship.

Songs Out of Sorrow
A piece of wood once bitterly complained because it was being cut and filled with rifts and holes. But he who held the wood and whose knife was cutting into it so remorselessly, did not listen to the sore complaining. He was making a flute out of the wood he held, and was too wise to desist for such an entreaty.
Instead, the flute carver said, "Oh, thou foolish piece of wood, without these rifts and holes thou wouldst be only a mere stick forever-a bit of hard black ebony with no power to make music or to be of any use. These rifts that I am making will change thee into a flute, and thy sweet music then shall charm the souls of men. My cutting is the making of thee, for then thou shalt be precious and valuable and a blessing to the world."
David could never have sung his sweetest songs had he not been sorely afflicted. His afflictions made his life an instrument on which God could breathe the music of His love to charm and soothe the hearts of men by such an entreaty through the ages.

Tunneling Through Obstacles
Nothing can stand in the way of a determined soul that obeys God. Helen Keller, deaf, dumb, and blind, joyously welcomed those who tunneled into her imprisoned soul by means of the single nerve of sensation in the palm of her hand, allowing her to conquer vast fields of knowledge. At 14 years of age, she received $250 for a magazine article. How this ought to shame some of us who lie down lazily in front of obstacles, which a little pluck and self-denying exertion would carve into a stairway for higher achievement. The Value of Afflictions
There is a legend about a grandfather clock that stood in a corner for three generations, faithfully ticking off the minutes, hours and days-its means of operation was a heavy weight suspended by a double chain. One of its new owners, believing that an old clock should not bear such a load, released the weight. Immediately the ticking stopped. According to the legend, the clock asked, "Why did you do that?" The owner replied, "I wanted to lighten your burden." "Please put my weight back," replied the clock. "That is what keeps me going."

Genuine Faith
Joel C. Gregory writes:
"The testing we go through demonstrates the genuineness of our faith. In the phrase 'the testing of your faith,'the word 'testing'is an almost untranslatable word. The Williams version explains it as showing what is "genuine in your faith." The idea refers to iron ore that has gone through the refining fire and comes out the other side clean and pure and genuine. This is the word Job used when he said, 'When he has tried me in the fire, I will come out like gold.'
"Actually, there may be something suspect about a faith that has never been tested. An army going through basic training is not ready for battle. Not until soldiers have faced the battle and been under fire, do they consider themselves proven, hardened, worthy. A ship cannot prove that it's been sturdily built as long as it stays in dry dock. Its hull must get wet; it must face a storm to demonstrate genuine seaworthiness. The same is true of our faith. When we hold fast to belief in Christ in spite of life's storms and crushing criticism, that's when we demonstrate the genuineness of our faith." This Thing Is from Me
"How can a God of love, who has everything in His control, let such a thing happen to me?" So asked a young woman who had received severe injuries through a fall from a horse. "Crippled for life," she overheard the doctor say.
The pastor was silent for a moment. "Did you suffer much pain when they put you in the cast?"
"The pain was terrible," she replied.
"Where was your father then?"
"He stood right by me," she replied.
"Did your father allow the doctor to hurt you that way?"
"Yes, but that was necessary."
"Did your father allow the doctor to hurt you even though he loved you, or because he loved you?"
"You mean to suggest that because God loves me, He also allowed me to be hurt?"
The pastor answered with a nod. "'This thing is from Me.'Let these five words comfort you. They will furnish a silver lining to the cloud. Yours is not a case of 'hard luck.'This trial was planned by God."
If you are His child, He is preparing you for better service. Shakespeare said: "In sickness, let me not so much say, 'Am I getting better of my pain; but am I getting better for it.'"
Let us not say, "When will I be getting out of this?" but, "What will I be getting out of this?" He will draw you closer to Him through this trial.

Praise for Pressure
A young man was fascinated by a moth and performed a little experiment to see what would happen when it was released from its cocoon without a struggle. Using his pocketknife, he slit the enclosure, allowing the insect to emerge freely. However, it had none of the expected color, it could not fly, and it soon died. As he thought about this, he concluded that the pressure exerted on an emerging moth is essential to its proper development-yes, to its very existence. He later learned that through the moth's struggle to free itself, its body fluids are stimulated, and the luster is developed on its wings. So too for the Christian, life's pressures can produce positive results.

Borrowed Burdens
A man found himself staggering alone under a load that was heavy enough to crush half a dozen strong men. Out of sheer exhaustion, he put it down and had a good look at it. He found that it was all borrowed!
Part of it belonged to the following day; part of it belonged to the following week; and here he was borrowing it that it might crush him now! It was a very stupid but a very ancient (and also modern) blunder. The Value of Adversity
If Abraham Lincoln was a young man today, the traveling library would supply him with books; a county caseworker would see that he had enough light to read by; the government would see that his parents got a monthly welfare check, housing assistance and food stamps. Abe could apply for an educational loan and some social service clubs would see that he went to camp each summer.
End result: There would be no Abe Lincoln such as the one we remember and love who overcame poverty and adversity to become one of the greatest Presidents of all time. No Cross, No Crown
A grapevine says, in the early spring, "How glad I am to get through the winter! I shall have no more trouble now! Summer weather will come, and the garden will be very beautiful!" But the gardener comes, and cuts the vine here and there with his knife. The twigs begin to fall, and the grapevine calls out, "Murder! What are you cutting me for?" "Ah," says the gardener, "I do not mean to kill you. If I did not do this, you would be the laughingstock of all the other vines before the season is over." Months go on and one day the gardener comes under the trellis, where the great clusters of grapes hang, and the grapevine says, "Thank you, sire, you could not have done anything so kind as to cut me with that knife." No pruning, no grapes; no grinding mill, no flour; no battle, no victory; no cross, no crown.

Unchangeable Truth
Do not let your troubles get you down. Genghis Khan, the 13th century Mongol conqueror, asked his philosophers to come up with a truth that would always be unchangeable. Thinking about it for awhile, they came to their leaders with this quote: "It too shall pass." This reminds me of a dear black lady who was asked by her pastor what her favorite verse of Scripture was and she said: "And it came to pass." God in His mercy never gives us more than we can bear.

I Shall Meet Tomorrow Bravely
I shall meet tomorrow bravely,
I am stronger now,
The disappointments that befell me
Strengthened me somehow.
The dawn shall find my face uplifted,
Serene, in the sun,
And with Him my problems sifted,
One by one.

Testing
A blacksmith known for his strong faith, had a great deal of illness. He was challenged by an unbeliever to explain why his God would let him suffer.
He explained, "I take a piece of iron, put it into the fire to bring it to a white heat, then I strike it once or twice to see if it will take temper. I plunge it into water to change the temperature, put it into the fire again, then I put it on the anvil and make a useful article out of it.
"If it will not take temper when I first strike it on the anvil, I throw it into the scrap heap and sell it for a half-penny per pound. I believe God has been testing me to see if I will take temper. I have tried to bear it as patiently as I could, and my daily prayer has been, 'Lord, put me into the fire if you will; put me into the water if you think I need it; do anything you please, O Lord, only do not throw me on the scrap heap.'"

Toughened by Storms
When solid timber is needed, we pass by the things grown in the hot house. We seek the oak grown on the storm swept hills. The great in God's Kingdom have been taught by the hills and vales of temptation. Yielding creates littleness, overcoming creates greatness. The Example of the Pine
One day a boy and his father went into the mountains. They took shelter from a storm in the lee of some great gray boulders that lay like sleeping giants close to the crest of a lonely ridge. As the two looked upward, they saw the wind lay its grim hands on a mountain pine that towered from the summit of the ridge. It was a sentinel that could escape no danger, an outpost to receive the first shock of the enemy's attack. Savagely the wind tore at it, shook it violently, and howled through the branches.
To the boy, the tree, strong though it was, seemed about to be torn to pieces. "Look, Father!" he said, pining upward, "what the wind is doing to that pine!" The full fury of the blast just then made the pine shudder and sway. It heaved desperately against the black sky.
"Storms are an old story to that tree," said the father. "A tree like that lives in a struggle from the time it is high enough to catch the first breath of air. Tennyson says a tree is 'storm-strengthened on a windy site.'The strongest trees are always those that have weathered the greatest number of gales. Besides, the question is not what is happening to the tree, but what is happening in the tree."
"The pine does not really seem to mind fighting the storm, does it?" the boy asked.
"No, because it is able to withstand the strongest wind," the father answered. "It is the same with us. It really does not matter what happens to us, but it matters a great deal what happens in us."

Joy in Times of Trial
James in his customary forthright way tells us to "Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness" (James 1:2-3). In case we are inclined to modify these words as the utopian command of one who had not really experienced sorrow, let us remember that James was one of the principal leaders of the Christians in Jerusalem who continually faced persecution from those outside the Church (culminating in his own martyrdom in his sixties), as well as internal dissension associated with a Judaizing element. James surely knew what it meant to "meet various trials!"
But James had also learned that difficulties can produce steadfastness or patience, though the natural reaction is annoyance or bitterness. He never tells us to pretend that a trial is nonexistent. Instead he wants us to recognize and rejoice that any problem can be the occasion for God to work in and through us in a way that He otherwise would not.
This is indeed a "testing of our faith"; it calls upon us to believe in the goodness of God, and to trust that He is not only willing but able to accomplish His purposes, no matter what befalls us. Any difficulty, whether great or small, is an occasion for joy, but only when we remind ourselves of the nature of the God who loves us and wills only the best for us.

Greatness of a Different Form
What do you do when faced by a closed door in life? A young boy from Missouri named Harry had to answer that question. He gave evidence of brilliance on the piano even as a child. In addition to being gifted, Harry had such discipli ne that at the age of seven he was at the keyboard by five each morning. He practiced faithfully for hours each day. Under the tutelage of Mrs. E. C. White, he produced each day stronger hope that he would eventually reach greatness.
When Harry was 15, Mrs. White brought news to her star pupil. Paderewski, the greatest pianist of the day was coming to town. The young boy was thrilled as he listened to Paderewski play. Mrs. White took her pupil backstage after the concert to meet Paderewski. With trembling voice, the young boy told the world-renowned pianist that he played his minuet. "There is a part of it," young Harry explained, "that I do not know how to execute." Paderewski walked back with the boy to the empty stage and to the piano. The boy sat at the same piano where Paderewski had played only a few minutes before. As the student played, Paderewski gave a smile of approval to the boy's teacher. A bright future seemed to loom before him.
Then ensued the closed door. The next year Harry's father lost everything in the Kansas City grain market. Harry had to go to work, and his dreams of the concert stage were shattered.
Did the boy give up on life? Did he let this closed door stop him?
Not at all, for this young, gifted, promising pianist would become world famous before his life was over, as President of the United States. His name was Harry S. Truman. Does Anything Ever Turn Out Right?
Picture with me, if you will, a man running through the wilderness being chased by a lion. He knows that if he is fast enough and dodges through enough thickets, that he could possibly elude the lion. Luckily, he does manage to elude the lion, only to be confronted by a bear. Again, he runs with all his speed and strength, realizing now that his only hope is to reach the safety of his house. Once again, he is successful and manages to elude the beast by reaching his house. He runs inside, slamming the door behind him and feeling pretty good about having overcome the obstacles of life. But, as he leans against the wall with his hand to catch his breath, he is bitten by a snake.
This was an actual illustration that God used in Amos 5:19 to show Israel the hopelessness of their situation.
We all have days and weeks like that, do we not? But are we like the woman who said that she had quit praying for patience because God might give her more? But God, being the wise and all-knowing Father that He is, will often give us what we need to grow healthy and spiritually strong, even though we do not ask for it-though He would like to hear us ask now and then. Children almost never ask for a bath, but we give it to them anyway, because we know that it will help them.

Beautiful Music Out of Deep Tragedy
He wrote some of the most beautiful music in the history of humanity. Yet his life could not be called beautiful; it was full of tragedy. By the age of ten, both parents had died. He was raised begrudgingly by an older brother who resented another mouth to feed. Even as an adult, his life was difficult. His first wife died after 13 years of marriage. Of 20 children from two marriages, ten died in infancy, one died in his twenties, and one was mentally retarded. Eventually he went blind and then was paralyzed from a stroke. Yet he wrote great music-music of profound praise, thunderous thanksgiving, and awe-filling adoration.
Who is this victim of so much tragedy? Johann Sebastian Bach-a Lutheran and perhaps the world's greatest composer of church music. Perhaps it was because Bach knew the depths of tragedy that he also knew the heights of faith and praise.
So when we seem to be in the depths of despair, look up, for the Lord is going to bless us and others. The Sand in Our Shoe
A man who had hitchhiked from coast to coast and had walked many miles in the process was asked what he had found the most difficult to endure. To the surprise of his questioner it was not the steep mountains or the dazzling sun or the scorching desert heat that had troubled him, but, in the words of the traveler, "it was the sand in my shoe."
Frequently the little things in life make the practice of the Christian faith most difficult. Somehow the great trials of life-moments of crisis, of serious illness, of death and bereavement-have a way of raising us and bringing us closer to the only source of spiritual strength, our Savior, Jesus Christ.
But those smaller trials, how they plague us! How they succeed again and again in causing us to fail and stumble. Those little irritations in the home, those endless vexations at the shop or office, those little rubs with the neighbors, those petty quarrels at church-those are the "sand in our shoe," which wear our Christianity thin.

Win Where You Are
"Did you ever notice," asked an old lady, as she smiled into the troubled face before her, "that when the Lord told the discouraged fishermen to cast their nets again, it was right in that same old place where they had been working all night and had caught nothing? If we could only go off to some new place every time we get discouraged, trying again would be an easier thing. If we could be somebody else, or go somewhere else, or do something else, it might not be hard to have fresh faith and courage. But it is the same old net in the same old pond for most of us. The old temptations are to be overcome, the old faults to be conquered, and the old trials and discouragements which we failed yesterday must be faced again today. We must win success where we are if we are to win it at all. It is the Master Himself who, after all these toilsome, disheartening efforts that we call failures, bids us, 'Try again.' "

Trials Help Development
One day a small boy saw a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. It was straining with all its might to get out of the opening which was too small. Thinking he was helping the butterfly, the boy took his knife and slit the cocoon. But to his dismay the butterfly emerged with small and shriveled wings and was unable to fly. Within a short time it was dead. When the boy asked his father about it, his father explained that the butterfly needed the struggle to get out of the cocoon, for this was the process that developed its wings and made them strong enough for flight. In trying to help by relieving the butterfly of its painful struggle, he had actually deprived it of that which was necessary for its development and its very life. This same principle carries over into all of human life-the struggles and the trials we face actually serve for our development, not only in the physical realm but also in the moral and spiritual.

Patience by Tribulation
A certain lady prayed a great deal for patience. She complained to another Christian that while she prayed for patience, all she seemed to get was trouble. "The Lord is sending you trouble in order to produce patience in you," was the reply. How many times have you prayed for patience, and the Lord sent along your way a child that was naughty, a boss who was demanding, a husband or wife who was exasperating to live with? It was all an answer to your prayer for patience so that you may have the opportunity to exercise and practice it. Accept it from the hand of God, for that is part of your training.

Music in the Storm
Legend has it that a German baron made a great Aeolian harp by stretching wires from tower to tower of his castle. When the harp was ready, he eagerly listened for the music. But it was the calm of summer, and in the still air the wires hung silent. Autumn came with its gentle breezes, and there were faint whispers of song. At length the winter winds swept over the castle, and now the harp answered in majestic music. This is a very good illustration of what our Lord meant when He said, "Blessed are the mourners." Their blessedness is more apparent at times when adversity and sorrow strike. If as a Christian you can laugh and be jovial when everything goes well, the world will think nothing of it. But they will be deeply impressed if you can sing in the time of storm. This is why the Lord associates blessedness with mourning and sorrow in this life.

How to Use Suffering
An unbeliever once read the story of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. As he pondered it, he gave vent to the following expression: "There is a Man who not only suffered, but who knew how to use His suffering." This is the aim of patience. Let her have a perfect work, James 1:4 says. What does he really mean by that? The word translated "work" here is the Greek ergon which indicates that endurance should be active, not passive. James wants to correct a great misapprehension about the word hupomone, "patience." We have seen that this word "patience" actually means "to bear under." It gives the picture of someone who is under a terrific load. James is saying that as you are bearing that terrific load, don't remain stationary; move about, exercise your energy. There should be no passive endurance in the Christian life. The Christian should be aggressive, and in spite of the burdens of life he is carrying, he should move forward to the goal that is set before him.

Afflicted Hearts
Some of the greatest benefits to mankind have had their source in men who have experienced great affliction. The German poet Goethe said, "I never experienced affliction that did not turn into a poem." The music that gives man a taste of heaven has often come from afflicted hearts.

Jesus-The Refiner
Some years ago in Dublin, a company of women met to study the Bible. One of them was puzzled by the words of Malachi 3:3, "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." After some discussion, a committee was appointed to call on a silversmith and learn what they could on the subject. The silversmith readily showed them the process. "But, sir," said one, "do you sit while the refining is going on?" "Oh, yes, indeed" he said. "I must sit with my eyes steadily fixed on the surface, for if the time necessary for refining is exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver is sure to be damaged." At once they saw the beauty and comfort of the Scripture passage. As they were leaving, the silversmith called after them, "Oh, one thing more! I only know when the process is complete by seeing my own image reflected on the silver." That is what the Lord Jesus wants to see in you and me as He refines us by fire-His blessed image. And it will be reflected to others, too.

Burdens Bring Blessings
An ant was seen carrying a long piece of straw. Finally it came to a crack in the rock which was like a precipice to the tiny creature. After attempting to take its burden across in several ways, the ant went to one end of the straw and pushed it in front of him over the crack till it reached to the other side, crossed over on the straw, and then pulled it after him. There is no burden which you and I carry faithfully and patiently, but will some day become a bridge to carry us. The God of circumstances will not place a burden upon us that is heavier than we can bear. Our burdens are only heavy enough to serve as a bridge to carry us over in such a manner that others may say after we have gone, "Blessed is he who has endured."

Making You a Blessing
A fable tells of a little piece of wood that once complained bitterly because its owner kept whittling away at it, cutting it and filling it full of holes. But the one who was cutting it so remorselessly paid no attention to its complaining. He was making a flute out of that piece of ebony, and he was too wise to give up because the wood moaned so piteously. His actions seemed to say, "Little piece of wood, without these holes and all this cutting, you would be an ugly stick forever-just a useless piece of ebony. What I am doing now may make you think that I am destroying you when actually I am changing you into a flute whose sweet music will comfort sorrowing hearts. My cutting you is the making of you, for only thus can you be a blessing to the world."

Taste the Sweetness and Escape the Sting
It is said that the way the natives in the East collect honey without being stung by the bees is quite remarkable. They are not protected by their clothing for they hardly wear any. And yet, although surrounded by clouds of angry bees, they rarely suffer. The explanation given is that these natives are quite passive, deliberate in their movements, making no effort to protect themselves, not attempting to drive the swarm away. If a bee settles upon them, it does not sting them any more than it would attempt to sting a piece of wood. The Westerner, on the other hand, is nervous, restless, combative; he attempts to frighten the bees, is manifestly scared himself, makes a noise, gesticulates, runs away, and ends by being badly stung. Our troubles in life compass us about like bees. If we fret and fume, we shall feel the sting and miss the honey. But if we live in quietness and confidence, we shall taste the sweetness and escape the sting. Not a Curse but a Blessing
Dr. Thomas Lambie, for many years a medical missionary in Abyssinia, said that while he was in Africa he learned something very significant from the natives. They often had to cross bridgeless streams, a difficult procedure because of the danger of being swept off their feet and carried downstream to great depths or hurled to death against the hidden rocks. Dr. Lambie learned from the natives the best way to make such a hazardous crossing. The man about to cross found a large stone, the heavier the better, lifted it to his shoulder, and carried it across the stream as ballast. The extra weight of the stone kept his feet solidly on the bed of the stream so that he could cross safely without being swept away. Thus, the spiritual man regards the heavy stones, the burdens he has to carry in life, not as curses as the natural man would tend to interpret them, but as steadying influences, as God's provisions enabling him to cross safely to the realm beyond.

Real or Artificial?
It is related of the Queen of Sheba that she sent two wreaths of roses to Solomon, one real and the other artificial. To test his reputed wisdom she defied him to detect the genuine from the artificial. Solomon at once directed that some bees be brought into the room. Immediately they flew to the real flowers and ignored the counterfeit. The real disciples of Christ are known by the bees that cluster around to sting them. Artificial flowers don't attract stinging bees. Rejoice, therefore, when you are excommunicated from the organized world of artificial religion.Learn from the Birds
Let us learn from the birds. What is it that enables them to fly? Wings? Of course, but not wings alone. It is the resistance of the air that makes flight possible. A bird flies much as an oarsman rows his boat. As oars are used to push against the resistance of water, thus sending the craft ahead, the scooped-out shape of the underside of the bird's wings helps it get a "grip" on the air. The air resists and the bird pushes against the resistance with the downward stroke of its wings. By such pushing movements, it succeeds in flying. Throughout life, progress is made only in the face of opposition. The bird flies through the resisting medium of air. The brook trout needs the resisting water if he is to swim. A democracy thrives through a system of opposing political parties and checks and balances in government. The spirit of a person grows stronger, not as life becomes easier, but as testings and temptations are met, struggled with, and beaten into submission.

Move a Great Load Smoothly
There is an analogy between our lives and the different kinds of boats we have today. There is the rowboat, the sailboat, and the steamboat. All three of them are able to carry loads. The rowboat carries the least because its motion depends on the strength of those who row. The sailboat carries a little more for its motion depends on the wind. However, there is a chance that the wind will toss the boat around quite a bit, and it will be difficult to reach the goal. The steamboat, however, depends neither on human strength nor on the winds, but on the power within which will move it to its destination in spite of the weakness of human strength and the fury of outside circumstances. This is what Christ desires of us. He desires His followers to develop the capacity to carry a heavy load in life without permitting that load to depress them, but rather allowing it to help them to move smoothly. I do not know if you have ever traveled on a boat which is empty, which has no cargo. The motion is terribly rough and the seamen dread it. But when the boat is loaded, it goes along smoothly. That is the goal of trials in the Christian journey. They help us to get settled on the sea, furious though it may be, and move smoothly on to our destination.

Joy in Affliction
One day I visited the little room where one of the missionaries of AMG lives in Athens, Greece. This man is an invalid who was condemned to execution by the Nazis during the occupation of Greece in World War II. Seven bullets went through his body and he was left for dead, but he escaped the ordeal alive. Through this experience, and the personal witness of a servant of Christ, he found Christ as his Savior. After becoming blessed in the Lord through the new birth, he did not want to keep the good news to himself but was anxious to share it with others. Although he suffered eighty percent incapacitation and constant excruciating pain so that he had to remain in bed most of the time, his great rejoicing in the midst of affliction attracted attention. A radio announcer came to visit him and told his story over the air in Athens, inviting suffering people to write to this invalid who knew the secret of being joyful in the midst of affliction. The same thing happened with respect to one of the leading newspapers in Athens. As a result, this consecrated missionary now has a congregation of about nine thousand people all over the world who write to him asking the secret of his joy. He has written about thirty-eight thousand letters to individuals thus far as he glories in his tribulation (Romans 5:3).

Double the Burden
Once a porter in Asia, taking his carrying pole, went to meet a missionary at the train depot. At the station he found that the luggage consisted of one large, heavy bag instead of several smaller ones which the missionary usually carried. He couldn't divide that bag into two portions, and plainly he couldn't carry that heavy bag hanging from one end of his pole. He looked about until he found a stone about the same weight as the bag, hung that from one end of the pole, the bag from the other, and walked proudly home with his double burden! The easier way for him was to carry twice as much. By carrying the two when he needed only to have carried one, he balanced his burden. It's easier to carry two bags than one, for they balance. A one-sided load is a greater strain than a balanced burden that is twice as heavy. A milkmaid with the old-fashioned yoke always walked more easily and straightly carrying two full milk pails than under the awkward burden of one. By doubling a burden you actually make it easier to bear because you have balanced it. We all have our own burdens, and it often seems as if they are enough to carry. But the Bible says, "Bear ye one another's burdens." Take on another's as well, and balance your own. That is the yoke of Christ. The way to carry our own burdens more easily is to help carry somebody else's burden. Perhaps that's one reason God gave us two hands-one for our own burdens and one for our neighbor's. "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others" (Philippians 2:4).

One Problem at a Time
Try this simple experiment. Collect 365 little sticks, toothpicks, if you wish. Tie them together. Now try to break the bundle with your hands. No matter how strong you are, it will be a tough job. Make a smaller bundle, say 30, and it is still too difficult to break. But take just one at a time and, no matter how weak you are, you'll be able to break each one. You're exactly the same person who tried to handle all the sticks together, but this time you changed your way of solving the problem, and it became much easier. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matthew 6:34). A Lesson From Suffering
A bird had no interest in learning the song its master wanted to teach it while its cage was full of light. Its master covered the cage to darken it. He then whistled the same song over and over until the bird learned it by heart. When it could repeat it note for note, the owner uncovered the cage and the bird sang it beautifully. This is an illustration of the way God sometimes deals with us. He darkens the cage of our lives in order to teach us some divine song.

Tested for Strength
If steel is to be used in a reliable manner, it must be tested and proven. So must the servant of Christ. Someone describes his visit to a steel mill as follows: "All around me were little partitions and compartments. Steel had been tested to the limit, and marked with figures that showed its breaking point. Some pieces had been twisted until they broke, and the strength of torsion was marked on them. Some had been stretched to the breaking point, and their tensile strength indicated. Some had been compressed to the crushing point and also marked. The supervisor of the steel mill knew just what these pieces of steel would stand under the strain. He knew just what they would bear if placed in a ship, building, or bridge. He knew because the testing room revealed it." It is often so with us as God's children. God doesn't want us to be like vases of glass or porcelain. He doesn't want us to be hothouse plants, but stormbeaten oaks; not sand dunes, driven with every gust of wind, but granite rocks withstanding the fiercest storms. To make us strong He must bring us into His testing room of suffering. Better the storm waters with Christ than the smooth waters without Him.

Those Pesky Insects
Henry Ward Beecher wrote: "In the sultry insect-breeding days of summer, how insects abound! Every tree is a harbor for stinging pests. Wherever you sit they swarm around and annoy you and destroy your peace and comfort. By and by there come those vast floods of clouds that bring tornadoes and are thunder-voiced; up through the valleys and over the hills and mountains sweep drenching and cleansing rains. When the storm has ceased, the clouds are gone, and you sit under the dripping tree, not a fly, not a gnat, not a pestilent insect is to be seen. The winds and rains have driven them all away. Has it never been so with those ten thousand little pests of pride, vanity, envying, jealousy, and unlawful desire. For days they have teased and fretted you and kept you in conflict with conscience, affection, and all the higher motivations, until God sent you some great searching sorrow, some overwhelming trouble? In those hours He graciously sustained you and lifted you up towards Himself, so that, although you suffered unutterable affliction, you felt that it had cleansed you from jealousies, pride, envies, vanity, the whole swarm of venomous and stinging insects that beset you." The Fruit of Affliction
A man completely dejected by life's afflictions was walking one day in the botanical gardens of Oxford when his attention was arrested by a fine pomegranate tree with a stem which was cut almost through. On asking the gardener the reason, he received an answer which explained the wounds of his troubled spirit. "Sir," said he, "this tree used to shoot so strongly that it bore nothing but leaves. I was therefore obliged to cut it in this manner, and when it was almost cut through then it began to bear plenty of fruit."

He Hasn't Made You Yet
A happily married woman with two children lost both of them. They were buried in the same grave, and she went into a deep emotional collapse. For some years she became as weak and helpless as a little child. She had to be fed by members of her family who ministered to her. One day as her aunt, who was a joyful Christian, took her turn at feeding her, this woman who was unusually despondent that morning said, "Oh, Auntie, you say that God loves us. You say it, and you keep on saying it. I used to think that way, too, but if He loves us, why did He make me as I am?" The aunt, after kissing her gently, said with the wisdom of years, "He hasn't made you yet, child. He's making you now!"
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

Overcoming Difficulties
Those who heard Jenny Lind, the sweet singer of Stockholm, have written of the wonderful quality of her voice and the charm of the songs she sang. Yet few realize that she owed as much to the school of suffering and sorrow as to the academy where her powers were developed. Her childhood was full of sadness. The woman with whom she lived locked her in her room each day when she went to work; the only means the child found of spending the long hours was to sit by the window and sing to herself. One day a music teacher in the city passing by heard the voice of the unseen singer and detected its possibilities. He called a friend to his side, and together they listened to the wonderful voice within. They got in touch with the child's guardian and made arrangements for the almost friendless girl to be given her chance. There were many difficulties to be overcome, but step by step she mounted the ladder of fame. She astounded London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, and New York. Some say there never was such a voice, trilling like the thrush, pure as the note of the lark. But those who knew her best realized how the sorrows of her childhood gave a richness and depth to her song that otherwise would have been unattainable. She herself once wrote:
In vain I seek for rest
In all created good:
It leaves me still unblest,
And makes me cry for God.
And safe at rest I cannot be
Until my heart finds rest in Thee.

Affliction Unavoidable
The lawns which we wish to keep in the best condition we mow very frequently. But out in the fields there is no such repeated cutting. The tall unkept grass of the field may be proud that it has never experienced the power of the mower blades, but the cut grass is more beautiful and more serviceable. Do we as human beings before God have any more voice in the matter than the grass in our lawns? There is nothing that the grass can do to hinder the frequent cutting by the owner. Aren't we as impotent in the hands of God as the grass is under the mower? Affliction is a fact in life. Let us accept it and endeavor to find out, not so much why God permits it, as how God wants us to use it. The Well of Love
In Northern Greece we have a beautiful summer camp at the foot of Mount Olympus. It is right on the shores of the blue Aegean Sea whose water is very salty. But stand where the water has just receded and dig a few inches, and the hole will fill up with the most refreshing, sweet water you have ever tasted. It has come from the mountains and hidden out of sight to be discovered only by digging. When the sea rolls in and pours its bitter flood over the little hole, though it covers it with a shroud of brackish waters, the stream of sweet water still flows. Such should be the stream of love in our hearts. When the flood of unkindness and wrong pours over us, we may be treated cruelly by the world. But whatever injustice we may have to endure from others, the well of love within us should never retain a trace of bitterness but remain pure and sweet.

Wrought by Fire
The Cathedral of Nuremburg contains some rare and exquisite workings in iron. But was the iron just pinched into shape? How many strokes did it receive? How many blows did it undergo on the anvil? How was it beaten here and there? How was it bent forward, and backward, and forward, and backward again? How was it distorted and contorted? How was it hammered and hammered till by and by it was covered with little speckles as multitudinous as those in frost-pictures, and far more permanent? Those speckles were wrought out by incessant workings in the fire and on the anvil under the hammer. Think also of the many pieces of iron that failed this trial. Their inner flaws could not endure, and they were cast aside. Similarly, suffering makes a man or spoils him. Our Christlikeness is measured by our willingness to suffer with Christ and for Christ. Since the Body of Christ is the Church, we must be willing to suffer for the other members of His Body. In this suffering there is an inbuilt joy. The Hidden Opening
There is a place along the Hudson River where, as you sail, you seem to be entirely hemmed in by hills. The boat drives on toward a rocky wall, and it seems as if it must either stop or be dashed to pieces. Just as you come within the shadow of the mountain, an opening is suddenly discovered, and the boat passes out into one of the grandest bays on the river. So it is with temptation. You are not to seek it, not to enter into it; God promises no way out in such a case. But if it meets you on your heavenward journey, you are to go straight on, though you see no way out. The way will reveal itself in due time if you only keep on your way, being the way of duty-the way of the Lord. As in the river, the beautiful bay lies just around the menacing rock. So it will often be found that your sweetest and best experience in life lies just beyond your most threatening temptation.

Triumph over Adversity
Naturalists are amazed at the resistance of weak things in nature. There is security and triumph of frail things that baffles man's understanding and imagination. "It is a curious thing," wrote Kay Robinson, "that the extremes of heat and cold seem to be most easily endured by the flimsiest creatures. What is it that, when the frost is splitting our strongest metal water-pipes, protects the tiny tubes of life-giving moisture in the almost spectral organism of a gnat? Larger things get frostbitten and perish. In tropical countries the tiniest insects brave the blistering midday heat which shrivels the largest herbage, and drives men, birds and animals gasping under shelter. In India a small, blue butterfly flits all day about the parched grass or sits in full blaze of the sun where metal or stone becomes so hot that it burns the hand. What heat-resisting secret resides in the minute body of that little butterfly, scarcely thicker than notepaper? Nature's power of preserving life touches the miraculous." The same God who made the natural world made the spiritual also. Similarly, then, the saints have the least reason to be afraid when they most feelingly recognize their utter weakness and dependence. We prevail by yielding; we succumb to conquer like those sea-flowers that continue to bloom amid the surf when the rocks are pounded. In acquiescence and diffidence, in yielding and clinging, we triumph over adversity as the fern survives geological cataclysms and the butterfly the scorching sun. In our weakness we experience God's strength (2 Corinthians 12:9).

New Power, New Joy
The treasures of His grace are never exhausted. In the realm of the spirit there is something that stirs within man, a deep-rooted instinct for seeking. God has hidden His treasures in the difficult and arduous ways of experience. Experience contains precious treasures that men find only as they journey faithfully along life's hazardous road. When we conquer and overcome, we find a treasure of God in the conquest of a certain sin, in the overcoming of a great temptation; we find the hidden manna which may be fresh courage, new strength to overcome another temptation that has harassed us for a long time. New strength and new joy are ours through conquest. In the midst of this difficult way of discovering new things about life, men learn to tackle it with new equipment and new determination. The story told by a certain man can be echoed by most of us: "I wrestled," he said, "all night, in the grip of a fearful sin that was slowly dragging my soul to hell. All through the night the fearful battle raged, and I felt that my soul was lost; but with the coming of the dawn there shone a light brighter than the dawn. The Son of Man was at my side and the temptation was thrust from me in His strength. I arose from my knees, strengthened in body and soul, and prepared to meet anything that might come my way." You and I have wrestled like that man and have found new power and new joy when we have conquered a temptation in the power of God. The man of faith can find, if only he will seek, the promise of a glorious dawn even in the darkest night.

Rescued from Difficulties
To quote G. Campbell Morgan: "I remember hearing a very dear friend of mine in a conference say that if the Lord leads us into difficulties, He leads us out; but that, if we get into difficulties of our own making, we have to get out ourselves. I thank God that is not true of my life. That is not what I have found out. Yes, it is true, if He leads me into difficulty, He will lead me out; but if I wander off in my own foolishness, He will still follow me, and lead me out."