151 Sermon Illustrations on Trials

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?

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.

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.

Trial brings man face to face with God, — God and he touch; and the flimsy veil of bright cloud that hung between him and the sky is blown away; he feels that he is standing outside the earth, with nothing between him and the Eternal Infinite. Oh! there is something in the sick-bed, and the aching heart, and the restlessness and the languor of shattered health, and the sorrow of affections withered, and the stream of life poisoned at its fountain, and the cold, lonely feeling of utter rawness of heart which is felt when God strikes home in earnest, that forces a man to feel what is real, and what is not.

— F. W. Robertson

When I was at Shields, I went into a glass-house; and, standing very attentive, I saw several masses of burning glass, of various forms. The workman took a piece of glass, and put it into one furnace; then he put it into a second; and then into a third. I said to him, "Why do you put this through so many fires?" He answered, "Oh, sir! the first was not hot enough, nor the second; and therefore we put it into a third, and that will make it transparent." Whitefield.

The surest way to know our gold is to look upon it and examine it in God's furnace, where he tries it for that end, that we may see what it is. If we have a mind to know whether a building stands strong or no, we must look upon it when the wind blows. If we would know whether that which appears in the form of wheat has the real substance of wheat, or be only chaff, we must observe it when it is winnowed. If we would know whether a staff be strong, or a rotten, broken reed, we must observe it when it is leaned on, and weight is borne upon it. If we would weigh ourselves justly, we must weigh ourselves in God's scales, that he makes use of to weigh us. Jonathan Edwards.

Outward attacks and troubles rather fix than unsettle the Christian, as tempests from without only serve to root the oak faster; whilst an inward canker will gradually rot and decay it. H. More.

Men are born to trouble at first, and exercised in it all their days. There is a cry at the beginning of life, and a groan at its close. Arnot.

A gentleman was passing by where a large flock of sheep were feeding. Seeing the shepherd was about to eat his dinner, he stopped his horse and entered into conversation with him to this effect: "Well, shepherd, you seem to be contented, and have few cares to perplex you. I, who am a man of very large property, cannot but look upon such as you with envy."—"Why, sir," replied the shepherd, "tis true I have no troubles like yours: I could do well enough were it not for that black ewe there; that is the plague of my life. I no sooner sit down to take up my book or my dinner, than off she goes, and takes the whole flock with her."

Job a man whose outward life was blameless, becomes the most troubled man. God deals with his inner life. The answer shows the trials were not for something Job had done but for what he was. Had not the sen- tence of death in himself (see ch. 29). A good man but too much aware of it. He passes from a knowledge about God to a knowledge of God. Sees God and gets the humbling vision of self. The valley of humbling—a blessed place.

It never rains but it pours. The mysterious law of succession in troubles. God keeps them up until His purpose has been accomplished

When out in a yacht in the Clyde we came opposite the great rock called the Cock of Arran. Our captain did not steam right ahead, and rush at the rock; no, he did what was much wiser: he cast anchor for the night in the bay at the foot of it, so that we were sheltered from the wind by the vast headland. I remember looking up through the darkness of the night, and admiring its great sheltering wing. A difficulty was it. It became a shelter. Every now and then in Scripture you come before a vast truth. Will you steam against it and wreck your soul? Will you not, with truer wisdom, cast anchor under the lee of it?

See AFFLICTION PRODUCING VIRTUE.

ADVERSITY HELPING GENIUS

There is an apprenticeship to difficulty, which is better for excellence sometimes than years of ease and comfort. A great musician once said of a promising but passionless young singer who was being educated for the stage: “She sings well, but she lacks something which is everything. If she were married to a tyrant who would maltreat her and break her heart, in six months she would be the greatest singer in Europe.”

— JAMES T. FIELDS

Apparently some people are ignorant, and others have forgotten, that we have no sense that is capable of discriminating between high and low speed, or even between motion and rest, except by noting the usual accompaniments of motion, such as the apparent movement of surrounding objects, the resistance of the atmosphere, or the jolting due to obstacles in the path. If our surroundings move with us and the motion is smooth, our methods of detecting it fail. Thus, we can not feel the great velocity with which the earth is moving through space. In like manner, a train on a rough road seems to be going faster at forty miles an hour than one on a smooth road at sixty. The sensations of high-speed travel depend largely, therefore, on the conditions of that travel.

In the same way our moral progress can only be measured by the obstacles we meet and overcome.

On all sides we may see that the stern laws which are necessary to our development may become exhaustive and destructive, passing beyond a given limit, as in athletics a man may be overtrained. And all this is just as true of our moral as it is of our physical and intellectual nature. A fair share of hardship develops heroic qualities, but when existence becomes too hard it breaks the spirit; the child cruelly treated becomes cowed; men and women bred in misfortune’s school become timid, nervous, cowardly. So, if heaven did not temper life, the finer qualities could never be developed in us. Burdens too heavy to be borne would break our heart; temptations too fiery, or protracted, wear out our patience; sorrows too acute drink up our spirit. Overborne by unmitigated pressure, we should lose all faith, courage, hope; nothing would be left to us but atheism, cynicism, despair.--W. L. WATKINSON, “The Transfigured Sackcloth.”

Troubles and afflictions are intended under the dispensation of divine grace to bring out the deeper capacities of the soul. Experiences which are calculated to deaden the careless mind will develop consecration, zeal, and devotion in the thoughtful.

Scientists subject radium to every conceivable test. In an ordinary temperature it never ceases emitting light, heat, and electricity. It was at first imagined that this perpetual threefold emanation would cease, or at any rate be diminished, if the substance were exposed to intense cold. But it was discovered that radium when immersed in liquid air, which is extremely cold, immediately evolved more light, heat, and electricity. Then it was plunged into liquid hydrogen, of which the coldness is almost incalculable and inconceivable. The radium only glowed still more intensely with its emanations of light, heat and electricity.

But know for all time this: There’s blood upon the way the saints have trod, The singer of a day shall pass and die. The world itself shall pass, who passed them by; But they of the exceeding bitter cry, When Death itself is dead and life is bliss, Shall stand in heaven and sing their songs to God. (Text.)

--ETHEL EDWARDS, _The Outlook_ (London).

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We must not always interpret our destiny by the aspect of the present. If we contend patiently and bravely with current adversity, out of the darkness prosperity may be brought to light.

A certain great company runs a copper-smelting plant. The sulfur fumes generated in this plant were seriously injuring vegetation in the surrounding country. The State brought suit to compel the company to prevent this injury to vegetation, and won the suit. The company was put to much trouble and expense, but in its effort to find some method of preventing that injury to its neighbors it discovered that the gases could be captured and converted into sulfuric acid. Thus, out of what was not only a waste product but an injurious product, this company has discovered a new source of great profit. And all because it “got into trouble.” The “afterward” of all the troubles that come to us in life has never yet been dreamed of by the wisest seer. (Text.)

Philip Yancey was researching a book and found a man whose life closely resembled Job’s. The man’s name was Douglas and, like Job, he was not perfect, but was a model of godly faithfulness.

Douglas chose ministry over a more lucrative psychotherapy practice. Seven years before, his wife had experienced a series of cancers in both breasts and then a lung. A drunk driver hit their car head-on and his 12-year-old daughter received a broken arm and severe cuts on her face from windshield glass. Douglas himself had a massive blow to his head which caused excruciating headaches. His vision was permanently affected. Impaired at work, he could only read a page or two at a time.

Yancey asked Douglas about his experience of disappointment with God. Douglas thought for a moment and then said, “To tell you the truth, Philip, I didn’t feel any disappointment with God.” Yancey was stunned by this, but Douglas continued, “The reason is this. I learned, first through my wife’s illness and then especially through the accident, not to confuse God with life. I’m no stoic. I am as upset about what happened to me as anyone could be. I feel free to curse the unfairness of life and to vent all my grief and anger. But I believe God feels the same way about that accident -- grieved and angry.”

Douglas continued, “I have learned to separate the physical reality in this world from the spiritual reality. We tend to think ‘Life should be fair because God is fair.’ But God is not life. And if I confuse God with the physical reality of life -- by expecting constant good health, for example -- then I set myself up for a crashing disappointment.”

Most heroes of the Old Testament (Abraham, Joseph, David, Elijah, Jeremiah, and Daniel) went though trials much like Job’s. For each of them, at times, the physical reality surely seemed to present God as “the enemy.” But each managed to cling to God despite the hardships of daily life.

“If we can have a relationship with God APART from the physical reality of our life circumstances,” said Douglas, “then we may be able to hang on when the physical reality breaks down. Isn’t that, after all, the main point of Job? ... I challenge you to go home and read again the story of Jesus. How ‘fair’ was life to him? For me, the Cross demolished for all time the basic belief that life is supposed to be fair.”

Douglas’s stark separation of the physical and the spiritual troubled Yancey, since both are part of God’s creation, but his idea about the unfairness of life is something Yancey spends time meditating on every Good Friday.

Good Friday demolishes the instinctive belief that this life is supposed to be fair. But Easter Sunday gives a bright and startling clue to the riddle of the universe. Someday, God will restore the physical reality of planet Earth to its proper place under his reign. It is a good thing to remember, when disappointment with God hits, that we live out our days on Easter Saturday.

In "A View from a Zoo," Gary Richmond tells about the birth of a giraffe:

"The first thing to emerge are the baby giraffe's front hooves and head. A few minutes later the plucky newborn calf is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. [several in congregation couldn't believe this] Within seconds, he rolls to an upright position with his legs tucked under his body. From this position he considers the world for the first time and shakes off the last vestiges of the birthing fluid from his eyes and ears.

"The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she positions herself directly over the calf. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing. She swings her long, pendulous leg outward and kicks her baby, so that it is sent sprawling head over heals.

"When it doesn't get up, the violent process is repeated over and over again. The struggle to rise is momentous. As the baby calf grows tired, the mother kicks it again to stimulate its efforts... Finally, the calf stands for the first time on its wobbly legs. Then the mother giraffe does the most remarkable thing. She kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, baby giraffes must be able to get up as quickly as possible in order to stay with the herd, where there is safety. Lions, hyenas, leopards, and wild hunting dogs all enjoy young giraffes, and they'd get it too, if the mother didn't teach her calf to get up quickly and get with it...

"I've thought about the birth of the giraffe many times. I can see its parallel in my own life. There have been many times when it seemed that I had just stood up after trial, only to be knocked down again by the next. It was God helping me to remember how it was that I got up, urging me always to walk with him, in his shadow, under his care."

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Another version from PreachingNow newsletter:

In an article in Men of Integrity magazine, Gary Richmond shares this story:

“The Angola giraffe was giving birth. I stood next to zoo animal keeper, Jack Badal, to watch. She was standing up, and the calf’s front hooves and head were already visible. ‘When is she going to lie down?’ I asked Jack.

“‘She won’t,’ he answered.

“‘But her hindquarters are nearly 10 feet off the ground!’ I said. ‘Isn’t anyone going to catch the calf?’

“‘Try catching it if you want,’ Jack responded, ‘but its mother has enough strength in her hind legs to kick your head off.’ Soon the calf hurled forth, landing on his back. His mother waited for about a minute, then kicked her baby, sending it sprawling head over hooves.

“‘Why’d she do that?’ I asked.

“‘She wants it to get up.’ Whenever the baby ceased struggling to rise, the mother prodded it with a hearty kick. Finally, the calf stood -- wobbly, but upright. The mother kicked it off its feet again! ‘She wants it to remember how it got up,’ Jack offered. ‘In the wild, if it didn’t quickly follow the herd, predators would pick it off.’

“It’s easy for us to view trials as unwelcome intruders in our lives, but they do have a way of prompting us to get up and seek the protection of our heavenly Father.”

________

Gary Richmond, “It’s a Jungle Out There,” Men of Integrity, 12-15-2004; via www.PreachingToday.com newsletter

The way we react to trials and disappointments may reveal what our spiritual foundation really is.

A Christian leader named Ian Leitch was asked to speak to a businessman’s staff at work. Ian agreed, and when he was done, one woman asked to speak to him privately. She said that at age 22, she and her boyfriend were in a major car accident. He was killed and she was badly injured and needed a number of surgeries. She said that after all this, she had lost her faith.

Ian responded by offering her an analogy. He said that when huge ships are built they don’t turn big hoses on them to see if they leak - instead, they sail them out on the open water. Such trials prove if a ship is seaworthy. In the same way, a person only knows if their faith is real when they go through trials.

Then he asked the woman, “Can I ask you honestly, did you lose your faith or did you find you had none?”

She said, “Ian, I guess you are right, I had none.”

________

Ian Leitch, Life Before Death! A Restored, Regenerated, and Renewed Life (Green Acres Press, 2007)

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you” (Matt. 6:33).

As a rehab doctor in a veteran’s hospital, my husband treats soldiers who have recently returned from the war in Iraq as well as veterans from past wars.

Not surprisingly, many of these men and women have been through some terrible traumas and have not only physical injuries to deal with but emotional scars, as well. What is surprising to him is how differently people respond to their wounds. Some soldiers are stoicalZ about their pain and keep their nightmares to themselves. Some wear their wounds on their sleeves and continue to live in angry bitterness. Some give up and turn to drugs or alcohol to dull the memories. And some incredibly grow stronger. It is this last group that interests me most.

Why do some people experience the same trauma, loss and suffering as others, but they never give up? In fact, they actually grow from their experiences and go on to do amazing things -- even to help others who are suffering.

It would be grossly presumptuous on my part to say that I understand where these men and women are coming from. My traumas are puny in comparison with what they have endured. Yet, they have been big enough to cause me pain -- divorce, leaving friends behind, deaths of loved ones, miscarriage, and so on. Life is hard for us all at times. Some crumble under the weight of it, and others grow stronger. Therefore, my question remains -- what makes the difference? Why, even as a child, did I feel that each event, even the painful ones, provided a lesson to be learned and to be used? Is it simply a matter of personal fortitude? That would be presumptuous. No, I can be as big a weenie as the next guy. Is it wholly due to personality traits? No, I see both survivors and victims in all personality types. Is it found in other characteristics: gender, race, age, education wealth? Again, the obvious response is no.

The answer to my question seems to lie in believing that there is a greater purpose to life than personal welfare and physical well-being. Not a delusion of grandeur, but a spiritual perception that there is something more -- that this world is not our final destination and what happens in it is in some way a training ground for what will follow. It is the heartfelt belief that God has a plan for each one of us and for the world as a whole. Nothing happens only by chance. Nothing is beyond His redemptive reach or outside of His control. He sees, He knows, and He will not let us suffer in vain.

I believe that we always have a choice: to give in and live as a victim to the pain and suffering of life on this planet or to choose to live in His victory and strength. Even as I write these words, I confess that I am not often up to such a positive choice. Without His reaching down to lift me, I could not even choose to seek Him. But He does reach down! The knowledge of that truth fills my heart with joy. Yes, “each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). But “consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18), and rejoice.

Let the knowledge of that glory change you now and forever -- for your benefit, for the benefit of those around you, and for the glory of His name. It makes all the difference in the world and in the world to come.

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #16730]

One night a big, hungry tiger caught a woman in the woods by her

house. He threw her down to the ground and was going to have a feast.

She could feel his hot breath in her face.

Something seemed to tell her to sing. She began to sing hymns, as

she was lying under the"' strong body of the great beast. This seemed

to charm him. He did not go away, but he did not hurt her. He just

stood over her and listened. But she did not dare to stop singing, or

he might have eaten her up. She kept on singing till her husband

returned home in the morning, for he had been off to work, and shot

the fierce animal.

This woman believed her life had been saved because she sang

praises to the Lord Jesus. She obeyed His voice when she felt that He

told her to sing, and He caused the songs to save her life. How

sweetly the Lord takes care of His children when they trust and obey

Him.

By William Moses Tidwell, "Effective Illustrations."

Stephen Hawking is an astrophysicist at Cambridge University and

perhaps the most intelligent man onearth. He has advanced the general

theory of relativity farther than any person since Albert Einstein.

Unfortunately, Hawking is afflicted with ALS Syndrome (Lou Gehrig's

disease). It will eventually take his life. He has been confined to a

wheelchair for years, where he can do little more than sit and think.

Hawking has lost the ability even to speak, and now he communicates by

means of a computer that is operated from the tiniest movement of his

fingertips. Quoting from an Omni magazine article: "He is too weak to write, feed

himself, comb his hair, fix his classes--all this must be done for

him. Yet this most dependent of all men has escaped invalid status.

His personality shines through the messy details of his existence." Hawking said that before he became ill, he had very little interest in

life. He called it a "pointless existence" resulting from sheer

boredom. He drank too much and did very little work. Then he learned

he had ALS Syndrome and was not expected to live more than two years.

The ultimate effect of that diagnosis, beyond its initial shock, was

extremely positive. He claimed to have been happier after he was

afflicted than before. How can that be understood? Hawking provided

the answer. "When one's expectations are reduced to zero," he said, "one really

appreciates everything that one does have." Stated another way:

contentment in life is determined in part by what a person anticipates

from it. To a man like Hawking who thought he would soon die quickly,

everything takes on meaning--a sunrise or a walk in a park or the

laughter of children."

Topics: The Road to Success See Also: \reference{Romans 5}{Romans 5};

\reference{James 1}{James 1}

A seeker approached the guru and implored, "Please, Teacher,

show me the way to success in life."

Silently, passively, the guru pointed to the path that went

off the left.

She followed the guru's direction and walked boldly down the

path. Just as she rounded a wall and approached an opening in the

cliff she was smashed with a big "Splat!"

She wondered what she had done wrong! She had followed the

guru's instructions. She had walked the narrow path to the left.

Still, instead of finding success she found Splat!

Battered and bruised, she made her way back up the path to the

guru. "Teacher, I have misunderstood your previous instructions and

have taken the wrong path to success. Please, show me the path to

success."

The guru said nothing. He didn't blink. He didn't move. He

raised a finger and once again pointed to the path to the left.

She stared down the path and looked back to the guru. He was

unblinking, unmoving and passive. His finger pointed left.

She gulped, took a deep breath and once again set out on the

path to success. She walked gingerly, watching for potential hazards

along the way. Her last trip down this path had taught her a lesson.

She wouldn't repeat the same mistake twice.

This time she negotiated the cliff and the opening. Through

the opening she entered into a broad mesa. Before venturing out onto

the mesa she scanned the area for potential danger.

Satisfied that all was clear, she ventured out. She had gone

only a few steps when once again, she was clobbered by a huge Splat!

Bloodied and bruised, she dragged herself back the way she had

come to the guru. This time she was angry. She returned to the place

of her previous instruction. Raising herself up to her full height,

she grabbed the guru around the collar got in his face and shouted.

"Enough of your tricks. I came here to discover the path to success.

So help me I swear by the heavens that if you dare to point left I'll

tear you limb from limb. Now tell me, which is the path to success?"

The guru was no fool. After all, he was a guru and widely

renowned for his wisdom. He thought for a moment, hesitated and then

delicately poked a chubby finger in the direction of the path to the

left.

"I've been down that road twice now and there's nothing there!

You're a sham, a fake, a phony and a liar! Each time I've listened to

you I've gotten Splat! Tell me, where along that treacherous path will

I find success?"

"You'll find it just past Splat!" Source: Heard on the "Dr. Laura" talk show, January 7, 1997