What Are You Made Of ?

There is that of God to be seen in such a day as cannot be seen in another. His power in holding up some, his wrath in leaving of others; his making of shrubs to stand, and his suffering of cedars to fall; his infatuating of the counsels of men, and his making of the devil to outwit himself; his giving of his presence to his people, and his leaving of his foes in the dark; his discovering [disclosing] the uprightness of the hearts of his sanctified ones, and laying open the hypocrisy of others, is a working of spiritual wonders in the day of his wrath, and of the whirlwind and storm.

We are apt to overshoot, in the days that are calm, and to think ourselves far higher, and more strong than we find we be, when the trying day is upon us. . . . We could not live without such turnings of the hand of God upon us. We should be overgrown with flesh, if we had not our seasonable winters. It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit, because there is no winter there. 

~ John Bunyan: Seasonable Counsel; or Advice To Sufferers

We must understand that there is more to learn and more of God to be gained in our times of trial. In our times of suffering when our meddle is being tested. John Bunyan who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress understood this. Believe it or not, God is usually closest to us in times of adversity and affliction. Times like now when we are awaiting the COVID-19 surge to sweep over the land like a Destroyer. Because of the acuteness and extreme of our dread or pain...we don't or can't see God right next to us. We must try to see Him during this time and what He has to teach us. It builds a faith that is capable of enduring death and will not fold up under the first sign of pressure and misery. God resides directly in the heart of the storm. Right in the heart of chaos and destruction lies the calm before the other side of the storm is upon us. We must face the storm to get to the respite that is in the center of it. God IS the storm AND the calm in its eye.

The ability to endure hardship. Outlast it.

As a whole we sorely lack this in a feel-good hedonistic America. We are not interested in the content of one’s character only of facades and pretense. Only outward appearances. This became brutally evident the last few weeks when people went off the rails as their lives went into disarray. Pull back the veil of order and structure in American live's and the semblance of order evaporates like a puff of steam. Like vanity…temporary and fleeting.

What's more…if our faith is way it should be it will be able to endure hardship and struggling with a sense of grace that can only come from God. With a wry sense of humor. A sense of humor even when facing death(s) as they begin to wash over our lives like high-tide. It is in these struggles that we build our faith like progressive resistance in the world building the strength that is perseverance. It is when we are walking in the Valley of The Shadow of Death, struggling to keep not only our sanity but our lives...that we pick up the materials and resources we need. The materials to scale the mountains and reach the pinnacles God has placed before us to conquer.

If they forced Christ to struggle...how much more will we struggle and suffer if we are willingly follow in His footsteps. 

He was tempted...we will be tempted. 
He suffered...we will suffer. 
He died...we will die. 

Christians that don't suffer are not Christian. Christians that do not die to self will not rise again as new creations. These two principles are inseparably linked. To live is to die to self and to die to self is to live. The Christian must be consoled with the fact that there is always the glorious culmination after death in the eternal reward. 

One must never lose sight of this fact. That is why we are repeatedly called to persevere in the faith until the bitter end. Perhaps dying a thousand little deaths in humility. Perhaps gaining a thousand little rewards in the mundane things in life like the love of our parents or our children. Sunsets and sunrises. Our child’s birth. Their first steps. Their first words. Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

It is in the desert that a flower appears so much more beautiful because of the absence of life that appears to be lacking around it. It is in the pressure that the diamond of faith is born. It is in the unremitting pressure of suffering and struggle that the ugly coal and carbon of death is best squeezed until there is no more darkness in it, only light. What emerges is beauty personified in a glorified life. Life that is the image or impression of God.

Hebrews 2:10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.

Dark days are upon is. We will not be able to avoid them as a nation or world. We must not allow the surge of darkness to overwhelm us, dragging us under like a tidal wave. When the fire is blown towards us, overtaking us, we will stand only singed but not consumed. We need to, as a people, walk through this death to gain what we will need for mountains that we will need to climb in our latter days. We must suffer well and we will overcome this better equipped to face all that comes before us later on. In the struggle we will be transformed.

Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

God never promised us a pleasant journey. He promised us a pleasant destination.