When We Are Tested
I would like to begin with a childhood story from the life of America’s 34th President Dwight D. Eisenhower. One day the neighborhood children had gathered together in his house to play card games. The young Eisenhower was dealt a very bad hand from the beginning. He was furious and he threw down his cards. Eisenhower shouted “What is this? How can you deal me such a bad hand from the start? Do it again!” Eisenhower’s mother had just entered the room with drinks for her guests and she had witnessed her son’s outburst. After she carefully laid down her tray, she talked to all the children. She said “Children, before you get back to your card game, I would like for you to listen carefully to my words. Especially you my son, please take my words to heart. The card game you are playing now is just like life. Sometimes you will be dealt a bad hand. The longer you live; you will experience hardship and pain, but you can not just give up and demand that life deal you a better hand. Which ever hand you are dealt, you must do the best you can and not give up. Now, keep that in mind as you restart your game.” Since then, Eisenhower went on to be the president and he has said that “my mother’s words from then have always helped me throughout my life”.
The longer we live; we realize that in life there are times when life deals us a good hand and times when life deals us a bad hand. One person can be born the crown prince and another person can start out life in an insignificant family. Another person can start out life with a millionaire family and another person can start out his life belonging to a penniless family. Whichever hand a person is born with, he cannot lay down his hand and demand another. “” are God’s words to which we must hold on to and do our best with the life we are given.
Let’s take a look at Abraham from the bible. He did not have a good start in life. His father was a man who made idols. With nothing but his bare hands, he left his hometown to start a new life in a foreign land. He never let go of his faith in God but held on as tight as he could throughout his life. He is now known as the ancestor of all those who have faith. Let’s also take a look at Joseph, the son of Jacob. He also did not have a good start in life. He was sold as a slave by his jealous brothers and sent to a foreign land. He was falsely accused and sent to jail. However, through his trials, Joseph held on to his faith in God and God made him the prime minister of Egypt. Our Lord Jesus Christ also did not have a very good start in life. He was born in a manger. His life was not one of ease. In order to carry out his mission, did he not carry his cross all the way to Golgotha? Did he not exclaim “it is finished” before he died. Whatever hand of life you and I have been dealt we must faithfully live out our lives so that when we stand before God we may confess that we had done our best and had been “good and faithful servants”. My hope is that we all may be blessed through Jesus and be able to stand before God in such a manner.
In today’s sermon we will look for God’s solutions to those times in our lives when we are dealt a bad hand in life and would like to just give up and walk away from our troubles. How does God want us to respond to those times? How will God deliver us? We will search the scriptures and find his Grace to preserves us through those hard times and
also help us to encourage others in their struggles.
1) Every person on this planet experiences times of pain and suffering during their lifetime.
In the scriptures it is written “ “. We must not think that “I am the only person that is suffering while everybody else has it easy”. “Everyone has a difficulty that they are currently suffering through” is what we must always keep in mind. In fact, no matter how hard your suffering may be, there will always be at least one person whose suffering is worse than yours and they are handling their pain much with a better attitude than yourself. We must not say “why is my life like this? why are things not working out? when will this burden be removed from me?” You are not the only one who has had such questions, everyone has. Don’t think “that person has never had a reason to worry in their life.” That person is thinking the same fear and doubts as you are. It just appears that the other person is living a trouble free life.
Has anyone here ever heard of the person named Abebe? He was a professional athlete who ran marathons. During the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he had won the gold medal while running barefoot. He was nicknamed the “barefoot prince.” 4 years later, he won another gold medal in Tokyo. Up till then no one has ever won the gold medal in 2 back to back Olympics. Even today, no one else has been able to accomplish this extraordinary feat. Abebe is a known legend in the marathon sport. The “barefoot prince” immediately comes to mind when the word marathon is mentioned. Since then, Abebe suffered a tragedy in his life. He was involved in a car accident which resulted in the loss of his legs. To a professional like Abebe, the loss of his legs meant the loss of his life. He would remain in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. However, just when we thought he would quit professional sports and live out the rest of his life in self pity, he had resurfaced in the Special Olympics in Norway and wore again a gold medal around his neck for sleigh racing. He had prepared for another sport to keep competing with his remaining limbs. When he was interviewed he stated “The 2nd stage of your life is even more important than the 1st stage.” “Let’s make our 2nd stage even more beautiful than the 1st.” “Even though I have lost both my legs, I still have my arms, and besides there are people out there who are missing even those.” This is a person who dared not say “No one has suffered like I have” even in his dreams. Unlike Abebe, there are plenty of people who have given in and said those words.
What can we learn from Abebe’s response to his suffering? How can we also respond to the pain and suffering in our own lives with such an impressive attitude and determination to overcome them? Or would we have given up so easily and live the rest of our lives in bitterness and self-pity? We must throw off our “poor me” response and think about others who are suffering even worse than ourselves with a better attitude and response than ours.
It is often said that life is like a play. In fact, God is both the author and director in the story of our lives. He is holding the megaphone in his right hand and placing the obstacles in our path. Although we may suffer our way through Act 1, God is preparing
us for Act 2 phase of our lives. All the circumstances of our lives are to prepare for the new life to glorify God. When we suffer, we wonder why God allows the hardships in our lives. God sometimes allow such sufferings to improve our attitudes and to learn to rely on his strength to overcome our obstacles. God wants us to strengthen our trust in him before he allows us into the Act 2 phase of our lives. He wants his glory to shine through us as we handle suffering in our lives as we give witness to others.
I personally am not envious of the famous pastors of megachurches. In fact I am more envious of those humble people who have impressed God with their response to their sufferings. |