The apostle Paul writes in 2
Corinthians 1:8, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which
came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that
we despaired even of life.”
Paul was one of the greatest men
of faith who ever lived and yet he had problems wherever he went. He said he
was “in
labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons frequently, in
deaths often. From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was
shipwrecked; a night and a day I had been in the deep; in journeys often, in
perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils of false brethren;
in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in
fastings often, in cold and nakedness - besides the other things that come upon
me daily: my deep concern for all the churches” (2 Corinthians
11:23b-28).
These scriptures tell us that
throughout his ministry Paul often reached the end of his rope. All he could do
is hang on and trust God. Yet not once do we hear him complain about his
hardships nor did he sink in the quicksand of self-pity.
Elijah, on the other hand, was
one of the greatest prophets of all time and in 1 Kings 19, he has a major pity
party. He had just won a major victory on Mt. Carmel and this stirred up the
wrath of the wicked Queen Jezebel. “And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had
done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel
sent messengers to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if
I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this
time.’ And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life…” (1 Kings 1-3a).
Elijah had just seen the fire of
God come down from heaven and consume a water-drenched sacrifice and here he is
running away from a powerless threat from an evil queen. Verse 8 says, “So
he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty
days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God.” Here God
performs another miracle. Elijah eats one meal and it sustains him for forty
days and still he runs away.
Verses 9 and 10, “And
there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the
Word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here,
Elijah?’” Why run when you’ve been empowered with the anointing of God?
Here comes the pity party, “So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for
the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant;
torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am
left; and they seek to take my life.’”
He says the same thing in verse
14. It is interesting to note that when Elijah sank in the muck and mire of
self-pity that his role as a prophet soon came to a close. God’s response to
this pity party was he had Elijah anoint Jehu, who went on to put an end to the
reign of Jezebel, and Elisha who replaced him as God’s prophet in the land. Not
long after this a chariot of fire appeared and Elijah went up by a whirlwind
into heaven (2 Kings 2:11). Indeed, the worst thing a person can do when tests
and trials come is to fall into the destructive trap of self-pity.
Jeremiah 15 records another major
pity party. Verse 17 and 18 says, “I did not sit in the assembly of the
mockers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, for You have
filled me with indignation. Why is my pain perpetual and my wound incurable,
which refuses to be healed? Will you surely be to me like an unreliable stream,
as waters that fail?”
Jeremiah did not have an easy
life. He was one of Judah’s greatest prophets during its darkest days and
because of his radical message of God’s judgment through the coming Babylon
invasion he led a life of conflict.
Jeremiah faithfully proclaimed
the divine condemnation of rebellious Judah for forty years and was rewarded
with opposition, beatings, isolation, and imprisonment. His sympathy and
sensitivity cause him to grieve over the rebelliousness and imminent doom of
his nation. He often desires to resign from his prophetic office because of the
harshness of his message and his reception, but he perseveres to Judah’s bitter
end.
He is the weeping prophet (Jeremiah 9:1; 13:17) - lonely,
rejected, and persecuted. More than once Jeremiah was at the end of his rope
and his sufferings easily match those of the apostle Paul. Thankfully, the Lord
had an answer for the self-pity the prophet felt in chapter 15.
"Therefore thus says the
Lord: ‘If you return, then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If
you take out the precious from the vile, you shall be as My mouth. Let them
return to you, but you must not return to them’” (Jeremiah 15:19). God
gives the condition of what Jeremiah had to do if he was to receive help from
the Lord. God said, “If you return…” When did Jeremiah leave? The moment he stopped
talking by faith.
God also said to take out the
precious from the vile. That which is precious to God is our faith
(2 Peter 1:1) and that which is vile is unbelief. A special promise is given to
all of us in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you except such
as is common to man; but God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted
beyond what you are able, but with each temptation will also make the way of
escape, that you may be able to bear it.”
Listen to how the Message Bible
translates this special promise, “No test or temptation that comes your way
is beyond the course of what others have had to face. All you need to remember
is that God will never let you down; He’ll never let you be pushed past your
limit; He’ll always be there to help you come through it.” If you will
refuse to panic when the tests and trials come, if we stay connected to Jesus
through the fire, then ultimately spiritual growth will come and your call will
be fulfilled.
God wanted Jeremiah to return to
what the prophet said in Jeremiah 15:16, “Your Words were found, and I ate them, and
Your Word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your
Name, O Lord God of hosts.” The Word of God is powerful. It is sharper
than any two-edged sword and will turn you into the type of person who believes
that whatever you do will prosper and succeed, The Bible says you can do all
things through Christ, the anointed One and His anointing, but first you must
adjust your thinking to line up with the thoughts of God.
Romans 12:2a says, “And
do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your
mind…” The way you think can either cause you to press forward in the
midst of a trial or it can become a roadblock that prevents your advancement in
life. Thomas Edison once performed ten thousand experiments in his quest to
invent the light bulb and none produced the results he wanted. “I have not
failed,” he said. “I have successfully found ten thousand ways that will not
work.” When you think like that there is no way the enemy can stop you from
accomplishing what you set out to do.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9,
“We
are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed; we are perplexed but not in
despair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.” A
winner is not a person who has never suffered a setback. A winner is someone
who knows that when the setback comes he or she must rise to the occasion and
continue forward. The thoughts, words, and actions of a winner will always be in
agreement with the Word of God. This, in turn, will determine whether
you will be a success or failure because what happens “in” you is more important
than what happens “to” you.
You can have the attitude that
God is bigger than any obstacle you face or you can believe that He’s not. The
former will allow you to release the power of God into your situation through
faith whereas the latter will confine you to a life of fear and failure. This
truth is illustrated in Numbers 13 which records the story of when Moses sent
twelve people to spy out the Promised Land.
After being gone for several
weeks the spies came back and told of seeing huge fortified cities there and
strong giants dwelling in the land. Everything the spies said about the land
was true, the difference being Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report
while the remaining ten returned bearing a bad report.
Numbers 13:30-31 says, “Then
Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and take
possession for we are well able to overcome it.’ But the men who had gone up
with him said, ‘We are not able to go up against the people for they are
stronger than we are.’”
Goliath was bigger and stronger
than David but that didn’t stop him from facing down and killing the giant. We
need to understand that faith is not a denial of the circumstances.
Joshua and Caleb saw the same giants as the other spies but they knew God had
given them the land and refused to allow the circumstances to dictate to them
how things were going to be. This is called faith and faith always has a good
report. Caleb said they were well able to take the land.
To walk victoriously we need to
feed on the Word of God continually and maintain a good report on the evil day
when circumstantial giants block our path. Numbers 14:36-38 tells us
that because the ten spies brought back a bad report they immediately died by
the plague before the Lord whereas Joshua and Caleb were the only members of
their evil generation who entered into the Promised Land. This reward was given
to them because they believed God in spite of the circumstances and as a result
brought back to the people a good report.
There is another story in the
Bible where under grave circumstances a woman overlooked a tragic event in her
life and won a major victory by confessing a good report. Her story is found in
2 Kings 4:8-37. One day Elisha traveled to the city of Shunem where he met a
woman who constrained him to come into her home and eat some food. This
happened regularly and this same woman persuaded her husband to build an upper
bedroom onto their house so that the prophet of God could have a comfortable
dwelling place whenever he traveled to that region.
During one of his visits, Elisha
decided to bless the family for their kindness and upon hearing that the woman
and her elderly husband had no children he foretold that in about a year’s time
they would have and embrace a baby son. In time the child grew and one day he
ran out into the field to be with his father and immediately complained of a
pain in his head. The boy was taken to his mother where he sat on her lap and
eventually died. Now was the moment of truth for this woman who so longed to be
in the presence of the man of God. Would she have a pity party or run toward
her giant like David did?
A person’s faith is most tested
when all they have is taken away and oftentimes a person is required to use
their faith when they are drained emotionally, mentally and physically.
The young boy’s mother did this by not preparing her son for burial but instead
went and laid him on the bed of the prophet. She immediately got ready to run
to the man of God and when asked why she was going all she said was “It is
well.” She made a good report in spite of the loss a mother is sure to feel at
the death of one of her children.
For this mother there was no
turning back and without delay she departed and went to Mt. Carmel to see the
man of God. Elisha instructed his servant when he saw her approaching, “Please
run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your
husband? Is it well with the child?’ And she answered, ‘It is well.’” For the
second time this woman gave a good report and confessed, “It is well.”
It is interesting to compare what
this mother said to Elisha to what Martha said to Jesus at the death of her
brother Lazarus. Jesus was not present when Lazarus passed away and the first
thing Martha said was, “Lord, if You had been here my brother would
not have died.” When Jesus responded that her brother would rise again
Martha said, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Martha had faith for the past and for the future whereas the dead boy’s mother
displayed a “now” faith by twice saying “It is well.”
The timing of faith is vitally
important to those who desire to live a victorious life that is pleasing to
God. To
walk by faith you must forget about yesterday and look beyond tomorrow in order
to focus on today. Faith is a present tense reality and the first three
words of Heb. 11:1 say, “Now faith is…”
When Moses asked God what His
Name was He said, “I Am Who I Am.” Our God is a “now” God and so also is His
faith which He gives to us when we confess and believe His Word. Knowing this
is what compelled the young boy’s mother to confess “It is well” and as a
result of her “now” faith the prophet went and ministered the miracle working
power of God into the body of her lifeless son.
The lad was raised up and went on
to live a rich full life and it all began when his mother gave a good report in
the face of adversity. She did not panic nor did she sink in the muck and mire
of self pity. No, she trusted God and spoke out that which she believed in her
heart. She personified what Jesus said in Matthew 5:3-4 (Message), “You’re
blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of
God and His rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to
you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”
*** Written by Randall J. Brewer ***
THE TRUTH MEDIA
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