Can You Thank God for Everything?

Berean Baptist on January 8, 2018

Psalms 119:71

In Psalm 119, there is an unexpected blessing for which the psalmist gave thanks. He said in the 71st verse, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes.” Could you see yourself writing this line? Most of us would never welcome hardships as a teaching method, so we are not likely to ask God to send us pain in order to teach us a lesson. It is only after the pain is endured and has yielded the benefit of bringing us closer to the Lord that we appreciate it.

This thought is expressed in Hebrews 12 regarding chastisement. The writer said chastisement is always grievous, but it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Even when chastisement is not the issue, suffering has great benefits for the soul because it teaches us to pray and depend on God. The Bible never tells us to ask God that we would never suffer and neither does it promise we will not. God knows how to bless in mysterious ways and this is the realization of the psalmist after considering his problems.

While preparing this article, I found another interesting perspective on suffering. J.R. Illingsworth wrote: ”The earliest form of trouble is for most of us physical pain, and our instinctive tendency is to view pain as an unmitigated evil. But such a view of pain is not in accordance with the facts of life. Pain is beyond question the great educator of the soul. Pain makes men real. It indurates their character. It endows them with spiritual insight. But, beyond all this, pain invests a man with a mysterious attractiveness for others. There is a heroism in the very fact of suffering which lifts the sufferer above us, and makes us feel that he is moving in a realm of being to us unknown, till our sympathy is hushed into something of awe-struck admiration, and from the blending of sympathy with awe comes love.”

I thought this was a truly sublime thought. Think of those you have seen endure pain for long periods of time. Do you admire them for their courage to suffer without complaint? Isn’t there something about them that causes you to lift them up as a model you think you could never attain?

I still remember a lady that passed away more than fifty years ago from cancer. My dad would go to visit her and many times I went along somewhat reluctantly because I did not like those kinds of visits. She suffered terribly, and yet her faith was firmly in God and she never complained that God had been unfair to her. What caused me to remember her when there are so many in my dad’s ministry I have forgotten? Pain etched her memory in my mind. Her ability to endure it left an indelible impression. Did this lady know her pain was for this purpose? She probably never imagined it. But, such things God knows. Blessings do not always seem to be blessings until they have yielded the peaceable fruits of righteousness.

Learn to bless God in the bad times as well as the good. Either way, God works all things for your good. Patient endurance of suffering may very well be the work that attends your entrance into heaven and causes others to rejoice with thanksgiving to God.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith

 

Take Some Time to Think

Berean Baptist on April 4, 2016

Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. (Psalms 39:5)

Last week we read the 38th Psalm in which David was very troubled over sin in his life. Apparently this sin was accompanied by a terrible sickness which only heightened his anxiety. He was dealing with the mental pressure of being out of fellowship with the Lord as well as the physical pain of being sick in his body.

As we move into the 39th Psalm, David paused to reflect upon the brevity of life and how spending our time accumulating riches and those things that will pass away is nothing but vanity (v. 6). C.T. Shedd, who was a missionary in Africa in the late 19th century, wrote a famous poem with this line: “Only one life, twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” C.T. Shedd lived that line. He gave up an enormous fortune and a beautiful home to go to Africa to serve Christ while living in an old run down wooden shack. Some of you may remember his name from our outreach training. He also said, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” Every Christian should take into consideration how brief our lives truly are. James said your life is like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away (James 4:14).

As I read this Psalm, I was struck by David’s comment in the first verse: “I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me.” David was struggling with his condition; he understood it was not God’s fault, but he was terribly tempted to let out a word of complaint. At the very least he wanted to give expression to his grief, but he was afraid if he said the wrong thing or if the wrong person heard it, it would bring reproach upon the Lord.

Have we stopped to consider how words spoken wrongly, in anger or disgust, can harm others? Have you considered that giving vent to anger with the tongue can seriously damage your testimony? Words often bring more pain to people than anything you can do to them physically. We may never live long enough to make up for the hurt we do by speaking the wrong thing. We must think carefully before speaking especially in front of those who do not know the Lord.

I believe David was considering this and thinking carefully. This short life affords us time to reach only a few people. Comparatively speaking, we have little influence in a world filled with billions of people. However, the ones we do influence ought to receive the best impression of us they can. C.T. Shedd and others like him thought if there is to be any influence it ought to be that which leads people to Christ. This is why he was not willing to sit still in the lap of luxury when he could spend his time and money reaching people for Christ.

David said in verse 3 that he was musing about such things—about life and so on. “Muse” means to think deeply. He was thinking deeply about these perplexing problems. Isn’t it interesting that Satan would rather see you “amusing” yourself rather than musing? “Amuse” literally means “without thinking.” We spend far too much time in amusement, don’t we? We amuse ourselves and simply do not think about what matters. “Only what is done for Christ will last.” Spend a little time thinking about that.

Pastor V. Mark Smith