Gift#4: Inner Strength

 

   I hope you are having a great day again today.  I am continuing with my series on gifts, and I have a few more gifts from God to talk about.  Again, I apologize for not writing blogs as often as I normally have in the past.

   The next gift that I would like to talk about is another completely wonderful, awesome gift!  It is the gift of God’s strength during difficult times!  Life is often full of challenging times.  Some of the difficult challenges that we have in our life are caused by our own bad choices, some are caused by the bad choices of others, and some occur simply because we live in a fallen world.  I talked about a number of difficulties that I have endured in my life in the book that I was able to write called “Recalculating, Redirecting”.   I wrote that book to let people know of my struggles in life.  I think that whenever someone is involved in some sort of public ministry like I have done in the past, people may think that they consider themselves to be better than others.  The truth is that leaders can be just as flawed as everyone else and that is one of the reasons why I wrote that book.

   I have come to appreciate the internal strength that God gives us to get through difficult times and to try to be a blessing to others even when we may be struggling.  The gift that I talked about last time was the gift of the Bible and this time we are looking at the gift that happens when we put the truths of the Bible into practice.  I was reading in Matthew seven where Jesus talks about one of the benefits of reading the Bible and trying to do what it says.

"Therefore, everyone who hears what I say and obeys it will be like a wise person who built a house on rock. Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not collapse, because its foundation was on rock. "Everyone who hears what I say but doesn't obey it will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand. Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and struck that house. It collapsed, and the result was a total disaster."  (Matthew 7:24-27 GW)

 

   This passage compares two lives.  One life is characterized by hearing and applying God’s word.  The other life is characterized by hearing what God has to say but makes no effort to apply it!  The first interesting thing is that the Bible shows that the same difficulty comes to both types of people.  Sometimes we may think that being a Christian exempt us from facing difficulty and to some degree that is true, but in some ways it is not.  For example, as a Christian we are led away from following destructive addictions and therefore we may not experience the damaging effects of that type of life.  When I became a Christian, I was able by God’s power to stop abusing alcohol and I was probably saved from the damaging effects of that addiction.  There are many other examples of how being a Christian can keep us from being affected by some difficulties in life, but there are sometimes when being a Christian might cause us to suffer other types of troubles.  Jesus said that if we suffer persecution for being a Christian, then there would be a reward in heaven for enduring that.

   When I read this portion of the “Sermon on the Mount”, I noticed that there was a three-fold progression of the difficulties of life.  I would like to look at each one and see how each can be illustrated.  The three levels of difficulty are (1) The Rain poured, (2) The Floods came, and (3) The Wind blew.   As you read the verses, you can get a sense of the progression of difficulty from the rain to the floods, to the wind.

1.      Level 1: The Rain – can represent the mild challenges of daily life and jobs, and family.  Sometimes rain can be light and infrequent and sometimes it can be heavy and steady.  Level 1 difficulty might be a mild sickness, a financial setback, a relationship change, or a minor family difficulty.  As we age, we learn to try and manage the daily stresses of life.  I have found that even before life gets very hard – we are the wisest when we learn to turn the control of our life over to God as early as possible and become His child.  That way we will have His strength as things may get much harder.  I am glad that I came to Christ when I was twenty years old, but I wish I would have come to Him sooner.  I know my life would have been better if I had had His indwelling presence during the school years. 

 

2.     Level 2: The Flood – The Greek word for wind is potamos and can refer to the torrential rain and flooding.  This level 2 can represent more difficult challenges in life.  Maybe a job loss, or a dating breakup, a more serious sickness, or something worse.  We can learn various coping mechanisms when life gets a little harder, but I find it very interesting how we will often turn to other things first and then as the hardship progresses – we will eventually turn to the Lord.  When we finally take our heartbreaks and disappointments to God, we will find a wonderful lift to our spirits and encouragement to our soul. 

3.     Level 3: The Wind – the Greek word here is anemos and can refer to a “storm with force.”  The implication here is a hurricane force wind.  A potentially devastating challenge of life.  Level 3 difficulties might be a more serious sickness, a financial collapse, a divorce, or the loss of a loved one.  It might even be the loss after an actual hurricane, or tornado, or other natural disaster.  I have experienced a few of the level 3 devastating hardships of life and I cannot imagine surviving them without the Lord!  I noticed that some commentators say that this Greek word could even refer to divine judgements in this life, or the life to come.  If that is the case, you will not survive the judgement of God without Christ!  You will not be able to offer your goodness, or your religiosity, or your best efforts to earn God’s favor.  The passage shows that a life that is built on the Rock will stand, and the house built on Sand will ultimately fall.  The illustration of the Rock in the Bible represents the Lord and the eternal stability of building your life on Him.  What a gift from God!

 

   Remember that it is not the level of difficulty that determines the outcome, but the foundation on which that life is built. 

 

Written by Lee Malden           2023

For more information: email lmalden@hotmail.com

 

These are my thoughts today, what do you think?  Please leave me a response or email me and I would be happy to hear your thoughts.