"Concerning this [thorn
in the flesh] I implored the Lord three
times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient
for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will
rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with
persecution, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I
am strong." II Corinthians 12:8-10
"Consider it all
joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing
of your faith produces endurance. and let endurance have its perfect result, so
that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." James 1:2-4
"In this you
greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have
been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more
precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be
found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus
Christ." I Peter 1:6-7
God's priorities are often not the same as man's priorities.
This is particularly clear in the area of trials. Christians do face trials;
there is no question of that. In the midst of those health problems, family
problems, relationship issues, financial struggles, employment challenges, and
so forth, man tends to focus on wanting to be delivered. He wants the
difficulty to be fixed.
The verses above describe the trials of life in these terms:
"our outer man is decaying,"
"affliction," "thorn in the flesh," "weakness, . . .
insults, . . . distresses, . . . persecution, . . . difficulties," "various
trials," "testing of your faith," and "distressed by various trials." These believers wanted to
be delivered from their difficulties. Paul mentions repeated prayer to that
effect.
God is not unsympathetic to the pain of His children, and in
many cases He does, in fact, give deliverance. God also sees a bigger picture.
God's biggest concern is not the physical condition of His children, but their
spiritual condition. In other words, God sees multiple aspects that need to be
fixed in each situation. The physical component is just part of the trial, and
not the most important part. Like a doctor who restarts a patient's breathing before
attending to his broken leg, God prioritizes spiritual needs over physical
needs. It isn't that He ignores the physical, but He knows what must be done
first, or what must be fixed even if nothing else is.
In the words of the verses above, God is focused on
accomplishing the following: "our
inner man is being renewed day by day," "an eternal weight of glory
far beyond all comparison," "that the power of Christ may dwell in
me," "so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing," and "so that the
proof of your faith . . . may be found to result in praise and glory and honor."
This concept is so common in the Bible that the list of verses and phrases
could be much longer. In essence, God wants His children to mature and to look
more and more like His Son, thereby bringing glory to Himself.
A godly believer desires that same goal. Above all, he wants
to please and honor God. When the believer
understands God's spiritual priorities in his life, he is able to respond as
mentioned in the verses above: "we do
not lose heart," "most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about
my weaknesses," "I am well content with weaknesses . . .[etc.] ," "consider
it all joy," and "in this
you greatly rejoice." Those responses cannot happen until the believer
realizes that God is doing His amazing work through the difficulties.
Even with that mindset, a Christian may find himself at a
loss in the situation. He may not know what to hope for, what to pray for, what
to expect, or what to work toward in the physical aspect of the trial.
Thankfully, God gives this amazing truth:
"In the same way
the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we
should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
for He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He
intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who
are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be
the firstborn among many brethren." Romans 8:26-29
The Holy Spirit takes man's feeble attempts at prayer,
filters them through the infinite knowledge of the will of God, and presents
them properly to the Father. When these prayers reach God, they appropriately
request the right desires and are focused on the priority of the Christian
becoming "conformed to the image of
His Son." God then works all things together for His good purposes.
God hears the prayers of His children, and He knows their
hearts. When He responds by doing something other than the expected, He is in
essence saying, "I know what you want, but I'm doing something better. I
know what is important to you, but I'm doing something more important." With a heart properly inclined to God, His better
and more important response actually answers the deepest desire of the heart -
above all else, to be like Christ.
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