While considering the various trials of our church fellowship recently, I was reading through some sermons written a generation or so ago. Within one of those messages a story stuck out to me as being particularly poignant. It was set during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and told of a godly Christian man who lost his job, exhausted his savings and eventually had to forfeit his home. But that was not the worst of his trials! His grief was multiplied exponentially by the sudden death of his precious wife. He was brought to the point where the only thing he had left was his dependance upon his Lord—and his ability to find comfort in that was weakening.
One day, when he was combing the city looking for work, he stopped to watch some men who were doing exterior stonework on a church building. One of these men was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing a spot where such an odd shape would fit, he asked, “Where are you going to put that? ” The man pointed toward the top of the building and said, “See that little opening up near the spire? That is where it goes. I am shaping it down here so it will fit in up there. ” The Lord used that innocent remark to bolster the man’s heart and carry him through enough so that he shared that story with others.
Some of those who make up Elim Baptist are going through rather troublesome times. There are those who have been experiencing various heartbreaks and sorrow. Many others are enduring painful physical illness or the prospect of further medical tests. And it is possible that some are carrying hurts of a different nature—maybe even so excruciating that you have yet to be able to talk to anyone about your hurt. The blows of the hammer and chisel hurt.
But I want to remind you: when it feels like you cannot trust any longer it is at that time you must trust the most! These difficulties and trials will not ultimately lay you out. They are only temporary at best. Jesus is coming. Keep praying. Keep believing. Keep leaning as you keep in God’s Word. The Master has to do some shaping of us down here so we will fit in up there.
This is being written to one person in particular. Me.
Frankly, I find it impossible to be your pastor and shepherd and not let your hurts be felt in my own heart. There is no way I can do it. And when I consider the ups and downs that so many are experiencing, I find myself asking the question the Apostle Paul framed in 2 Corinthians 2:16, And who is adequate for these things?
However, this is where a proper Bible study method will really help out because that question is already answered in the context of where it is found. Paul is using a rhetorical device in which the question is asked at the end of the answer being given. And it is the words leading up to that final question that helps me to know where to go for help in dealing with all the frustrations and aches that come with my life. The Apostle reminds me, thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). I am already being led in triumph in Christ, and he is using me to His ends among those who are being saved and those who are not.
Of course, that still doesn’t make me feel very adequate when people’s hurts are greater than I can assuage or when there are questions for which I do not have an answer. But the Master has me covered in that area, too. Keeping me focused on the Savior (which means my focus cannot be on myself—or even on you) the Word of God says, Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:4-6).
The fact is I may never feel adequate for the work to which God has called me! But it is not about how I feel, it is about the truth that our adequacy is from God! And there is nothing in that passage that limits that truth to pastors or elders. Rather, this is a general truth affecting and impacting every genuine child of God who will allow himself or herself to be shaped to fit into the place God has prepared for them as He builds His church. He is shaping us down here so that we will fit in up there—and so that we will fit into His plans for us while we are being built!
Posted on July 1st, 2009 by Janet
Filed under: From the Pastor’s Pen