• Sitting in the urgent care facility with my knee wrapped in ice was not how I had planned to spend my day. Nevertheless, I was hopeful for a quick solution. Instead, I was told I needed surgery that would be followed with months of recovery. Now, after four years of recovery, I am still learning my limitations.
• When I suddenly became unemployed, I had no source of income and no immediate job prospects. I watched my savings shrink and my dreams disappear. I sank into overwhelming debt. I would lie at night while visions of bills paraded through my mind.
• The surgeon delivered bad news about my husband’s health: “Two coronary arteries 80% blocked and lined with large deposits of plaque – triple bypass surgery and a valve replacement are necessary.”
• As a healthy 16-year old, I never expected my doctor to diagnose me with anything serious, especially not a mental illness like depression. I had been struggling with “feeling down,” always expecting to snap out of it, but over time it slowly got worse. I struggled with suicidal attempts. Life felt hopeless and empty. I felt as though Yahweh had finally given up on me, and I began to give up on myself.
• Since my parents’ divorce when I was young, my father drifted farther and farther from me and my brother. I had no father figure in my life. My father was rarely true to his word. I saw him only when a visit was convenient for him. Eventually, he gave up his right to visitation.
• Some days, everything seems wrong and everywhere I go appears dismal. I notice dirt on the floor; smudges on the windowpanes; a new gray hair; traffic lights take too long to change; drivers are aggressive; and I have to avoid potholes – an endless list of stressors.
• The ambulance door was about to close – with me on the inside. Outside, my son was on the phone to my wife. From my concussed fog, I called his name. As he recalls the moment, I slowly said, “Tell your mom I love her very much.”
• I cried for the first five years of my daughter’s life. She had been alive for only eight months when she was diagnosed with Williams Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by growth delays. Though not life-threatening, the disorder can manifest in a spectrum of symptoms that range in severity. Her unknown future was extremely frightening for me.
• Several months after my college graduation, a few lumps formed in my neck. I had been sick and assumed my illness had caused my lymph nodes to swell, which is fairly common. But one day, I woke up with a 102-degree fever, and my dad took me to the hospital. After days of waiting and praying, I received a cancer diagnosis at age 24. My faith was shaken, and I felt shrouded in darkness.
Not all of these, our subjects, whose testimonies of trial, patience, faith, and hope are recorded in monthly devotional magazines, have experienced recovery and restoration or otherwise, yet had the petition they desired.
But a further read of their accounts reveals a confidence in, and a faith toward, Yahweh Who does not, because He need not, give any account of His matters, and that He is still Sovereign and that His will is accomplished through whatever means He purposes.
And their experiences with acute and chronic health issues, relationship issues, every day stress issues, trust-in-Yah issues, mirror those concerns about which we can read in the Scriptures – from Genesis to the Acts of the Apostles.
Some Biblical Examples
He’d waited twenty-five years for this moment – the promised birth of a son who had been foretold he should be the progenitor of a great nation, a peculiar people. Then, when the promised seed had grown to maturity, perhaps as old as 25 or even older, as some authorities conjecture, the elder was commanded to take his son, the son of his old age, and offer him as a burnt sacrifice. Staggering not at unbelief, he was strong in faith and, therefore, obedient. Fully persuaded that what Yahweh had promised, He was able also to perform, he built an altar, laid the wood in order, bound his son, and laid him upon the altar and atop the wood. Knife in hand, he stretched forth his hand …
This same son, Isaac, married at the age of 40, and for 20 years, he and his wife Rebekah had tried to conceive a child. And when conception had occurred, Rebekah struggled during her pregnancy, wondering why if through her husband’s seed, a chosen nation of people should proceed, she should have this trouble.
Though Rachel was Jacob’s favorite of four wives – and maybe, just for that reason – she couldn’t conceive of him, and finally, discouraged and depressed, she turned against her husband, exclaiming, “Give me children, or else I die” (Gen. 30:1) – unknowing that she was speaking prophetically, as she did die in childbirth (Gen. 35:16-20). (The King James Version used throughout, unless otherwise noted.)
Hannah, the second of two wives of Elkanah, was barren and reviled by the other, Peninnah who had given their husband sons and daughters. And her sorrow wasn’t assuaged by her husband suggesting to her that he, was better to her than ten sons (1 Sam. 1:8). To make matters worse, Eli, the high priest, when he had seen her at the Tent of Meeting, accused her of being inebriated … when all she was doing, was praying … mouthing her petition from the abundance of her heart, but without giving voice (1 Sam. 1:13).
Naaman, the commander-in-chief of the Syrian army, was leprous, and it so happened that a maiden of Israel who attended his wife, suggested he retire to Israel to the prophet that was in Samaria (2 Kings 5:1-3). A letter of introduction is prepared and delivered to Jehoram, the son of wicked Ahab, who repulsed the petitioner, regarding his entreaty as a provocation to war. When the prophet Elisha heard of it, he sent his servant Gehazi to tell him to dip in the Jordan 7 times. Naaman is perturbed, that (1) the prophet sent a messenger instead of coming himself, and (2) that he might have remained where he was and dipped in the rivers of Damascus, which he esteemed better that this muddy Jordan. He was about to learn, however, that neither his thoughts nor his ways were superior Yahweh’s thoughts and His ways. And besides, he needed to discover that there was a prophet in Israel.
These are but few of very many circumstances and situations recorded of experiences of real- life people in the Old Testament … recorded for our learning, that
• that His will, accomplished through whatever means He purposes, is that people would, first of all, know that it is He, Who is the Potter and they, the clay … and that He can do what He will with His own;
• that His will, accomplished through whatever means He purposes, is people would come to contrite repentance and confession, that they could be forgiven, reconciled, and restored, and
• that His will, accomplished through whatever means He purposes, is people would grow in grace and in knowledge of the Sovereign Savior, Yahshua the Messiah and that they, can do all things, and suffer all things, through Him Who strengthens them.
The Scriptures provide us with examples of others, too, who learned to possess their souls by patience.
Twelve years, she had suffered from hemophilia. During this time, she had consulted many physicians, spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. But then, she thought, “If I may touch but His clothes …”
Then there was another, who’d suffered severe scoliosis for fourteen years … so grievous, that she was bowed and could not even raise her head. Nevertheless, she was faithful in attendance on the Sabbath to her synagogue, where she should be rewarded her constancy and steadfastness.
A third, making his habitation among a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, lived with his particular disease for 38 years until … he was approached by a Man from Galil, Who’d told him to “Behold, Thou art made whole … Rise, take up thy bed, and walk … sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee.” (John 5:14).
A fifth, having been born blind, was supposed to have been so conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity, and was thus foreordained to live in darkness. Or, perhaps, it was his parents who had sinned, and their offspring was thus made to bear the recompense due their transgression. But scarcely, would it have occurred to any but the Master, that his blindness was the precursor to Yahweh being glorified as he who received sight, affirmed to his inquisitors A sixth, was also selected to manifest the glory of Yahweh, and that the Son also, might be glorified. For the Record bears no such account that one, dead four days, his body now stinking for reason of decomposition, should be commanded to, “Come Forth” (John 11:43).
A seventh, having five times been scourged with thirty-nine lashes; three times, beaten with rods; once stoned; three times suffered shipwreck, a night and a day spent in the peril of the sea; and in perils at the hands of robbers, heathen, his own countrymen, and even among false brethren, whether in wilderness or city; experiencing weariness and pain, hunger and thirst, cold and nakedness, and perhaps the greatest of affliction and torment: The cares of a shepherd among unappreciative sheep upon whom he had bestowed much labor,
Oh, but time should fail us to tell of so many more who through faith in the midst of their several trials, nevertheless wrought righteousness and for their constancy of faith so pleased Him in Whom they trusted – whether or not, He should deliver them – and were commensurately rewarded by subduing kingdoms; stopped the mouths of lions; quenched the violence of fire; escaped the edge of the word; out of weakness, were made strong; waxed valiant in fight; turned to flight, the armies of aliens. Others not accepting deliverance, endured torture and trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonment. Some were stoned, sawn asunder, slain by the sword or, having no certain dwelling place, wandered about destitute, afflicted, tormented in desert places, and in mountains, and dwelt in dens and caves of the earth … all the while, confessing and professing themselves strangers and pilgrims on the earth, declaring plainly that they were in search of a country, that is, an Heavenly and a City Whose Builder and Maker is Yahweh.
Ah, no! They wouldn’t accept deliverance from their infirmity, necessity, distress, reproach or persecution … choosing to suffer affliction, esteeming the reproach of Him with Whom it was enough they should be as He, rather than enjoying the pleasure of sin for the season of their mortality. “Why,” you ask? Because they’d counted all things of this temporal existence, but dung and loss for the recompense of the reward: A crown of righteousness and a throne, incorruptible and undefiled that would not, as the vapor of this temporal life, fade away – an eternity, incorruptible and undefiled, and prepared and reserved for them along with His commendation, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Sovereign” (Matt. 25:21).
“Why,” you ask? Because they’d reckoned that the sufferings of this present time were but a light affliction and for a moment, scarcely worthy to be compared with the exceeding and eternal weight of glory which should afterward be revealed in them And finally, Another, despised and rejected of men; a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; despised and esteemed not, coming to His own but not received and in fact, was oppressed and afflicted; His visage marred ever more than any before or since, and destined to be numbered among the transgressors, though He had committed nothing worthy of such a death, was nevertheless, brought as a Lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.
“And why,” you ask? Because for this cause He had come into the world; to this end He’d been born!
Maybe, just maybe, because there is no trial but such as is common to all, you can find your place among these whose short biographies of life experiences and testimonies – taken severally from devotional articles and the Record of Scripture – are provided us to prove the faithfulness of Yahweh Who makes a way in the wilderness of this world; a way of escape to redeem, save, deliver or sometimes, even ordaining the death of this mortal flesh that the being might be spared further physical and/or mental travail. So, go ahead! Find your place in the narrative, but know this: You have a choice.
You Have a Choice
In the words of George T. Wilkerson, “You can approach problems or stress in one of two ways: You can either compare yourself to the problem or stressor, or compare the problem or stressor to Yahweh” Who, incidentally, is bigger than any problem or stressor you could have.
Some have already discovered, or maybe presently discovering, that ’tis better and more rewarding in the end of a thing, to have committed, and to commit, their cause to Him. Nevertheless, you should not think you can assuage your temporal grief of mind and sorrow of heart by returning to the vomit and mire of a past that was sin-ridden and which may, in fact, have become the very reason contributing to whatever infirmity, necessity, or distress awarded you, to the end that you might awaken to righteousness and cease continuing in sin.
Following are three of several reasons why one is permitted to suffer in this mortal flesh: • that the purpose of Yahweh may be manifest His glory in the sufferer who without regard to his present estate, patiently and without complaint, endures his affliction because of the Hope that is set before him and who considers his testimony of faith and hope should arouse the unbeliever and confirm and admonish the community of faith that “He That Hath Suffered In The Flesh Hath Ceased From Sin” (1 Peter 4:1), or
• to chastise one for his transgression, for it is better that his sin goes on before judgment than that it should follow after, or
• that he might learn obedience, seeing that no disciple or servant is above his lord or master, who suffers also in this life from the same infirmities, necessities, and distresses. And ’tis better, much better, that one should not wait until he,
• as an ox goes to the slaughter, or
• as a fool to the correction of the stocks, or
• as a bird hastes to the snare, or
• as a dart strikes through his liver … he knowing not, it is for his life, or
• that he is struck down to the earth on his particular road to Damascus, blind having need to be led by the hand to a street called Strait.
It could just be that there won’t be, a deliverer, an Ananias awaiting you to put his hands on you, and say, “Brother, the Master, even Yahshua, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightiest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 8:15) but instead, a certain just recompense meet for your error.
Remember this Word: Yahweh is not tempted … no, He’s just as apt to cut you off, dead in trespasses and sins, if dead in trespasses and sins has characterized your life. Judgment, after all, will signal the end of His mercy.
As a believer, purpose instead, to walk unto all pleasing, and worthy of the vocation whereto you’ve been called. For there is but one, and only one, portrait which characterizes a true-blue believer: He and she have both mortified the deeds of the flesh and reckoned themselves to be dead indeed to sin.
Indeed, ought we to receive the admonition, without having to require the alternative experience, of that which was spoken to one of our subjects: “Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee” (John 5:14).
The devil, however, will seize this moment when you think you cannot endure any longer to the end, whatever trial of your patience to work a stronger faith, to distract and to draw you away; to tempt and to entice you; so that you are beset by the devil’s deception, unknowing … and maybe, even uncaring to know, that you have but laid the groundwork by which you will become pierced through with many sorrows that could have been averted, before being drowned in perdition, then destruction.
The devil will tell you, that at any time, all you have to do is to confess yourself in a feigned contrite repentance, and that Yahweh is by His Word, bound to forgive, reconcile, and restore to you by His immeasurable grace and plenteous mercy because after all, His mercy is still rejoicing against His judgment which is deferred, and reserved, for all those who die as they had lived, dead in trespasses and sins.
All should have a lot of experience with death – spiritually, dying daily to yielding to sin. In Luke 21:36, a conclusion to an eschatological account preceding a great and notable day, Yahshua enjoined us to watch and to pray always, that we might be accounted worthy to escape such of those things that are reserved for that moment.
Few would consider that natural, physical death can, as well, be a way of escape from that moment … if one might be found alive in Him. It would not very much occur to very many, that living this life in real time is but preparatory toward that moment when we, too, will draw our last breath with a respiratory sigh. But one need not, and ought not, to wait until this moment to get right with Him, lest instead, he be left.
In order to be assured appointment to the first, better resurrection … better, much better, to decide, before you take that last ride … in a hearse, to the graveyard! Better, much better, now while it is yet a time accepted, to behold the day of salvation rather than risk that moment where death finds you, there eternity may keep you!
Harden not therefore, your heart, as in the day of provocation.
For of that great and notable day, and of that hour knows no man.
“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the Master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning …” (Mark 13:35).
Neither say, “I will hear thee again of this matter;” nor, “When I have a convenient season, I will send for thee, … lest when coming suddenly, He find you sleeping.”
- Elder John W. Reece
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2963 County Road 233, Kingdom City, Missouri 65262
View us online at: www.YAIY.org
Call Toll Free: (877) 642-4101
Main Line : (573) 642-4100
2963 County Road 233, Kingdom City, Missouri 65262
View us online at: www.YAIY.org
Call Toll Free: (877) 642-4101
Main Line : (573) 642-4100
