You can only help others in proportion to what you yourself have suffered. The greater the price, the more you can help others. The lesser the price, the less you can help others. As you go through the fiery trials, the testings, the afflictions, the persecutions, the conflicts—as you let the Holy Spirit work the dying of Jesus in you—life will flow out to others, even the life of Christ.
- Chinese Christian Watchman Nee, imprisoned for his faith.
This quote was in the Voice of The Martyrs email blast today and it reminded me of some important principles that I have learned through God’s grace. Although I know I should be, I am not always grateful for my troubles. When I lost my husband I was basically curled up in the fetal position, wondering how what I had recently read in the bible could possibly be true, given that I was far below the poverty level, unemployed, and pregnant. All my hope was gone. What kind of God could do this to a person? When my chronic illnesses flare up and I’m in constant, grinding pain, I think of Paul praying for relief from the thorn in his side. The God who says in Luke 11:13, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” seems to be withholding good health from me and more importantly He’s allowing L to suffer and die. It seems unbearable. But lacking other options, we must bear it.
Although I do not contend that the following is the sole reason for every painful event that occurs in this world, it’s one of the great paradoxes of the Christian life that we benefit by pain in a number of ways. A man I know who is fixated on the “self-help” industry comes to my husband and I for counsel because in spite of all the self-help books he reads and CDs he listens too, he has no peace. One day he asked in frustration, “Doesn’t the bible say that God helps those who help themselves?” I didn’t want to laugh, because his pain was real. I did manage to explain that no, in fact the bible says just the opposite. Repeatedly.
Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted. (Matthew 5:4)
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, He comforting us in all our trouble, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in every trouble, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ. And if we are troubled, it is for your consolation and salvation, being worked out in the endurance of the same sufferings which we also suffer; if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is certain, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also of the consolation. (2 Corinthians 1:3-7)
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all. (Psalm 34:17-19)
For we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again. (2 Corinthians 1:8b-10a)
But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10)
Or as Brent Detwiler put it a month after Katrina, “Pain is a magnet for God’s love.” The truth is that every trial and trouble I have gone through has been a benefit. The circumstances of my first husband’s death, and the fact that I was poor, widowed, and pregnant, have allowed me to help and comfort others who lost a loved one in difficult circumstances. Serious injuries, abuse, PTSD, dissociative disorder, dealing with alcoholics and drug users, debilitating chronic illnesses… every painful circumstance in my life has been put to good use in my life and in that of others to whom I’ve been privileged to minister. For my part, patience, kindness, longsuffering, and a heart more willing to help bear other’s burdens have been a few of the rewards of those trials. Not that I’m a saintly sort of person… but I am unrecognizable compared to who I was before. And the sanctification process continues apace.
I’m deeply troubled by these “prosperity gospels” that twist Luke 11 into something it is not. I’m deeply troubled by the concept that Christians should expect to be free from strife. As Detwiler said, ‘when trouble came, Paul said, “I delight” not “I renounce” or “I bind” or “I rebuke.”‘ I may not delight in troubles and pain, but I do delight in the God whose love strengthens and supports me in every way when those things afflict me. His grace is sufficient.
Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up. (Psalm 71:20)
I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation . . . I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4: 12-13)
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)
