Glimpses of Truth
Adversity Or Not?
About the time I think everything is going well, something pops up, something to take away my zeal, my drive, and my determination. I guess you call it “Adversity.” It plays with the mind.
We all have something which falls into this category. Some are worse than others. Sometimes we have “Prosperity.” Now as I think about it, it often takes us into a wrong direction. It too plays with our mind. Now we don’t like adversity, but we do like prosperity. The problem is we don’t always know which one is best for us.
This article by Walter A. Maier came from Decision Magazine.
A SHIPWRECKED
protect himself against the elements and to safeguard the few possessions
he had salvaged, he painstakingly built a little hut from which he constantly
and prayerfully scanned the horizon for the approach of a ship. Returning
one evening after a search for food, he was terrified to find the hut completely
enveloped in flames. Yet by divine mercy this hard affliction was changed into
a mighty advantage. Early the following morning he awoke to find a ship anchored
off the island. When the captain stepped ashore, he explained, “We saw your
smoke signal and came.” Everything the marooned man owned had to be
destroyed before he could be rescued.
God is always at work behind the scenes to provide for us in the best way. However, as far as we’re concerned, not everything has a happy ending. That’s why we trust in the strong arm of God. He never fails.
I’m not surprised when people falsely accuse, or a famine of some sort is permitted to root us into a whirlwind. I’ve been told that the strong winds make the roots go deeper. We may like deep roots; we just don’t like the process of getting them. But when we allow God to mold us, we have the chance to be something and someone special.
The late M.R. DeHaan wrote a book entitled Broken Things. He related an important illustration.
A BAR OF STEEL worth $5, when made into ordinary horseshoes, is then worth
$10. If this same $5 bar is manufactured into needles, the value rises to $350. And
yet if it’s made into delicate springs for expensive watches, it is worth more than $250,000. The same bar of steel is made more valuable by being cut to its proper
size, passed through one blast furnace after another, again and again, hammered
and manipulated, beaten and pounded, finished and polished until it’s ready for
those delicate tasks.
Oh, how I wish things did not have to be sent through the furnace. Oh, how I wish things did not have to be hammered.
But I know that God is in charge. He has a task for me and for you to accomplish. He thinks we’re worth it.
Yes, I am rich!
