2-12-24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It seems lately that I have a disproportionate number of friends (Don\u2019t stop there! Keep reading\u2026) a lot of friends who are going through tough times. Hard times, financially; various personal crises; health challenges. It is everyone\u2019s lot to endure such things, and maybe I am just more aware of conditions \u2013 not that I am immune, either. Believe me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bible, for all of its wonderful promises, tells us \u2013 assures us; warns us; almost promises us \u2013 that tribulation will come. \u201cThe rain falls on the just and the unjust.\u201d In fact, in the short run and the long run, the righteous shall experience persecution and tribulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nevertheless it is proper to ask relief from such things in life. Of course. And we learn from suffering. God never sends sickness or disease, but there is sin and corruption in this world. In general and in particular, we bring many things upon ourselves. As we overcome, God is glorified. \u201cAll things work for good to those who love God and are called according to His purposes.\u201d It doesn\u2019t mean all things are<\/em> good; we must work<\/em> to make things right. To turn the devil\u2019s oppression back on him; to redeem aspects of those tough situations; to glorify God. By relying on Him, more than ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is His plan. We must see this through our moments of torment and pressure. There is a mystery, therefore, in suffering. \u201cRedemption draweth nigh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t take my word for it. Nature itself, all around us, provides examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The beautiful, iridescent pearl, so rare and lovely and prized in jewelry and fashion, begins its life as an irritant \u2013 a speck of sand that worked its way into an oyster and attracts mineral coating. What began as an annoying invader ends as a precious thing of rare beauty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there is that empty oyster shell itself, or other colorful or mother-of-pearl or iridescent shells like conch and abalone and cowrie and sunshine shells and volutes and miters and snail shells and varieties of scallop shells and complex, wondrous nautilus shells\u2026 all are, simply, empty husks of what they once were. They housed living mollusks, and are now dead skeletal remnants. Yet we prize them for their beauty, their new lives. What they became.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The greatest example of this principle, this view of new life, second chances, redemption, and benefiting from great pressure, is the diamond. Those rare and precious and beautiful gems all began their lives as chunks of coal. What plays some of the roles in their transformation? Time and\u2026 pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It matters not at all whether we bring problems and crises and pressure upon ourselves, or not. Tough times are tough times. It is not having been in the Dark House, but having left it, that counts, a wise man once said. God has told us to be more than \u201covercomers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Listen. I surely am aware of the cautions, and the implications, in the story of Winston Churchill during the London blitz. Probably apocryphal, but as the bombs were falling on the burning city, an aide supposedly said: \u201cThis might be a blessing in disguise.\u201d Churchill\u2019s legendary response: \u201cSome blessing. Some disguise.\u201d A reaffirmation: we are to look beyond circumstances, past our tough times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can be \u201cmore than conquerors.\u201d Billy Joe Shaver put it in a song \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m just an old chunk of coal\u2026 but I\u2019m gonna be a diamond some day!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n + + +<\/p>\n\n\n\n