Who likes adversity? You can call
it resistance, problems, hindrances, persecution, trouble, pressure, conflict,
people issues, whatever you like. None of us are particularly fond of it
however it comes and I don't personally know anyone who has purposely signed up
for it.
But.... without adversity, I have
no idea what I really am willing to die for. And I'm not really sure what I am
living for until it is tested. Adversity of any kind, (and the more intense and
distressing the adversity), tests how badly we want something or how great our
determination is to accomplish something.
Biblically, adversity is the
qualifier to inheritance in that we must overcome it to inherit. (Rev 2-3).
Adversity uncovers our resolve, our stamina, desire, groundedness, focus,
priorities, and our future. If we overcome, we will inherit.
In other words, adversity
uncovers our level of determination. The greater the adversity, the greater the
test. How badly do we want something? What are we willing to die for? What are
we willing to face incredible pain for; and get all the way through the pain?
We throw the word breakthrough
around all the time. In services an incredible outbreaking of the Holy Spirit
will sometimes manifest. We seem to suddenly be propelled forward into a new
realm, past every obstacle, over every wall etc. What do we do Monday morning
when the "thrill" of Sunday's breakthrough pales in comparison to the challenge
we are up against.
Born for a Purpose
Golda Meir felt in her gut that
Israel needed to prepare for an attack on Yom Kippur in 1983. However everyone
around her, including Moshe Dayan, said "no, there wasn't going to be any such
attack on Israel." Nevertheless when
everyone had gone home (including all the soldiers), the men were in the
synagogue, and Israel was at rest celebrating Yom Kippur, Syria and Egypt
invaded Israel's borders just like Golda Meir suspected in her gut.
The Prime Minister felt like a
failure, like she had personally positioned Israel in harm's way by not
listening to her gut. She was ready to commit suicide, seriously pondered
ending her life because it looked like Israel's end as a nation. She felt
personally responsible.
Golda had a dream, an enduring
vision and mandate from God concerning the nation of Israel. She knew Israel
was to not only continue but flourish as a nation. She knew this in God's
heart. Putting her sense of personal guilt and regret aside, she called
President Richard Nixon in the middle of the night. She explained that if the United
States did not help Israel, it was over for Israel. Nixon asked her what she
needed. She outlined the military help needed and Nixon took detailed notes. He
got off the phone and mobilized every bit of the help Israel needed. Instantly
it was on the way.
Why did Nixon do that? He was in
the middle of the Watergate scandal, publicly shamed by those circumstances.
While listening to Meir's
requests, he remembered when he was a little child his mother telling him about
the Old Testament, biblical, Israeli battles, David and Goliath. He remembered
her looking at him and saying, "someday Richard you are going to do something
that saves Israel, that wins a big battle like David and Goliath." Mired in
shame, Nixon at that moment said, perhaps this is why I have become president
of the United States. And he reached out to mobilize help, all the help Israel
needed to turn the Yom Kippur war around. Israel was saved from total defeat.
Both Meir and Nixon were tested
to the core of their being. There was something greater than the pain and
trouble engulfing them, there was a mandate, a purpose for which they were
born. That day both of them were tested over how determined were they to
accomplish what had been put in their hands to do.
Both of them passed that test.
A New Thing
Paul said in Philippians 3 that
he was pressing on to apprehend that for which he had been apprehended. Paul
had to put the past behind, regrets, failures, shame, and disappointment. There
was something greater, the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ
Jesus.
I suspect that's what God was
saying to Isaiah when He said don't remember the former things nor consider
(turn over in your mind) things from the past. I am doing a new thing.
Trouble, adversity has a purpose.
It tests our level of determination. It uncovers our true level of
determination. How determined are we to successfully accomplish what God has
put in our hands to do; the purpose for which He save us in the first place;
the reason He apprehended us?
Those who are determined will be
the most tested. And from more than one ash heap, they will crawl out often
temporarily crippled, in pain, and feeling defeated, to arise and go beyond
their feelings to apprehend the prize. That was what Paul was talking about in
2 Corinthians 4 and Philippians 3. That's what propelled Jesus to drink the cup
in Gethsemane, to go all the way to the other side.The side of Victory. Call it
breakthrough.
How far are you willing to go?
What is your level of determination? That will define your prize. (Philippians
3)
Barbara Yoder
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