Adversity | Wayne Stiles

Archives For Adversity

Posts by Wayne Stiles related to adversity.

When God Asks Impossible Things of You

We tend to expect God to act in ways we can understand.

We work, and so God provides money. We pray, and so God answers prayer. We do this, and so God does that.

In other words, we see God as the effect and ourselves as the cause.

When God Asks of You Impossible Things When God Asks Impossible Things of You

(Photo by Photodune)

Life is all about God responding, it seems, and if we do nothing, neither will God.

This isn’t true, obviously. But it’s how we feel.

So what if we’re in a situation where we can do nothing? What happens when we can no longer be the cause?

When God asks impossible things of you?

Your Life in Christ—It’s Supposed to Hurt

Any woman who has experienced childbirth understands it.

Any helpless man who has witnessed childbirth, like me (twice), understands it to a degree. That’s why the Bible uses the experience of childbirth as a metaphor of our lives.

Your Life in Christ—It’s Supposed to Hurt Your Life in Christ—It’s Supposed to Hurt

(Photo: By D. Sharon Pruitt from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, USA. CC-BY-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves . . . groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. —Romans 8:22–23

We would all love to have an emotional epidural to where we didn’t feel the pain of life. But that won’t happen.

God doesn’t give us a way to avoid the hurt.

But He does tell us what to think so we can make it through the struggle.

Why We Should Remember the Holocaust Today

At ten o’clock this morning, sirens rang loud in Israel.

People stopped—wherever they were, whatever they were doing—and stood at attention for 120 seconds of complete silence.

Imagine that for a moment. Two minutes. Silence. Everywhere.

800px Yad Vashem Hall of Names by David Shankbone Why We Should Remember the Holocaust Today

(Photo: Hall of Names in Jerusalem’s Holocaust Museum, by David Shankbone, CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Then the sirens rang again, and life resumed—full-speed. This annual pause allows the nation to remember the six million Jews who were murdered simply because they were Jews.

Today’s date marks Yom Hashoah, known as Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, the Jewish holiday that remembers those who perished in the Holocaust.

Many times I have visited Jerusalem’s Holocaust Museum, Yad Vashem.

It changes you.

When God Takes Something Away from You

It’s always great when God replaces something painful with something wonderful.

Or when He provides for a need in a context of desperation.

But what about when God takes away something we enjoy—or even something we need? Or when He allows something bad to invade something good?

When God Takes Something Away from You When God Takes Something Away from You

(Photo: by Hariadhi. Own work, GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Can we then say what Job said?

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised. —Job 1:21

During the times when God takes something away from you, it’s easy to feel duped, as if God was some kind of pusher, giving free samples and then removing them after the cravings have their hooks in your heart.

The Lord’s generosity can be misunderstood as cruelty.

Rather than praise God for the time we enjoyed His blessings—we tend to resent His sovereign prerogative to confiscate them.

Here’s some perspective that can help when God takes something away from you that was a blessing.

Finding Hope in Jesus’ Transfiguration

Sometimes we need a good dose of hope and encouragement.

We can get so obsessed with the weight of our cross that we forget Jesus showed us what lies beyond it. Today’s hardships can distract us from tomorrow’s hope.

Finding Hope in Jesus Transfiguration1 Finding Hope in Jesus Transfiguration

(Photo by Andrew Storms Happiness CC-BY-SA-2.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

Jesus’ Transfiguration wasn’t some sideshow He did one day for fun. It came at a point when the disciples desperately needed some hope.

Scripture records it to offer us the same thing.

Some hope when we need it most.

Reconciling Pain and Prayer with God’s Love

Because God can stop our pain, we think He should.

So we pray. And pray. But nothing happens.

Sad Woman Reconciling Pain and Prayer with Gods Love

(Photo by Jiri Hodan. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

That’s what occurred with Mary and Martha. They sent a message to Jesus that their brother Lazarus lay sick. But instead of immediately traveling to Bethany, Jesus stayed right where He was beyond the Jordan River. When He finally did arrive, Lazarus had been dead four days.

In other words, Jesus had taken His sweet time showing up.

From what happened next, I see several lessons to help us reconcile pain and prayer with God’s love.

What I Learned from Living Through a Hurricane

We hadn’t paid attention to the news. It was too late to leave.

So we were ill-prepared when Hurricane Celia slammed into Corpus Christi.

US Navy 030918 N 3235P 267 Rain and heavy winds from Hurricane Isabel pound the beach What I Learned from Living Through a Hurricane

(U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate 1st Class Michael Pendergrass. Public domain)

I was only 3 years old on August 3, 1970, but my memories are vivid. We sat in the hallway in the middle of the house, closed all the doors, and I ate animal crackers while my stepdad played the guitar.

All the while, I heard what sounded like freight trains encircling outside our house.

How to Cope When the Will of God is Hard

God had promised a son to Abram. At the same time, God prevented conception.

This is the will of God? Go figure.

Autumn scenery How to Cope When the Will of God is Hard

(Photo by Daniel Skorodjelow (Own work CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFD), via Wikimedia Commons)

This tension eventually proved too much for Abram’s wife, Sarai. It seemed the only thing worse than the barren land she lived in was the barren womb she bore.

So Sarai pointed to Hagar, her Egyptian maid, and told Abram to provide a child through her (see Genesis 16:1–16). The culture allowed for this custom, but it was never the will of God.

The story is anything but ancient. These are decisions we’re tempted to make every day.

But there’s a wiser choice.

Surrendering Your Will to God in Difficult Times

I have discovered that the most difficult battles in life simply mirror Jesus’ struggle in Gethsemane.

His words to the Father remain the most challenging words we could utter:

“Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” —Luke 22:42

Garden of Gethsemane olive trees tb051906423 Surrendering Your Will to God in Difficult Times

(Photo: Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus surrendered His will. Courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.)

Surrendering your will to God in difficult times is often harder than the trial itself.

I have found that my greatest challenges come not from those circumstances that press in upon me, but from the internal struggle to surrender my will to God. I enter Gethsemane daily and have to drag my will to the Father in prayer.

(So do you.)

Apply the Wisdom of Creation to Your Struggles

The awesomeness of creation exists as more than beauty for us to observe.

In spite of the chaos in our culture, the world screams of order in its origin. Its predictable seasons and trustworthy laws of nature reveal wisdom in its design.

Laser Towards Milky Ways Centre Wallpaper Apply the Wisdom of Creation to Your Struggles

(Photo by http://www.ForestWander.com (CC-BY-SA-3.0), via Wikimedia Commons)

The wisdom of creation we see is explained in the Bible we read. Wisdom played such an integral role in creation that the author of Proverbs 8 personifies it as a person present with God:

“Before the hills I was brought forth . . . When He established the heavens, I was there . . . When He marked out the foundations of the earth; then I was beside Him, as a master workman”—Proverbs 8:25–33

God’s wisdom displayed in the wonders we see also proves His wisdom in all areas of life.

Including the painful ones.