ADVERSITY AND HUMILITY

“The Lord your God will soon bring you into the land he swore to give you when he made a vow to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It is a land with large, prosperous cities that you did not build. ¹¹ The houses will be richly stocked with goods you did not produce. You will draw water from cisterns you did not dig, and you will eat from vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill in this land, ¹² be careful not to forget the Lord, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.”  - Deuteronomy 6:10-12 (NLT)

How do you deal with adversity?  How do you deal with the problems and pains of this life?  In his book, The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis wrote, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. Pain is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

As we address the problem of pain, we also need to talk about the problem of prosperity.  Prosperity brings responsibility, because we are not owners; we are stewards.  Everything God gives to us is a gift, and we will be held accountable for what we do with the resources He has made available to us.  Therefore, as a follower of Jesus Christ, we need to always remember that in all things, we are always dependent upon God.

When life gets really hard and adversity hits, we pray. We become very dependent upon God —and so we should.  But, on the other hand, when life is going reasonably well, we tend to forget about God and prayer.

When the terrorists attacked New York City on 9-11-2001, and 3,000 Americans were killed in one day, the following day churches were filled to overflowing with people seeking God, and lifting up prayers.  But only a short time later attendance was back to normal. 

The psalmist wrote, “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey Your word” (Ps. 119:67).

Adversity wakes us up and keeps us humble, while prosperity can make us proud and self-sufficient. We tend to forget about God when we are in good health, have lots of credit cards, or a bank account full of money.  But when the economy goes south or the doctor has bad news, we turn to God, because we are reminded of what really matters.

It’s hard to thank the LORD for adversity in our lives.  We never say to God, “Thanks for making me sick” or “I’m sure glad I lost all that money, I really needed that.”  No, of course we don’t respond that way.  But on the other hand, God is in control, and we need to humbly remember that in the face of hardship, trials and difficulties, God is allowing us the opportunity to depend on Him more. And in the process, we actually get to KNOW Him better.

May the LORD bless you abundantly, but may you always remember where the blessings came from.

Yours in Christ,

Roger