Author Steven Lake
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| Showers Of Blessings Friday, June 20th, 2014 11:39am Keywords: (None) |
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"There Shall Be Showers Of Blessings." This great hymn of the faith, written by Daniel W. Whittle in 1883 reminds us of God's incredible power to bless us, almost like rain in that it soaks, waters, nurtures, and brings about growth, freshness, flowering, and so many other great and wonderful things. When we think of this great hymn of faith we think of all the wonderful grace God showed us through His greatest gift to us of His Son and His death to save us from our sins all the way down to the simple blessing of a warm slice of toast on a cool winter evening. But there is another shower of blessings that we don't always consider: Tribulation. You're probably staring at these words thinking, "Did he just say that? Is he nuts? How can tribulation be a blessing?" For most people tribulation isn't a blessing. It's...well, for lack of a better phrase, a "curse". But really, it's not, and Paul even says so in Romans 5:1-8. Romans 5:1-8 (KJV) - "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Now think about that and chew on it a bit. "tribulation worketh patience" Yes, that's right. Tribulation, ie suffering, pain, loss, denial of supply, and so much else, creates patience in us. In fact, it does this so much so that there's somewhat of a running gag in the Christian world that it's never wise to pray for patience, as God will send you tribulation in reply. I chuckle slightly at this because at one time I was silly enough to pray for patience, and yes, I got the full load of tribulation to go with it. :) That's why I now tell younger believers, "Don't pray for patience. Just be patient." IE, you can either do it the easy way and just be patient, or you can do it the hard way and earn it through a full on immersive course in hard knocks. But patience isn't the only thing you earn through tribulation. IE, those storms and torrential downpours in your life. "And patience, experience; and experience, hope:" I think the last part of that phrase is the most encouraging. The experience itself, the time you spend in trials and tribulations, is itself one of the key elements that builds patience. Why do I say that? Think about this. When you were a little kid on a car trip, what was one of the most common things you chatted from the back seat that drove your parents nuts? "Are we there yet?" That in itself is a huge lack of patience. But what happens after years and years of car trips and having to ride out the full trip with no shortcuts? You gain experience and that experience says, "It's gonna take us xx minutes or hours to get there" and you know that you have to go down this and this road to get there. So in order of time, even though you're bored, you learn about how long it takes to get there, what roads are required to get there, and that you won't be there until those are completed. That is patience. You know you can't change anything or speed it up, because experience tells you that, therefore you learn to be patient and wait until everything is completed in order to arrive at your final destination. But, there's one other thing experience teaches us. That is, if we wait, and we go through each of these things which we must complete to get where we're going, we will get there. Not if, not might, not maybe. When they are completed, we WILL get there. That's hope. Hope is built on faith knowing that you will get there, and faith as well is built on experience. So the next time you hear the song "There Shall Be Showers Of Blessings" always remember that God will daily send showers of blessings into your life, be it trial or treat, always for your good, even if it may not seem so at the time. So if those showers turn into a season of storms, always praise God for them as they are a shower of blessings, even if they don't seem so at the time. PS. Always, always praise God in the storm, and not just the sun, because it means more to Him when you praise Him during the darkest times when it's nigh on impossible to pray than it does when the skies are sunny and all is right with the world. |
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