Enduring trials by grace

Another strong emphasis in the New Testament concerning the blessings we receive from grace is the ability to cope with the pressures and trials that life so often brings our way. Whether it be the supplying of our daily needs or the giving of sufficient strength in times of unusual pressure, we are constantly told that the grace of God is adequate for the situation.

Two words Paul uses tp describe the experience of one who has learned to live daily in dependence on the grace of God are “content” and “sufficient”.  In his letter to the Philippians, he expresses his appreciation for the concern they have shown for him in his imprisonment. He says, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (4:11-13). The words “gives me strength” could equally well be translated “makes me able”. The emphasis is not so much on Christ giving strength to achieve anything, but Christ enabling us to cope in any situation. Paul had “learned the secret “ of coping, no matter what experiences he faced. Whether dealing with the stresses of ordinary daily living or enduring extraordinary pressures, he knew the secret of contentment.

Another who had “learned the secret” was Fanny Crosby, author of over 8,000 hymns. Made blind accidentally in infancy, she was only eight years old when she wrote:

Oh, what a happy soul I am,

Although I cannot see,

I am resolved that in this world

Contented I will be.

How many blessings I enjoy

That other people don’t!

To weep and sigh because I’m blind,

I cannot, and I won’t.

Second Corinthians is a great letter on the subject of facing suffering and trials. In his first chapter Paul speaks of being “under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself” (v. 8). In chapter 12 he mentions a severe affliction, which he describes as “a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (v. 7). Whether this was some chronic infirmity or not, we cannot be sure. It may have been the infirmity he mentions in his letter to the Galatians where he refers to an illness that apparently severely affected his eyes (4:13-15).  Three times he prayed for deliverance. However, God’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). It was Paul’s awareness of this grace and his dependence upon it that enabled him to say, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest upon me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak then I am strong” (v. 9, 10). It is clear from this passage that God’s grace, in this context, has more to do with the free supply of strength from the indwelling Spirit, than the mere offer of forgiveness.

 Here we see a most important principle. Our weaknesses and difficulties can give us a positive advantage if, through them, we learn to depend on the grace of God. In The New International Commentary on the New Testament, Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians, Philip Hughes wrote, “Every believer must learn that human weakness and divine grace go hand in hand together.” He goes as far as to say:

Indeed, the abject weakness of the human instrument serves to magnify and throw into relief the perfection of the divine power in a way that any suggestion of human adequacy could never do. The greater the servant’s weakness, the more conspicuous is the power of his Master’s all-sufficient grace.

And this is not an easy lesson to learn. As John Calvin said in his New Testament Commentaries:

Men have no taste for it [God’s power] till they are convinced of their need of it and they immediately forget its value unless they are continually reminded by the awareness of their own weakness.