Lessons

²Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. ⁴Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. (James 1:2-3)

The LORD is a God who both gives blessings and takes them away. Yet we should not be disheartened by the trials in life, but rather as James says, our perserverance should be strengthened instead.

Well, there’s no doubt that I’m undergoing a testing of my faith right now. (Those of you who know me better might understand what I mean. The change is pretty obvious.) I’ve never really seen this problem as a test of faith before and it’s only recently that I’ve come to this understanding. In fact, never in the past would I ever have expected to be a victim of such a problem. Yet, this is no doubt a trial, and I require the LORD’s grace more and more each day to enable me to carry on.

I thank my God for he is wise and in control of every situation and I stand by the verse in Romans that declares,  ”²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him”. Because I have been praying over this problem and yet it still persists, I’m fully convinced that it is God’s will for me to gain wisdom from this experience. That is why even though I ask in faith for this problem to be permanently removed, God still has not taken it away. Indeed, I’ve learnt many things through this experience which I intend to document, share and perhaps inspire. I’ll elaborate on one such lesson.

Faith

A few days ago Google changed the logo on its home page to feature “Ida”, the fossil that some scientists tout as the missing link in human evolutionary history. I admit I was initially apprehensive of this discovery and hesitated to go read up about it. When I did click on the logo, Google’s first search  result threw up a New York Times report. It quoted many excited scientists celebrating its discovery as a “Holy Grail of evolution” and gushing about how pictures of Ida would feature on science textbooks till the next century. In the face of such hype, I felt a little worried that it might cause those sitting on the fence between believing and not, to forever write Christianity of as archaic and unscientific.

However, when I went to investigate what other Christians had to say about this “momentous discovery”, I read about several arguments that did make a lot of sense to me. I’ve always felt that evolution was a highly theoretical area of biology and heavily reliant on many assumptions. This is in essence what the website said. Fossils cannot be used as “proof” of evolution because fossils are preserved, long-dead creatures, whereas evolution is a process. (If we look at Ida, it resembles nothing other than a lemur, and not even remotely human-like). It is only when evolution is assumed to be a correct model, that fossil evidence can be interpreted to be “proof” of common ancestors. Other than that, fossils are just records of past organisms that in no way show transitions between species even though they may share one or two common features. I won’t go on further about disputing the model of evolution that so many accept unquestioningly because that’s not my main point. (Many other arguments exist on the Internet – evolution is definitely not a foolproof theory)

My point is that as Christians, we don’t have to be afraid of the facts. Our God is a God of truth (we worship Him in spirit and in truth). We do not have to fear those who claim they have evidence to disprove biblical claims nor do we have to hush these findings up. God is both the author of the Bible and the giver of knowledge. If we look closely at the facts, there can be nothing that can possibly that can disprove the infallible teachings in the Bible. If God is true, why would He need anyone to defend His Word? Did He not create the very “evidence” that unbelievers attempt to use against Him? The facts will speak for themselves.

This is true for all kinds of trials. Though the physical evidence of suffering may lead people to question our faith and our God, our faith in Him must still hold, for we know that what they call “evidence” is really no evidence at all. People only look at what they can see on the surface, the suffering he endures in the body. But if it is a trial allowed by God, and we are bearing it with the right attitude, then there should be a renewal of our minds and a refinement of our faith that cannot be seen by men.

To understand patience in suffering we have to look at the two greatest sufferers in the Bible, Job and Jesus Christ. Job was afflicted with almost all kinds of misery, ridiculed by men, asked to curse God by his own wife and accused of sinning though he was righteous. Jesus Christ, for the sake of humanity’s salvation, suffered torture, public humiliation, and ultimately one of the most excruciating deaths – cruxification, all without once complaining. Both men, even while humbled to lowest states, did not curse God and trusted Him to accomplish his will in them. And see what happened in the end! Job was blessed back with twice as much as he had at first and Jesus set in place the final puzzle piece for a salvation that was prophesied centuries before.

Many Christians are unwilling to suffer even the least bit of suffering, perhaps in part due to the message of peace and prosperity being preached so often. It is true that God does have plans to prosper and bless us. But he also requires that we undergo trials so that we “may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”. To reject the trials and accept only blessings, we would be rejecting the complete will of God and thus not maturing as Christians.

In my situation, although my problem has caused me to face discouraging words, embarrassment, accusations, and even open ridicule, I thank God and praise Him because by it I have drawn closer to Him, knowing to rely solely on His grace to stand, and His wisdom to deal with my problem. I have also closened my walk with God in pursuing holiness such that God can use me as his vessel and hopefully heal me quickly. I have also learnt lessons on faith, on friendship, on perseverance, on humility and so much more that I would never have learnt if my life was smooth-sailing. Perhaps I will share on this at a later date.

So “in humble circumstances” I “take pride in [my] high position” and patiently wait upon the Lord, even though the pain wells up. I believe eventually He will heal me when I have learnt everything I need to learn from this episode. I pray and I have faith this is true. He will come and save me. (:

“Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; ⁴ say to those with fearful hearts, ”Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” – Isaiah 35:3-4