"Lord, teach us to pray...." The Trials of Faith

Throughout one's life, you come across people who really care and make the extraordinary effort to be there for you. One such person in my journey was a man by the name of James Cockerill. I met Jim over twenty years ago when I was going through a "dark night" of the soul. A licensed therapist and one of the most spiritually compassionate men I have ever met, Jim assisted me in overcoming issues that were plaguing me at the time and gave me tools that I have used to this very day.

In his waiting room on the coffee table was a daily devotional entitled "Streams in the Desert" by L.B. Cowman. The author worked as a pioneer missionary with her husband in Japan and China from 1901 until 1917. When Mr. Cowman's poor health forced the couple to return to the United States, Mrs. Cowman turned her attention to caring for her husband until his death some six years later. Out of her experiences and heartbreak arose "Streams in the Desert". When coming into the office, I would habitually pick up the small book, turn to the daily devotion which followed the calendar, and be amazed at how the lesson would speak to my current situation or emotional state at the time.

Yesterday, after an extremely long and trying day, I came across Cowman's book simply by chance. As was my custom twenty years ago, I opened the devotional to August 22nd (it was the end of the day) and read today's entry. I marvelled at how this miniature treasure continues to speak to me in the daily routine and trials of life. Here is what Cowman offered to her readers:

The rest were to go there on planks or on pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely. (Acts 27:44)

"The miraculous story of Paul's voyage to Rome, with its trials and triumphs, is a wonderful example of the light and darkness through the journey of faith of human life. And the most remarkable part of the journey is the difficult and narrow places that are interspersed with God's extraordinary providence and intervention.

"It is a common misconception that the Christian's walk of faith is strewn with flowers and that when God intervenes in the lives of His people, He does so in such a wonderful way as to always lift us out of our difficult surroundings. In actual fact, however, the real experience is quite the opposite. And the message of the Bible is one of alternating trials and triumphs in the lives of "a great cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12"1). every one from Abel to the last martyr.

"Paul, more than anyone else, is an example of how much a child of God can suffer without being defeated or broken in spirit. Because of his testimony in Damascus, he was hunted down by persecutors and forced to flee for his life. Yet we see no heavenly chariot, amid lightening bolts of fire, coming to rescue the holy apostle from the hands of his enemies. God instead worked a simple way for his escape: 'His followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall' (Acts 9:25). yes, he was in an old clothes basket, like a bundle of laundry or groceries. The servant of the Lord Jesus Christ was lowered from a window over the wall of Damascus, and in a humble way escaped the hatred of his foes.

"Later we find him languishing for months in lonely dungeons, telling of his 'sleepless nights and hunger' (2 Corinthians 6:5), of being deserted by his friends, and of his brutal, humiliating beatings. And even after God promised to deliver him, we see him left for days to toss upon a stormy sea and compelled to protect a treacherous sailor. And finally, once his deliverance comes, it is not by way of some heavenly ship sailing from the skies to rescue this illustrious prisoner. Nor is there an angel who comes walking on the water to still the raging sea. There is no super-natural sign at all of surprising greatness being carried out, for one man is required to grab a piece of the mast to survive, another a floating timber, another a small fragment of the ship wreck, and yet another is forced to swim for his life.

"In this account, we also find God's pattern for our own lives. It is meant to be good news to those who live in this everyday world in ordinary surroundings and who face thousands of ordinary situations, which must be met in completely ordinary ways.

"God's promises and His providence do not lift us from the world of common sense and everyday trials, for it is through these very things that our faith is perfected. And it is in this world that God loves to interweave the golden threads of His love with the twists and turns of our common everyday experiences." (Streams in the Desert, pages 321-322)

"God's promises and His providence do not lift us from the world of common sense and everyday trials, for it is through these very things that our faith is perfected."

I have found, particularly over the course of the last sixteen months, these words to be true. To my readers who follow this blog faithfully, I want to assure you that my current trials have not destroyed my faith, which so easily could have occurred. Rather, I am stronger because of the trials. God's providence is sufficient in very situation. The current ordeal, tribulation and suffering that are occurring in my life are nothing compared to the glorious future that awaits each of us who believes. I write to encourage my readers to stay strong in the faith whatever your current trial may be. Give thanks for every day whatever it may bring for God appears in the most unusual of places. Continue to love wastefully for by doing so, the world will know that we are disciples of Jesus. 

Thanks be to God for Mrs. Cowman's magnificent testimonial. Thanks be God for Jim Cockerill and his compassionate care for his clients. Thanks be to God for Divine grace and love which assists us to overcome our adversities.

Love One Another - Brian