This summer, my family has enjoyed some of our favorite June and July pleasures—time at the beach, Fourth of July fireworks, and days on the golf course. For a couple of my kids, the summer is also another “phase” of the sports calendar—football workouts for one, and travel for “nationals” for the other. We’re used to this routine, though, so we enjoy the limited downtime that much more.
One of our athletes faced an extra challenge, though: she contracted mono, which turned her long-awaited soccer “nationals” trip into a disappointing slog. While there, she developed a rash, which then led us to get her tested. She’d had a fever and missed practice the week prior, we found out it was mono. Oops! On top of that, her coach wasn’t too sympathetic, turning our early July into an uncertain and stressful recovery; would she be able to travel and play in the upcoming “finals”? Both the post-viral fatigue and the demanding coach were big, scary obstacles to confidence and joy.
While this kind of stress is nothing compared to others—for example, she didn’t lose a limb or endure serious illness—it still taught me a significant lesson. When the proverbial winds don’t blow favorably, will I choose to cheerfully and confidently believe what God says? Or, will I “believe in God” but fret over my path through trials and temptations?
If we’re honest, it’s easier to affirm God’s word in the smooth sailing. Circumstances that don’t push back on our hopes pose little threat to our spirit. We can happily affirm the biblical command to give thanks in every thing, confident that God keeps his promises and works all circumstances for our good. When things get bumpy, though, we may find ourselves scrambling to wield those promises against invading fears, and we are suddenly challenged to take God at his word.
In my own situation, I believed in God, but a battle to believe God had erupted, and it led me to some not-so-summery spiritual battle. What did God have to say about an untimely virus or intimidating coach? Would I absorb Dr. Google’s advice and the coach’s fiery words, or would I drink in God’s promises? Could I possibly get my emotions in line when they were storming the gates of my heart?
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 27:1. It reads, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of home shall I be afraid?”
This verse came to my attention during this upheaval, and I realized that no human being was bigger or more powerful than the Lord—not even the humans with loud voices, frowning faces or powerful positions. God owned my child, wired her for his purposes and glory, designed her future, and loved her with an everlasting love. Whatever my emotions felt was irrelevant because God’s word remains true, and he always keeps his promises. It took a few ugly days for my emotions to fall in line with this truth.
During this time, I also began listening to a podcast that featured the voice of Elisabeth Elliot. In one of the episodes, she talked about being content in unhappy circumstances—a timely and encouraging word for me. She also recommended a little book called Daily Strength for Daily Needs. (It’s similar to Streams in the Desert, if you’re familiar with that.) The July 8 entry of that little book contains this gem:
“Whatever befallen thee, receive it not from the hand of any creature, but from Him alone and render back all to to Him, seeking in all things His pleasure and honor, the purifying and subduing of thyself. What can harm thee, when all must first touch God, within whom though has enclosed thyself?”—R. Leighton
That abrasive person, declined application, late flight, or untimely virus—all pass through God’s hand first, appropriated for our good. They must pass through the author of our salvation, designer of our body, and executor of the sovereign will. The King who rules from eternity subdues our emotional wilds, whether rooted in broken plans or broken hearts. In the end, those snags and skirmishes are gifts; they are the tools of his sanctifying work that will conform us to Christ and inspire deeper joy, if only we will “give thanks in all things” and submit. This is the hard—but beautiful—truth that God is still teaching me.
Enjoy your summer, and take this wisdom with you.
Romans 8:26-29, ESV
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work
together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he
foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Abraham Kuyper, Pro Regis
“This is what the world does not see, understand, or know. The world will undergo the influences and the power of his kingship unawares, until, to its horror and surprise, it will see in the end as with its own eyes how it hd been blind to what propelled and governed its own course.”
Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment
“Now how opposite is a murmuring, discontented heart to a heart subdued to Jesus Christ as a King, and receiving him as a Lord to rule and dispose of him as he pleases!”
Max Eastman, Reflections on the Failures of Socialism
“Yearning to do good and obsessed by the power of the state to do it, relieved by this power of their age-old feeling of futility, they are destroying in the name of social welfare the foundations of freedom.”