Choppy Waters & Expert Sailors

“The Christian is made strong and firmly rooted by all the trials and storms of life. Do not shrink then from the tempestuous winds of trial, but take comfort, believing that by their rough discipline God is fulfilling this benediction to you.” – C.H. Spurgeon

No one enjoys a trial, whether it is a physical disease, a spiritual attack, a broken relationship, or a financial setback. In fact, you’d have to be crazy – or a masochist – to say that you can’t wait for the next such “storm of life” to strike.

Truth be told, we would all prefer to go through life with nothing but smooth sailing. But that wouldn’t make us very good seamen, now would it? On the contrary, when an unexpected storm brews at sea, you want an experienced sailor at the helm, right?

Currently, I am going through some “choppy waters” of my own that involve a disgruntled church member (what pastor doesn’t have at least one of them?) As much as I wish this weren’t the case, I am confident that God is allowing it to strengthen our church and better equip me as a pastor… and hopefully, to work in the life of this individual.

Years from now – or perhaps someday in eternity – I will be able to look back at this situation and see God’s hand masterfully orchestrating the details for my good and His glory (Romans 8:28). But for now, I am satisfied to simply trust that His ways are higher and better than mine (Isaiah 55:8-9); and that He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10).

Let me close with some words of comfort and encouragement on this subject from a pastor far more gifted and eloquent than me, the “Prince of Preachers”, Charles Haddon Spurgeon himself…

“The graces of the Christian character must not resemble the rainbow in its transitory beauty but, on the contrary, must be established, settled, abiding. Seek, O believer, that every good thing you have may be an abiding thing. May your character not be a writing upon the sand, but an inscription upon the rock! May your faith be no ‘baseless fabric of a vision,’ but may it be built of material able to endure that awful fire that shall consume the wood, hay, and stubble of the hypocrite. May you be rooted and grounded in love. May your convictions be deep, your love real, your desires sincere. May your whole life be so settled and established that all the blasts of hell and all the storms of earth will never be able to remove you.”

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18 (ESV)

- Rev. Dale M. Glading, President