Passing through bitter waters

Moses led the Israelites away from the Red Sea and into the desert of Shur. They traveled for three days in the desert. They could not find any water. Then they came to Marah. There was water at Marah, but it was too bitter to drink. (That is why the place was named Marah.) The people began complaining to Moses. They said, “Now what will we drink?” (Exodus 15:22-24)

God has just delivered you from some HUGE thing that was weighing heavily upon your shoulders, such as the bondage the Egyptians kept the Israelites under, and your immediate response to your deliverance is to sing praises to him. That sounds about right, doesn't it? Now, a few days or weeks pass by, and we find ourselves facing something much less challenging, but a hindrance, nonetheless. Our 'immediate' response in that moment is to praise God, right? Not always! If we are anything like the Israelites, when we face the first 'bump in the road' following God's mighty deliverance, will our response be to complain that we don't have whatever it is we need? I wish this were not true for all of us, but if you are anything like me, you probably have done it!

There is no drinkable water - although there is water. It was 'bitter', but it was still there. Could it have been filtered somehow, or boiled for their use? Probably, but their first response is to see the 'trouble' they face as "God not taking care of us" like he should be. Instead of turning to God to see what he would do, they rose up in complaint for their 'misfortune' in finding bitter water. As the saying goes, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade", may not have aptly applied here, but God knew what he was doing, even though they didn't! There is much God 'does' that we don't understand, isn't there? We find 'bitter waters' in our path and think it could never be God's place of provision. Even bitter waters can be God's provision - we just have to see how he will transform them for our good use.

The rest of the story: 'So Moses called to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a large piece of wood. When Moses put the wood in the water, the water became good to drink.... He said to him, “I am the Lord your God. If you listen to me and do what I say is right, and if you obey all my commands and laws, then I will not give you any of the sicknesses that I gave the Egyptians. I am the Lord who heals you.” Then the people traveled to Elim. At Elim there were twelve springs of water and 70 palm trees. So the people made their camp there near that water.' (vs. 25-27) The bitter waters behind them, the promise of good things before them, they came to a 'supply' greater than they imagined possible. 

That how it is with God. He brings us to a supply greater than we could ever imagine. We may go through the place of 'bitter waters' before we get to the springs of water and lush groves of provision, but we shouldn't complain about the bitterness along the way. The provision is there, we might not know how it will be provided, but we can count on it to come. Just sayin!

What is the lesson here?

 What exactly do hard times teach us? Many would say it helps us develop a deeper trust in God - at least, that is what they believe to be the most 'biblical' answer and the one we want to hear. Truth be told, there are more times in the wilderness of hardship that we are struggling with why we are there, what God expects us to learn, and how we are going to deal with the issues we are facing. We might not even think about God's purpose in allowing the hardship until we are waist deep in the muck and mire of it all! 

I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely. (Psalm 63:6-8)

If we consider the words of our psalmist here, you will observe a couple of pretty 'emotion filled' comments: "I lie awake" and "I cling to you". Something is keeping David awake - he is likely wrestling with some of the things we all face when going through hard times - fear, anxiety, doubt, frustration, and even a little bit of dwindling faith. The pressure is on, and sleep seems to allude him. Notice what he does when he lies awake - he thinks upon God. In other words, he doesn't just muddle over the mess, he begins to turn his mind toward what he knows and believes about the God he serves.

When he is almost at the end of the rope, he clings to God. He recognizes the extreme strength of God, and that God hasn't let go of him in the midst of the hard time. His grip on God might weaken a bit from time to time, but God's hand holds him securely. I recall another story of hardship in the bible - that of Job. He lost of everything - family, herds, flocks, crops, his home, and even his dignity. He found it hard at times to remember the goodness of God, crying out for help, but feeling as though his God was 'slow to act'. He wondered about the purpose of the trials, but even in the agony of his complaints, he never denounces his faith in God.

It is as these great men 'rehearse' the goodness of the God they served that they found their way to peace in the midst of the worst of circumstances. Maybe we could take a lesson from their wilderness journeys, my friends. They valued the love of their God - it mattered to them enough to rehearse it in their minds and trust it in their hearts. If we want to face the hard times differently than the world might face them, we might just want to keep our minds fixed on the things we have learned of God's goodness and grace. Then we might just need to take the next step of 'clinging hard to his hand'. 

What do we learn in the hard times? Maybe we learn to use what God has given us - his Word. Perhaps we learn to trust his promises and lean into them just a little bit more. We might even find we allow the extreme peace we know because we serve him to come through in the chords of praise and worship that spring forth from our hearts. Just sayin!

Multiplied blessing

All praise to the God and Father of our Master, Jesus the Messiah! Father of all mercy! God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

God comes alongside of us in hard times - that should bring comfort to someone who needs that word today. If you don't need to hear it, perhaps you are the one to come alongside another who is going through the hard times today. Either way, God is at work! Have you ever noticed how you can be going through some really rough stuff and then before long you find yourself helping someone else who is also going through something a bit harder than they can handle alone? This isn't by accident - God has prepared you for that moment. A full measure of God's comfort and healing is made available to us in hard times - share what it is you have been given and witness the multiplication of the magnitude of God's grace!

Hard times aren't optional - they will come. What we do when facing them is where the 'option' part comes into play. We can choose to lean into God a bit harder, or we can pull away and declare we are 'out'. There is always a choice, but when we choose to lean in, allowing God to come alongside of us, we might just be surprised as to how his work begins to be multiplied in and through us. He brings us comfort - helping us to find our way through to the other side of the issue. He also prepares us to bring comfort to another - helping them to stand strong in their own struggle. It is in the 'going through' that we learn how to lean upon someone other than ourselves!

For years, I didn't like to lean on anyone. In fact, I almost perceived the need to lean on someone as a weakness. I don't actually remember the moment God began to deal with my pride issues, but once I began to yield to his tug to let go of my need to do everything myself, I began to realize just how many people he had prepared to come alongside me in my times of struggle. As long as I stood too proud to ask for help, or even acknowledge I was going through difficulties, I was actually denying someone the benefit of seeing their preparation time in their time of struggle put to use in my life. 

It is a hard thing to admit I used to deny others their opportunity to be a blessing, and I still struggle with letting go of my desire to do things myself on occasion. The more I step back and allow God to come alongside in my life - admitting I am not as strong as I believe myself to be - the more I see how he has all kinds of 'instruments' just ready to be used. You may have been one of those instruments in my life on occasion - thank you. You may be that instrument to another soon - be faithful. You never know how your hardship 'prep time' will one day be a blessing in the life of another. Just sayin!

This is tough!

When I call, give me answers. God, take my side! Once, in a tight place, you gave me room; now I'm in trouble again: grace me! hear me! You rabble—how long do I put up with your scorn? How long will you lust after lies? How long will you live crazed by illusion?  Look at this: look who got picked by God! He listens the split second I call to him.  Complain if you must, but don't lash out. Keep your mouth shut, and let your heart do the talking. Build your case before God and wait for his verdict. 6-8 Why is everyone hungry for more? "More, more," they say. "More, more." I have God's more-than-enough, more joy in one ordinary day than they get in all their shopping sprees. At day's end I'm ready for sound sleep, for you, God, have put my life back together. 

(Psalm 4:1-5 MSG)

Enemies will come and go - their attacks are as certain as the sun rising and setting - there will always be opportunities for us in this lifetime. Yet, in the midst of scorn, lies, and all kinds of attack, we can stand before our God, our acquaintances, and even our enemies with the same assurance we know in the "good times" when there is no sense of 'attack' around us. We have all been in "tight places" before - but our God has always come to our rescue, giving us the room we needed in order to dodge the attack of these enemies. In that place of feeling "boxed in" by life at any time in our walk with Jesus, all we need to do is call out to God for his grace.

It is that ability to call out to God with an assurance that we will be heard that allows us to turn to our enemies head on and ask, "How long...?" We can know their attempts to tear us down are limited by the keeping hand of God in our lives. I love it when David looks at his enemy squarely in the face and says, "Look who got picked by God!" It is kind of like a "na-na-na-na-nah" response! He knows, standing with absolute conviction and assurance that the moment he calls out to God, God listens. There is no delay in responsiveness on God's part - he is always listening. This is the same assurance and absolute conviction we can have in our lives, as well.

Sometimes we might even spend a little time complaining to God (complain if you must), but we don’t lash out and accuse God of the attacks in our lives – that would be incorrect. God may have allowed it for our growth and development, but he is not the one doing the attacking. It is okay for you to let your heart do the talking. Why? God wants to hear from us exactly where we are at (he actually appreciates the honest approach) - no embellishments, no need to "clean it up" for him - simply being real is how he wants us to approach him.

This psalm closes with a message of assurance - God is more than enough! We know that we possess God's "more than enough" for the present circumstance and the ones that may yet come with the dawn of each new day. We serve the God of "more than enough" and enjoy the rest that brings to our soul. That is how we lay our head down at night in the midst of tough circumstances and sleep like a baby! I know the value of a night's rest to my body and the difference it makes to the view I take of the circumstances I am in – without it, I see the circumstances as a lot harder and bigger than they really are. It is in trusting God's "more than enough" that we can rest - really rest. 

If today is one of those days when you are up against tough odds - run to the God who is "more than enough" to deal with those odds. Pour out your heart to him - even if you must complain - he listens. Then, stand assured that the graces of God will take you through – remembering each step of the way that he is more than enough! Think about that - more than enough. That means that there are "left-overs" in the grace department with God. Left-overs that can even be a blessing through our lives into the lives of those who observe the struggle, those who stand as enemies in our path, or simply those who brush up against us long enough to enjoy them! We serve a God that stands ready to give us rest in the battle. Cry out to him today - he is listening. Just cryin!

These flames are a little too close for comfort, God!

He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood. He who faces no calamity will need no courage. Mysterious though it is, the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles. (Harry Emerson Fosdick)

The people started complaining about their troubles. The Lord heard their complaints. He heard these things and became angry. Fire from the Lord burned among the people. The fire burned some of the areas at the edge of the camp. So the people cried to Moses for help. He prayed to the Lord and the fire stopped burning. (Numbers 11:1-2 ERV)

There are definitely times more difficult to endure than others, suffering almost too great to bear, and a sense of oppression too strong to bear up under for very long. It seems like one hardship after another has hit the peoples of our countries in the forms of natural disaster one upon the other. The devastation is great and the ability to "bounce back" for some of those affected will not be measured in how quickly they can "rebuild" as much as if they will have the endurance or "hardiness" to endure without complaint!

I occasionally find myself complaining about things I have absolutely no control over and at some point it dawns on me that I am not going to get control through my incessant complaints. In fact, I kind of give up even more control when I spend my days whining about the circumstances. I become the victim of whatever it is I am going through or dealing with. It may be tough to withstand the constant "blows" or "lapping flames" of what it is I am enduring, but I have discovered it rarely gets any better with constant complaint!

Is it okay to share our hardship with God? Is it okay to "complain" to him? I think it is, when our attitude remains focused on what he can do to help us IN the hard place, not to complain that we want OUT OF it. Sometimes I want to complain to God to get me out of the hard places - almost expecting him to bubble wrap me so I don't feel any of the blows! Those blows become harder and harder to bear the more I focus on the blows and less on what Jesus may help me to realize or develop while receiving them. 

I am not making light of the many hardships of those enduring excruciating devastation right now. I am reminding each of us to keep the right perspective, regardless what the circumstances are we face in life. What we must recognize it isn't so much what we avoid that makes us strong, but the things that we sometimes have to deal with face-to-face and struggle with a little, they are the ones that build the depth of character we likely need. Sometimes it means we are in the midst of hardship, while at others it is lapping at the outskirts of our "camp". Either way, take them to God and trust him with the control. Just sayin!

Miracle ground

The new always happens against the overwhelming odds of statistical laws and their probability, which for all practical, everyday purposes amounts to certainty; the new therefore always appears in the guise of a miracle. (Johanna Hannah Arendt) 

I would like us to consider the words of this Jewish-American theorist today because her thoughts here are quite telling. Many of us are looking for the "new" - we hope for something just a little different than what we have, or perhaps a totally new "make over" so the old is out and the new is in. Yet, if we stop to consider how the new comes, we might just be surprised by the realization of the new coming because somehow the odds stacked against it ever coming to fruition were overcome! I have hibiscus plants in the back yard. Those flowers don't last long, but they open into magnificently large orange, red, and yellow flowers, providing much folly for the hummingbirds who feed upon them and enjoyment for the ones who get to behold their beauty for even a little while. The buds forming on these plants endure the cold nights these days, and the subtle warm up of the midday sun - then one day, they bloom in all their magnificence. The most magnificent of things may come out of the hardest seasons of growth and the most difficult of circumstances!

Don’t revel only in the past, or spend all your time recounting the victories of days gone by.  Watch closely: I am preparing something new; it’s happening now, even as I speak, and you’re about to see it. I am preparing a way through the desert; Waters will flow where there had been none. (Isaiah 43:18-19 VOICE)

It is very easy to continually celebrate our past victories, but kind of limiting in ever moving us into places where we will be ready and able to celebrate new ones! As with the hibiscus plant in my yard, the old needs to drop off in order for the new to bloom forth. Those buds that have opened, showing their vibrant radiance amidst the dark green of the surround leaves will eventually wither and close in upon themselves. They aren't the thing I will observe forever - for those buds will wither and fall away, almost unnoticed, making way for new growth and even more vibrant radiance to come. As Arendt said, the "new always appears in the guise of a miracle." What man thinks impossible in your life today, God sees as "miracle potential", my friend! Don't settle for only celebrating the past moments of beauty and glory - look at the hope of the new blossoms about to emerge where none have ever been before!

God prepares the way - we just have to be attentive to his power being displayed around us. As I go into the garden, I often pluck off the withered blooms, turning them over into the soil beneath the plant, allowing even that which seems to not have a purpose any longer to serve a new purpose. God often uses the past victories as stepping stones or building blocks for the next victories he is preparing. Keep in mind, with God what seems impossible to man is really only the canvas upon which the next victories will be celebrated! I learned this past week of a young mother's passing, leaving behind her husband and child. She was no older than my own dear daughter, and her child was younger than my grandsons. Yet, as my daughter and I talked a little about this woman's last several years on this earth, she said something to me that gave hope of a newness coming even from this very hard place in their lives. You see, the couple had been going through difficulties in their marriage, but of late, God had been doing a tremendous work of restoration and rebuilding of their love and trust. The end was even more radiant than the beginning! God sees "miracle ground" in the hardest of soil and the toughest of "growing climates", my friends! Now, they face a new time of rebuilding - without her. Yet, I know with a confidence that God will use what seems quite hard right now as a place to bring even more radiant beauty into the lives of those who remain.

We may never know completely when the thing God is just about to do will be the thing some see as coming from the driest and hardest "miracle ground" in our lives, but when the conditions are right, God will bring forth that which we will celebrate! It may not seem like it right now, but the present hardship - that desert place - makes great ground for God to display his miracle power! Just sayin!

Got a little "test-taking anxiety"?

Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing. If you don’t have all the wisdom needed for this journey, then all you have to do is ask God for it; and God will grant all that you need. He gives lavishly and never scolds you for asking. (James 1:2-5 VOICE)

Why do tests make us nervous or even a little over-anxious to the point we almost freeze up?  I have had good friends over the years who have what some label as "test-taking anxiety" - they just cannot "take a test" because their mind goes blank and they cannot recall what they have studied.  There are specific classes to help these individuals "know how" to take tests without going into this over-arching shut-down of their reason and intellectual recall, but I don't think they get at the source of the real problem.  They teach wonderful and helpful techniques for the "classroom", but when it comes to passing life's most challenging tests, we might just find we still "shut down" because we get so emotionally overwrought by the fear of what we are about to face that we are kind of "paralyzed in place". 

Anxiety is an emotion and if we are to deal with emotion we must go to the seat of emotion which really is trust.  We get happy when we have trusted something and it works out well.  We get sad when we have trusted in something which didn't quite prove to be very satisfying, enjoyable, or reliable.  We get uneasy when we don't have an assurance of what comes next.  Emotion is based in trust - either in our own ability, something we are counting on to be "as it promised" to be, or in someone who is just as fallible as we all are.  Tests aren't meant to reveal we are failures - they are meant to reveal who or what it is we have placed our trust in.  Hardships kind of do the same type of thing - but it carries this idea of being hard to endure - it is a test of endurance as much as it is a test of trust.

Embracing tests and hardships seems a little sadistic - cruel and unusual punishment which someone somewhere must be watching and receiving some pleasure from as a result of what we are going through.  At least that is how we may see it from our vantage point as we are trying desperately not to shut-down under the pressure of "taking the test"!  I used to have some teachers who would sit at the front of the class during "test taking time" and just "eye" you like a hawk.  They were looking for any "slip of the eye", signs of impropriety such as the lifting of a sleeve to uncover a hidden answer to a question cleverly disguised there, or even an occasional question from someone who was brave enough to raise their hand and ask for guidance.  Then I also had those teachers who just read a book, feet propped squarely on the desk, doing nothing much more than being a presence in the room, watching the clock to tell us when the papers had to be handed in.

Most of the time, the teacher who watched us like a hawk invoked a sense of fear or "uneasiness" in those subject to his or her discriminating gaze.  Why? Being "watched" is uncomfortable.  It invokes a sense of being "untrustworthy". I am so glad God's watchfulness over our lives during times of "test taking" is somewhere in-between the "hawk" and the "foot propper"!  If we desire to cheat in the tests of life, we are only going to lose out on what we might have learned. It isn't as though he doesn't care if we "cheat" ourselves in life, but he wants us to become aware of who or what it is we are trusting in to get us through life! Watch with the iron-fisted authority of the "hawk" and people may "learn", but will they learn to trust what they have learned?  Watch with an occasional glance our way and people will "learn" they can do just about anything they want as long as they aren't caught.

Neither "style" of "test proctoring" actually benefits us to the maximum.  If we are to "test well", we need to be able to ask questions freely, develop a means of thought which reveals a trust in what we have learned, and then take steps to reveal just how much our continual effort toward learning has shown us. God doesn't mind when we ask questions - especially when it helps us build trust. He doesn't mind when we make continual strides and exert a little bit more effort - as long as it is moving us closer to him.  He doesn't even mind when we finally have that "ah-ha" moment when it dawns us that we "got it".  He knows there is a process to our learning and as long as we are able to engage in the process, he is able to continue to teach us throughout it.  Just sayin!

Chisel away, God

I am going to ask us each a hard question today, but one which I think needs to be asked:  "What are you running from?"  Many times we run from the stuff which incites fear within, but we don't have any destination in mind when we start running "from" those things - we just run.  I don't like spiders - I am not arachnophobic by any means - I just don't like their creepiness!  I don't exactly run from them, but if you ever encounter one of those big, hairy brown wolf spiders of the Arizona desert invading your space INSIDE your home, you might just find yourself taking a few steps back! They are scary looking - move faster than lightening - and they don't seem to take no for an answer!  I can totally understand why we run from spiders, or dogs who seem to be doing a lot of snarling, while eyeing you are a solid piece of meat.  We run from other other things, too, which are maybe not the best things for us to be running from - things like conflict in relationship, failures which are just too hard to "clean up" after, and lessons which seem to difficult to embrace.  These are the things we need to embrace - not run from!

Don’t run from tests and hardships, brothers and sisters. As difficult as they are, you will ultimately find joy in them; if you embrace them, your faith will blossom under pressure and teach you true patience as you endure. And true patience brought on by endurance will equip you to complete the long journey and cross the finish line—mature, complete, and wanting nothing.  (James 1:2-3 VOICE)

Running is a form of escape - we hope to remove ourselves from the "immediacy" of whatever discomfort or danger we are sensing.  When we are running from compromise, this is a good thing!  When we are running from conflict because it is just too uncomfortable to face the music, this is not good. Tests and hardships are pretty much everywhere in life. Some involve huge personal loss on occasion, so we'd probably rather avoid those things.  When we lose a loved one, we face personal loss, but the loss doesn't have to consume us.  It can become the place of "launching" rather than the place of "anchoring" we often make it.  What we do in the moment defines what we learn from the moment and take into our future.  Run from the big, hairy spider who is also on the move in your house, and you may not sleep a wink that night because you have no idea what crevice he may emerge from while you are sleeping!

When we consider "tests" in life, they are simply an "investigation" into what we sometimes call our character. We find out more about ourselves in those moments of testing than we may at any other point in our lives. Tests are not always enjoyable - in fact, many of us can become quite anxious over them - even when we believe we are well-prepared.  I remember taking my nursing board exams. I took two - one when I became a Licensed Practical Nurse and one when I became a Registered Nurse.  Each time, I prepared and prepared, until the stuff I needed to know was drilled into my head.  I went in with confidence, but I left with questions about my success.  Why?  Those board questions were tough!  Combined with my own anxiety over having my knowledge of anatomy, disease processes, and assessment skills "investigated", they revealed just a little more "fear" than I'd like to say I expected.  I took those boards during the era when you actually had to wait about six weeks to receive the results - allowing all that anxiety to continue to mount as you recalled all the questions you agonized over when selecting the "best answer".  I had myself doubting my own competency!  It is sad, but we do this to ourselves from time to time, sometimes more than we'd like to admit.

Yes, I passed both sets of boards without issue, but those moments of self-doubt crept in and made the pressure of the "investigation" process that much more stressful.  In life, we can run from or run toward - the process of "investigating us" is still happening, though.  Adversity may come, but what we do with it when it faces us head-on is what will give "definition" to our character.  Much as a wood carver uses the chisel to take piece after piece of wood away from the piece he starts with, slowly and deliberately producing a new shape, form, and texture to the wood block in front of him, God is doing the same with our character through those hardships and tests we are undergoing.  The chisel is sharp, but that allows it to do the work of "reshaping" the wood. The sculptor will use one size and shape of chisel or tool one right after another until he has the final product in his view. He has an image in his mind, one which we may not fully understand or appreciate until he is nearly finished with the final cuts. 

We should not be discouraged when we don't see the image God has in mind for us!  He isn't using sharp tools to damage us, but is using them to shape us.  Tests and hardships are tools which we may not like to have used in "shaping" our lives, but they are the instruments God uses to reveal the beauty of his grace within each of us.  Just sayin!

What do you see from down there?

Calamity:  a great misfortune or disaster; adversity; misery.  There was a 20th century American Baptist pastor, Harry Emerson Fosdick, who penned these words:  "He who knows no hardships will know no hardihood.  He who faces no calamity will need no courage.  Mysterious though it is, the characteristics in human nature which we love best grow in a soil with a strong mixture of troubles."  The idea of the "best" in human character being produced in the times (or fields) of calamity or trouble might just catch your attention here.  In fact, it speaks very loudly to me - for the character which speaks the "loudest" is that which had endured the disaster, held strong through the misfortune and loss, dug in during times of adversity, and withheld the desire to give up in the midst of misery.

For a righteous man falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.  (Proverbs 24:16 AMP)

He also penned these words:  "Life consists not simply in what heredity and environment do to us, but in what we make out of what they do to us."  We often declare we CANNOT because we claim some "flaw" in heredity or some "misfortune" of environment.  It is quite a different matter to declare we CAN because we recognize there is no "flaw" in God's heredity (which we partake of in Christ Jesus), nor is there anything of "misfortune" in his careful plans for our lives.  It is not in WHAT comes our way which our course is established - it is in realizing WHO we are as we walk through those events - a child of God, embraced by grace, overcoming by his power.

Look at our passage this morning.  The writer never says a righteous man will always be standing strong.  It indicates a righteous man may actually fall - not once, but several times!  Take heart, dear one, you may have fallen, but you don't remain down!  Why?  It is because you never face the misfortune, disaster, adversity, or misery alone!  You always have a hand outstretched to bring you through - the hand of Christ.  I think this passage speaks of not just enduring change, but making change happen.  When we fall, we have an opportunity to change what made us fall, don't we?  Trip over our shoelaces and we either learn to tie them or get shoes with velcro!  Drink sour milk and we either learn to do a sniff test each time we open the carton or we convert to a milk substitute!  You don't just accept the "bad stuff" because you find yourself with it or enduring it.  You look for a better solution, don't you?

Solomon presents us with the idea of not just falling, but rising again.  The "calamity" which seeks to get us down cannot keep us down when we have the understanding of the richest of our character being developed not in the good times, but in the depths of such calamity!  Another poet penned these words:  "We are more disturbed by a calamity which threatens us than by one which had befallen us."  (John Lancaster Spalding)  Sobering thought, but so true.  We focus on the thing which seems to be threatening us - nipping at our heels, so to speak - while we neglect the one which had already landed us smack-dab on our rears!  I think we spend a whole lot of time in the "what if" rather than the "hear and now", often not realizing the present place we find ourselves is THE place of our greatest growth.

I spent some time this weekend in the yard - weeding, trimming, and then renewing the gardens with some new topsoil, nutrients, and a few new plants.  I was surprised to find I had a huge leak in my sprinkler system - totally hidden away from my view by the vastness of the bush which covered it.  You know, it wasn't until I took the time to focus on the "cleaning out" of the bed, planting of something new, and the trimming back of the unruly growth that I found the evidence of the leak!  It probably had been there a while, by the looks of things.  A small "elbow" in the plastic piping had cracked, taking the pipe apart, allowing large amounts of water to just escape to the sidewalk.  I wonder how long it would have gone on if I had not chosen to deal with what was right in front of me?  You see, I did not set out to trim the bushes - I just wanted to refresh the back yard.  The break in the pipe was in the front yard!

I discovered the leak which was likely costing me extra money each month in my water bill just because I planted three tiny flower seedlings in the front bed.  An unintentional finding as a result of an intentional action.  I wonder how many times we discover something totally unintentional in our calamity?  We might never have realized the thing which was consuming so much of our resources without that specific moment occurring.  Solomon doesn't say a righteous man NEVER falls - he just discovers something totally unintentional in the moment of his falling!  The thing we discover in our calamity may be the thing which results in the richest growth in our lives - the deepest development in our character.  I know my plants will be hardier with the leak fixed, as the water can now travel to each sprinkler along its designed course.  I think we may just discover in our falling that "unintended blessing" of realizing something capable of producing vast growth because of the  perspective we gain in our falling!  Just sayin!