Self-denial, afflictions and a thorny bed
As all of you know, life is a marathon, not a 100-meter dash! If you are not having troubles today then wait until tomorrow.
Some of us may be shocked when we first arrive on the mission field orthe first month of marriage or the first year of our birth or adoptedchild. Things that were suppose to be so wonderful, blessed and easybecome difficult. We rejoice at the birth of our little child and yetthey are sickly. We get married and find out our mate does not agreewith us on everything; we arrive on the field enthusiastic in servingGod and we find we have to work with a bunch of grumpy, inhospitablemissionaries that appear to have no vision, or we get sick, and peoplewe come to minister to don't seem to really like us.
The world would say give the child back, get a divorce, or leave the field and go back to where people like you. Good questions to askourselves are: "What will happen to our mate if don't love and care for them, our children if we don't nurture and train them, and what will happen to the needy pastors or street children or the church in the country in which we have been called to serve if we pack up and leave?"
Let me share three quotes which might encourage all of us in our walk with God:
1. Matthew Henry, one of my favorite British pastors who died in 1714, made an excellent comment regarding Luke 6:40: "Christ's followers cannot expect better treatment in the world than their Master had. Let them not promise themselves more honor or pleasure in the world than Christ had. Let each live a life of labor and self-denial as his Master, and make himself a servant of all; let him stoop, and let him toil, and do all the good he can, and then he will be a complete disciple."
2. Psalm 66:11-12: "You (God) laid an oppressive burden upon our loins... yet You brought us out into a place of abundance." Charles Spurgeon said, "We often forget that God lays our afflictions upon us; if we remembered this fact, we should more patiently submit to the pressure which now pains us."
3. J.I. Packer said the Puritans teach us much of the love of God: "...that it is a love that redeems, converts, sanctifies, and ultimately glorifies sinners, and that Calvary was the one place in human history where it was fully and unambiguously revealed, and that in relation to our own situation, we may know for certain that nothing can separate us from that love (Romans 8:38), although no situation in this world will ever be free from flies in the ointment and thorns in the bed."
I trust the above will encourage you to persevere. Keep your mate, love your child, and make a long-term commitment to the country that He has called you to for His glory!
It is always too early to give up, walk away or quit!