“For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy [place].” (Ps 66:10-12 AV)
Not pleasant thoughts, huh? David plainly states the nature of our maturing process. TO fail to see the hand of God as the hand of mentoring is to rob oneself of necessary, but precious, experiences. David compares the maturing process as refining metal. That requires heat and pressure. He mentions the mentoring process is like being snared in a net. One’s liberty is taken and the ability to control circumstances very limited. Affliction upon the loins is physical illness. Men riding over the head are adversaries who seem to overwhelm David. It is like being trampled. Fire and water are the last two comparisons. Maturation is like enduring great heat, or the sensation of suffocation by water. Reading all that is listed above, who would want to go through all that? For the sake of maturing into Christlikeness, and as David puts it, arriving at a wealthy place, one must go through some difficult and often troublesome circumstances before that can take place.
My assistant pastor and I were talking about camping. He found a tent in a house he recently bought. This tent was old. Perhaps WWII old. That got us talking about camping and I shared one of my most memorable nights out in the woods. I have had a few of them, but for some reason, this one has always stood out. My father had several tents. He had pup tents, a few nylon tents, and then he has three of four cook tents. The way to describe a cook tent is a three panel tent in the shape of a square. The open side had a flap that was supposed to act as an extension of the roof. So, this tent was open on the front. My mom used to set up two tents facing each other and joined the flaps, making one large cooking area. Anyway, my Dad took us camping on Thanksgiving weekend. We went to his tree farm to get a Christmas tree and decided we would spend the weekend camping. My brother Christ and I decided we were going to try sleeping in the cook tent. The trouble was, it had one open flap. Our thinking was, we could stand up in a cook tent and dress. Impossible to do in a pup or nylon tent. We tied down the flap, insulated the ground and any opening by which wind could come through. Then retired to bed. In the middle of the night, it snowed about three inches. One would think that sleeping in a canvas tent with an open side would freeze us to death. I have to admit; the thought went through my mind. Yet the snow acted as an insulator. We actually had the warmest tent of everyone there. It sounds funny, but we were so warm in that tent that we didn’t want to come out. On the face of it, one would think my father was crazy for taking us tent camping in a snowstorm. However, it was that experience that thought me things that may look bad may not turn out that way.
There are things that can only be learned by experience. We can study the word of God all day long. We can get a head knowledge of the doctrines contained therein. We can parse verbs, write outlines, and discuss ad nauseam of the nature of our God. But until we live what we know to be true, we possess an incomplete knowledge. God will glorify us into Christlikeness. He will transform us into perfect sinlessness. This is a promise He has made to all His children. Yet, there are things that are needed for our maturity that simple transformation cannot accomplish. We can speak of faith, but until we are tried, faith is a mere concept. We can speak of discipline or self-sacrifice, but until we are required to crucify the flesh by our own volition, we cannot understand the true nature of the mind of Christ. Whether we like it or not, there are things that can only be learned by living them. This isn’t easy. In fact, the LORD may push us to our limits. It may be difficult, but it is needed.
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