In the 1600s, a man named Nicolas Herman joined a new French Catholic monastery and changed his name to Brother Lawrence. He didn’t write a book, but after he passed in 1691, a series of letters from him and conversations with him were compiled into a well-known Christian text called, “The Practice of the Presence of God.” Brother Lawrence fought in the Thirty Year’s War when he was a young man, where he sustained a near-fatal injury that left him disabled and in chronic pain for the rest of his life. This meant that his duties at the monastery, which included kitchen duties and trips to pick up wine from Burgundy, were incredibly uncomfortable for him. At the time of the conversations captured in the book, he oversaw the upkeep of over one hundred pairs of sandals. You might say he was responsible for a lot of people’s “soles.” #dadjoke
Through these experiences, Brother Lawrence found that his physical pain made it possible to be closer to Christ. He shared in one of his interviews that by purposefully giving the situation over to Jesus, he not only could survive, but thrive. His mantra, “Lord, I cannot do this, unless You enable me.”
In a letter, he wrote, “Pain and suffering would be a paradise to me, if I could suffer with my God. The greatest pleasures would be hell if I relished them without Him. My only consolation would be to suffer something for His sake.” This is crazy! According to the world, this makes no sense; it’s counterintuitive. Pain and suffering as paradise? How could the greatest pleasures be hellish without God? Had the stinky sandals clouded his thinking!
Paul recounts a similar experience in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10. We don’t know a lot, but he talks about a thorn in his flesh that he pleaded with the Lord three times to remove. God’s answer was “no” all three times. I wonder if Paul wrestled with that. In the book of Acts we see where God used a simple rag that Paul touched to heal someone, yet his own affliction persisted. How was that fair?
Paul, however, reflects that this thorn served several purposes: 1) It kept him from exalting in himself so that the power of Christ would dwell in him. 2) It caused him to delight in weaknesses, in insults, in distress, in persecutions and in difficulties. 3) It revealed that when he was weak, THEN he was strong through Christ. In the world’s logic, this makes no sense. This type of thinking is completely counterintuitive! Be honest: Can you say the same? Think back to a recent hardship. Did you DELIGHT in the weakness, insult, distress, difficulties and pain? I don’t mean just persevering, but did you actually THANK God for and DELIGHT in the suffering?
2021 was what I affectionately call the “armpit year.” Looking back, even the casual observer would think it was a terrible, horrible, no good, crappy year. With COVID as a backdrop, in the first round, the enemy dealt a quick uppercut when we had to evict my young adult son for reasons I won’t get into here. If you’ve never had to dish out tough love like this, let me tell you that it’s emotionally devastating. Next, my wife lost her sister to cancer after losing her mom the year before, also to cancer. She had no immediate family left. The combination of hardships resulted in her falling into a deep, deep depression that led her to contemplate suicide, ultimately leading us to have her go into a residential psychological program near Charlotte for five weeks. I felt like I was trying to hold the tattered remains of my family together, but I clearly had no control.
Any normal person would say this was bad. And yes, these were difficult circumstances. I felt pummeled by life and the enemy, and at times I felt like I was on the ropes, bruised and emotionally bleeding. In this moment, I, like Paul and Brother Lawrence, found I NEEDED to lean into my Father; to let Him carry me when I couldn’t hold myself up on my own. And His strength was ALWAYS sufficient. I wouldn’t change anything that happened that year, because through it my relationship with my Father in Heaven grew in ways I couldn’t imagine. I can honestly say I rejoice in the hardships I went through. And not just afterward, but during as well. I’m not saying it was always easy; it often required more conscious effort, to the point of daily talking to Him about what I was thankful for, even if it was just small things. No matter what was happening, there was ALWAYS something for which I could express my gratitude to Him. His glory was made perfect in my weakness.
How can we do this? Only through Christ. With our hope of eternity in His presence, any affliction here on earth is truly just a momentary blip on the radar, no matter how long it lasts.
Perhaps you’re going through some kind of hardship now. If not, you will eventually. Jesus promises we all will face hardship. Can you show the world how counterintuitive our faith is? Can you show how you DELIGHT in the difficulties you face, because they bring you closer to Christ? Remember, his words are the same for you as they were for Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
Even if you aren’t facing hardships now, practicing these behaviors now will build your spiritual “muscles” for when you really need them, so don’t wait!
Prayerfully write a response to each of the action steps: