Introduction

3. Think of some good that will result.

They say that the view of the dogs on a dog sled team is all the same, except for the leader. Think about it. I suggest that you occasionally glance around to get a better view. This is precisely why many people can't handle their hard times. All they can see is what lies immediately ahead, and it neither looks nor smells very good. I suggest that we occasionally peak around the pack to see the big picture of where we are going.

Imagine that two classes are dismissed to go get a shot in the school clinic. One class is told that the shot will inoculate them against a deadly plague that has taken many lives in your community. The other class is told, "recent studies have shown that this inoculation doesn't work, but we hate to cancel the plans and put a longer teaching load on the teachers, so we'll continue the shots, just as if they really help." With this preparation, which group will be able to take the shot with a better attitude? Why? (People will joyfully endure some pain, as long as they know that the payoff is worth the pain. The worst pains are the ones we can see no purpose for.)

• Temporal Payoffs.

  When Corrie ten Boom, and her sister Betsie, were shown to their quarters in Ravensbruck, they found themselves crowded into a flea infested room with 700 other women. (It was built to accommodate only 200!) Corrie groaned at the thought of the unwelcome fleas. But Betsie said, "Praise the Lord." In time, God's purposes became clear. Betsie and Corrie started a Bible Study group, and were amazed that the guards never came in to interrupt or search the quarters. But one day Betsie discovered the reason. "The guards refuse to come in because of the fleas!" Betsie laughed. "Because of the fleas, we can share the gospel freely with our fellow prisoners." (Corrie ten Boom, by Kjersti Hoff Baez, pp. 174-180)

  
  
  Do you see what happened? In the worst of circumstances (a flea-infested prison) Corrie found reason to rejoice when she saw some good that could come out of her trials.
  
  And I think that when we look around the pack of sled dogs on the team in front of us get a better view, we too can rejoice in where we are heading. So, just what good can we know will come from our problems?
  
  

• They Build Character

  "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (Jms. 1:2-4; cr. 2 Thes. 1:4-5; Heb. 12:1-13; Rom. 5:3-5; Rom 8:16-18; 2 Pet. 2:19-25; Heb. 5:8.
  
  Would you like to be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing? Then bring on the trials.
  
  

  Steven Spielberg has been the most successful filmmaker for the last quarter of a century. Everyone is familiar with some of his blockbusters, including Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, and E.T. What you may not know is how some of his early heartaches taught him to make his audiences feel emotion. Once, when 24 year old Spielberg was directing a TV episode at Universal, the head of the camera department stopped an associate and said, "You've got to go down to the soundstage. It's something you'll never see again. Your friend Spielberg is directing." (He was directing an emotional scene where a character dies.) The associate responded, "I've seen people directing before." The camera man explained, "You've never seen a crew stand there and cry."
  
  So how did he learn the empathy that can't be taught in film school? Spielberg says that as a young person experienced his grandmother's death with his family at her bedside. He felt anti-semitism through bullies in school, and learned what it's like to be an outcast from the rejection he experienced in school. He learned the anguish of divorce by seeing his parents go through it his senior year in high school. No one wants to experience these tragedies, but I doubt Spielberg could have learned to produce heart-felt films without them.
  
  Says Spielberg, "E.T. was about the divorce of my parents, how I felt when my parents broke up. My wish list included having a friend who could be both the brother I never had and a father that I didn't feel I had anymore. And that's how E.T. was born." (Steven Spielberg, by Joseph McBride, Simon and Schuster, 1997, p. 72.)

  
  
  So when I look around the pack to get a better view, I see my character developing as a result of my struggles. But there's more up ahead.
  
  

• They Can Further The Gospel

  "Now I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel." (Phil. 1:12)
  
  

  Kimi Aukino was driving along a street in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, when he struck a drunken man who suddenly stepped in front of his car. The man died an hour later, and Kimi was thrown into cell 2 with 19 other prisoners. "Why would God allow this?" Kimi wondered. He felt confused and empty, like many of us would have felt. But the events of the next day answered Kimi's questions. Upon learning that Kimi was a missionary, one inmate suggested that he share something from God's word. The power of God filled the cell, as he began with John 3:16. Sixteen of the men responded to his invitation to repent! The next day he was allowed into cell 1, where all seven inmates prayed to receive Christ. In Cell 3, five out of six responded. Three days later, Kimi was released, leaving a church of 36 believers behind! When he returned to visit, he found that these convicts were meeting regularly for group devotions. ("SIM NOW" newsletter, Issue 79)

  
  
  Remember, you might not see the impact you're response to trials is having on others. The poor skier in the poor conditions never knew that his response prompted Steve to consider the gospel. But trust God. He'll work.
  
  So when I look around the pack, I see the gospel spreading because of my trials. But there's more ahead
  
  

• They Bring Peace

  "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." (Heb. 12:11)
  
  

• They Can Help You Appreciate Life.

  For children who are spoiled with sweet Colas and fruit juices, a simple glass of water offered at a meal is grounds for pitching a fit. But put that same child in the middle of a desert for a couple of days, and he'll treasure every drop of pure water.

  
  
  

  Stephen Hawking, regarded by many as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein, used to do little work, drank too much and called life a "pointless existence." That was before he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, a degenerative muscle neuromuscular disorder that has left him unable to write, feed himself, comb his hair, or even speak. But his brilliant mind still memorizes "the long strings of equations that give life to his ideas." He communicates these ideas to the outside world via a computer that responds to the tiny movements of his fingertips.
  
  But the affect of this disease on his attitude may surprise you. Hawking once said, "When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything that one does have." Small pleasures take on profound meaning, like a sunset or a child playing in a park. (Dobson, 145,146, drawing from Omni Magazine, Feb., 1979, p. 46)

  
  
  

• They Can Get Your Attention

  A high school senior named George decided to surf a tragedy instead of let it sink him. Throughout high school, he had coasted through school with his mind in neutral, with a D average to show for it. Instead, he lived for cars. He loved racing, and was pretty good at it, accumulating trophies by driving his little Fiat in nearby races. His dream? To drive a formula race car.
  
  But his dreams all ended just a few days before his graduation. While driving home from the library in his Fiat, he prepared for a left turn by glancing in his rearview mirror. But as he started the turn, he heard an engine, a blowing horn, and the impact of a speeding Chevy Impala crunching into the driver side of his car. It should have killed him. The little Fiat turned 4 or 5 complete flips before it wrapped around a solid oak tree. The impact was so great that it actually moved the entire tree a couple of feet a couple of feet over, leaving a huge hole in its former position. But miraculously, George survived. Get this: During the Fiat's third flip, his regulation racing seat belt snapped, throwing him out of the open top and onto the ground. He was still close to death, but slowly recovered through two weeks in the hospital and months of physical therapy. His Fiat didn't survive, ending up in the junkyard.
  
  After the accident, George was a changed person. He decided that there must be some reason he survived, and set his mind to get his act together and make something out of his life.
  
  So he left his racing dreams behind and decided to go to college. There, he developed an interest in literature and writing. And instead of driving race cars, he began to film them. Today, I'm sure he's glad for the accident that changed his life. Without it, he might have never found his niche in the film industry, and no one would have ever seen Star Wars. That's right, George's last name is Lucas. I'm glad he let his tragedy count for something. (Facts from Skywalking: The Life And Times Of George Lucas, by Dale Pollock, 1983, pp. xiii-39)

  
  
  My point? Like Lucas, whatever trials you are facing, learn from them and realize that good can come from them, no matter how horrible they seem right now.
  
  

• They Can Help You Leave Your Mark

  "who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." (2 Cor. 1:4; Phil 1:12)
  
  

  At a Christian youth camp, a speaker did strength feats to direct people to the gospel. The strength stuff was flashy and got kid's attention, but what really seemed to leave its mark was when he shared about his troubles growing up, including rejection and abuse by his own father. When he shared his struggles, and how God brought him through, people could relate, and he got through to their hearts. His strength got their attention, but his struggles penetrated their hearts.
  
  Another speaker could make people laugh. But when he shared about the agonies of growing up obese and dyslexic, the audience agonized with him. They laughed at his humor, but related to his struggles. When he shared how Jesus had helped him through his agonies, many wanted such a Savior.

  
  
  Those problems that seem so senseless to you now, could be the very things that God uses to spark a powerful ministry.
  
  

• They Draw Us to God.

  One of the worst things that could happen in life would be to breeze through with no trials, and thus see no need of God. Few things can shock us out of spiritual apathy like trials.
  
  

• They Keep Our Eyes on Heaven.

  "If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ." (Phil. 1:22-23; cr. 2 Cor. 5:1-10)
  
  Many people are so earthly minded that they're no heavenly good. And one day, all the things they lived for will perish, because they decided to live their life for themselves and their own pleasure. But some of us have to get knocked down on our backs before we can look up.
  
  

Conclusion