Overcoming Adversity
From the Series—Chase the Lion
November 22, 2006This evotional continues the Chase the Lion series.
The series is based on the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. You can purchase a copy online @ amazon.com. Or download a free PDF of the first chapter @ chasethelion.com.
During this seven-week series, we’re exploring seven lion chasing skills: defying odds, facing fears, overcoming adversity, embracing uncertainty, taking risks, seizing opportunities, and looking foolish.
God is Good
In 1994 I graduated from seminary in the Chicago area, and Lora and I moved to DC to direct a parachurch ministry. One of my students was a man named Charles who was from Nigeria. Charles must have been in his mid-sixties. And Charles walked with a cane and talked with a slur because of a stroke that he had that had affected his speech and motor skills. Sometimes I’d give Charles a ride to or from class and I had to physically help him get in and out of the car because he couldn’t bend his leg. The truth is that nothing came easy for Charles.
One day I went to pick Charles up for class. And he lived in a public housing tenement. It was the kind of place you live in only because you can’t live any place else. And I’ll never forget the hat that Charles was wearing. Maybe it was the juxtaposition that struck me. He could barely walk. He could barely talk. But Charles was wearing a hat that said God is good.
I overwhelmed by the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And I remember thinking: what right do I have to complain about anything? And anytime I feel like throwing a pity party I think about Charles!
I think a lot of people going through those kinds of circumstances would have become bitter. Their spirit shrivels until nothing is left but bitterness or anger or pride. But I haven’t met too many people with a sweeter spirit or kinder heart than Charles.
What is it that enables someone like Charles to overcome that kind of adversity?
That’s what this evotional is about and it starts with a simple reminder: who you become is not determined by your circumstances! The outcome of your life will be determined by your outlook on life.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: our greatest problems aren’t circumstantial. Our greatest problems are perceptual. And when we look at life through the frame of Scripture we begin to see things the way God sees them. And that is the key to overcoming adversity.
Reframing
What I want you to do is think of the Bible as a frame.
I’m neither an interior decorator, nor the son of an interior decorator, but I know that framing a picture determines what people notice in that picture. If you put a brown frame around a picture it will accentuate the brown colors in the picture. If you put a blue frame it will pull out the blue. The frame determines the focus.
If you want to see yourself the way God sees you, you need to look through the frame of Scripture. If you don’t, you’ll have identity issues!
You need to look at other people through the frame of Scripture. And when you do, you begin to see them as invaluable and irreplaceable. You begin to love people when they least expect it and least deserve it!
And you need to look at life through the frame of Scripture. And it’ll begin to reframe your life and help you see it differently!
Let me give you some examples.
Matthew 5:11 reframes persecution:
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
James 1:2 reframes trials.
Consider it pure joy 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.
And I Corinthians 15:54 reframes death.
Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Scripture is all about reframing.
Now I want you to think of Philippians 1:29 as a frame around adversity. Most of us don’t like adversity, but if we put a biblical frame around it, we begin to realize that there are some life lessons and some character traits that can only be learned and developed via adversity. In fact, adversity expands our capacity to serve God.
Philippians 1:29 says:
It has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him.
Now let’s be brutally honest. If you’re anything like me, there are certain passages of Scripture that you sort of wish didn’t make the canonical cut. You know they’re true, but you wish they weren’t in the Bible! They are hard to swallow and tough to digest! But those are the verses that often provide the greatest spiritual nourishment if we really chew on them.
Philippians 1:29 is one of those verses that is tough to swallow. We like the belief part, but the suffering part not so much!
What’s fascinating is that the word "granted" comes from the Greek word charizomai which means "to grant a favor."
So to paraphrase this verse, it’s almost like God is saying, "Listen, I owe you a favor. So let me let you suffer."
We tend to see suffering as a necessary evil at best, but Paul calls it a divine favor. And here’s the thing. There is nothing theoretical about this approach to life! Paul is writing these words from a middle-eastern jail cell.
And take a look at his resume of adversity in II Corinthians 9.
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. [I can’t imagine how scared his back was] Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned [by stones], three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea: and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Now here is my observation. No one was more used by God than the Apostle Paul. And no one experienced more adversity! Do those things have anything to do with each other? I may not want to write it and you may not want to read it, but God uses adversity to expand our capacity to serve Him!
Remodeling
Let me put adversity in biological terms because I think it’ll help us understand it in spiritual terms.
In the world of strength training, there is something called the principle of supercompensation. When an athlete is pushed beyond the threshold of pain and exhaustion, the body overcompensates. The more a muscle is broken down, the more it builds back up.
The same is true of our bones. The two hundred and six bones in the body are constantly going through a process called remodeling. They are being broken down by osteoclasts and built back up by osteoblasts. What’s interesting is that the process of remodeling is intensified when a bone is broken. Extra osteoblasts help rebuild the bone. And while there is a period of weakness where the bone is more vulnerable to re-injury, the body overcompensates so it is actually stronger than it was before the break! Very rarely does a bone break in the same place because the bone is thicker and stronger than it was before the break.
So here’s the deal. Sometimes God breaks us where we need to be broken. He fractures the pride and lust and anger in our lives, but he does it to remodel us into His image. And once we heal, we end up stronger than we were to begin with.I wish I could tell you that you can get in shape sitting in a lazy boy watching football. Some of you would be in such good shape! We want to be in shape without the workout. We want to be smart without the homework. We want to be wealthy without the work. And we want spiritual maturity without spiritual disciplines. But it just doesn’t work that way!
There is an old aphorism: no pain no gain. I think some of us operate with a slightly different philosophy of life: no pain no pain. But what we discover is that the path of least resistance is the path of least fruitfulness.
The people God uses the most are often the people who have experienced the most adversity.
I think all three encounters recorded in II Samuel 23—taking on two Moabite warriors, a giant Egyptian and a 500 pound lion—could have ended Benaiah’s military career! If you’re dead, you’re career is generally over with! They were make or break moments! But without those adverse conditions, Benaiah would have disappeared from the pages of Scripture! It was adversity that turned into an opportunity for Benaiah to prove himself as a valiant warrior. And I bet those three adversities earned him a great performance review or year-end bonus!
No adversity = no opportunity.
What you see, when you look through the frame of Scripture, is the way God used the adversity to remodel Benaiah. Each adversity remodeled Benaiah as one of David’s mighty men, captain of David’s bodyguard, army commander, and eventually Commander-in-Chief of Israel’s army!
I don’t know what kind of adversity you’re facing, but I know that God is in the remodeling business. And instead of being in such a hurry to get out of adverse situations, sometimes we need to make sure we get something out of those adverse situations! There are lessons to be learned and character traits to be developed. And honestly, it is adversity that will present you with the greatest opportunity to prove yourself as a parent, a spouse, a friend, a neighbor, and a leader.
Adversity is the seedbed of opportunity.
There is a famous speech in the 1949 film, The Third Man, written by Orson Welles, that I have learned to love. My apologies in advance to Swiss readers:
In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed—but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.
I rest my case!
God is in the remodeling business. And He cares more about your long-term potential than your short-term comfort. If you let Him, He’ll turn past adversities into future opportunities!
You don’t have to go looking for adversity. It will find you. And when it does, don’t run away! If you have the courage to chase the lion into the pit on a snowy day, you may just discover your destiny in the middle of that adversity!