Troubles As Treasure
It is so easy to view material blessings as being indicative of God’s favor and hardships as being indicative of His disapproval. However, as Francis Bacon said, “Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity of the New.” Just look at Job’s so-called ‘comforters.’ As soon as Job fell on hard times, his friends thought he must have sinned and earned God’s disapproval. Yet, the apostle Paul says that suffering is a gift of the Lord (Phil 1:29). Tough times drive us to God for help and enable us to become more like our Savior, Jesus Christ. He was rich because of who He was and what He gave – the greatest gift of all, Himself. We are to be like Him.
Unfortunately, I think most of us, if we were honest about the deep places of our heart, would prefer to be like Solomon. He was rich, cool, and smart. He was secure, had great food, beautiful women, hip clothes, health, and comfort. Honestly, who wouldn’t prefer all this to being misunderstood, impoverished, rejected, and ridiculed? We need to think like our Lord if we would see the value in giving and the opportunity in hardship. To do this we must start with radical commitment to Him (Rom 12:1) then reject the natural tendencies of this present evil age and of our sinful flesh in order to have Him show us how to think and live aright (Rom 12:2).
Solomon drifted from the Lord because he allowed God to get crowded out of the center of his heart. If God prospers us with riches, may they drive us to humbly ask Him how He wants us to use it to further His kingdom (Eph 4:28). If He chooses to let us be materially poor, may we not be discouraged but rejoice in that gift. After all, “He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has” (Henry Ward Beecher).
Comforting others is costly but worth it.