The 11,000 Mile Walk
By
Michael K. Farrar, O.D. © July 29, 2011
www.godsbreath.net
Over the last year the man had endured
some major trials and struggles. These encompassed hardships of emotional,
physical and financial difficulties. Through these trials he was firmly aware
that God had empowered him to remain true to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
He had not resorted to worldly methods to solve his financial hardships. He had
not sought out evil means to seek revenge against those who had hurt him
emotionally. He had remembered the seven things that God hates mentioned in
Proverbs 6:16-19 and that evil scheming was one of them. It was an established
truth from God’s Word that those who seek evil and sinful means to solve
problems and cope with trauma only reap additional storms in their lives.
The man often thought of the Biblical
account of Job’s trials when facing his own hardships. Thank goodness he did
not have it as bad as Job. The man would also consider the example of Paul and
his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10,
“To keep me from becoming conceited because
of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my
flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord
to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in
hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am
strong.”
The
man did not think he had a problem with conceit and needed a thorn in his life,
but he knew that pride was an elusive creature and could hide in the nooks and
crannies of one’s character. The man knew he could be self-deceived and thought
that if he had even the smallest hint of conceit it would be appropriate for
God to remove it at any cost even by placing a thorn in his life. But there might
also be other purposes God was allowing trials to burden his life. God might
want to burn into his soul a strong dependence on his Heavenly Father or
increase his meager faith. The man was willing to endure whatever God might put
him through to grow him spiritually, but he continued to pray that God would
lighten the load of struggle in his life. This answer did not come.
The
man knew he was not distant from his Heavenly Father for he sensed his Lord
very close by his side. Sometimes he could almost feel a compassionate touch or
hear an audible whisper of encouragement. His relationship with the Lord was a close
one. If the trials were necessary to either purge some imperfection in him or
deepen his dependence on the Lord, then it was a small price to pay for such
purification and increasing intimacy with his Heavenly Father. The man would
strive to focus on Paul’s quote of what the Lord had said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my
power is made perfect in weakness.”
He
would also think of Paul’s response,
“For
Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in
persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” This
was very difficult for the man to do.
He wished he was strong like Paul…like
Jesus.
The man remembered the passage in James 1:2-4 where it says,
“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.”
Oh
what a verse! It was one thing to read such a verse when things were going
well, when things were easy and hardships were far off on the past horizon. But
to read such a passage from Holy Scripture in the midst of a deep trial was
quite another thing. He knew to have joy in such trials was not to take joy in
the pain of the struggle or hardship itself, but to take joy in how it worked
spiritual maturity within oneself as you became utterly dependent on your
Savior. He had often wrote and taught on this verse as a Bible teacher, now His
loving Heavenly Father was the teacher and the textbook were the storms in his
life.
So
the man sought to take joy in how his trials would mature him in his faith. He
took joy in the simple things of life, things that he had often took for
granted in the past. He discovered that there was more time for God, more time
for study in His Word, more time to minister to others, more time to pray
deeply in ways he had never done before. He prayed for strength to endure his
struggles, but he also prayed for the needs of others and he always ended his
prayers with praise and honor of his Heavenly Father, his Savior Jesus and the
Holy Spirit that dwelt within him. He might lose everything, but nothing and no
one could take his salvation from him. No one could alter his relationship with
God. No one could remove his respect for the God’s precious Holy Word.
The
man remembered the 11,000 mile walk that he had taken last year. With the
depressed economy, increasing overhead costs, cutbacks in payments from
insurance companies and numerous other financial pressures, he had gotten
behind on a major bill from one of his vendors. He thought how he had made
cutbacks both in his business and personal expenditures to strive to get ahead
of this mountain of debt. He made some headway, but the huge boulder of money
owed to the vendor was never diminished in any significant way. It consistently
remained an $11,000 looming black cloud. He remembered when he had reached a
critical point of faith. This could not continue, but there was no way out, no
answer. He had prayed and prayed for increased business, decreasing costs, some
intervention from God to alleviate his dilemma, but no answer came. The man
remembered how he finally desperately pleaded with God to provide some sort of
answer, and finally the answer came.
No,
God did not send him money from a rich uncle who had died. God did not let him
find a winning lottery ticket on the ground in front of his business. God did
not even increase his business profits through expanding sales and services.
God provided a more difficult path to allow him to pay off this seemingly
eternal debt. It was a second job. The man heard of another similar business
which had a vacancy that required skills such as his. He called the business
and asked if they would consider part-time help. They said yes. This extra job
would require him to squeeze the schedule in his own business during the work
week and also require him to work all day every Saturday. This would be a
hardship, but the man saw no other way. The other concern of the man was that
this second job would only last for three months. Would this be adequate time
to provide enough extra income to smash this boulder of debt that kept rolling
behind him with impending doom? Then the man realized he doubted God’s answer,
God’s sufficiency and God’s provision for his situation. His response should
not be to question God’s methods or fear the unknown future. His response should
be to simply obey and grab the opportunity God had provided and run with it. So
he began his 11,000 mile walk, you might say the walk that would be $1 per mile.
The
work load and stress were great. The second job position was not as enjoyable
as his usual work. The work environment was difficult and there were issues
with adequate and respectful reimbursement for his skills. He missed his
recreational time and breaks from regular work hours, but he managed to carve
out small amounts of time to rest and relax. He kept telling himself, “It’s only for three months. He could do
anything for three months.”
Finally
there came a time the season of working this extra job ceased. The position had
been filled by someone who would work full time. His journey was over. He felt
like he had walked 11,000 miles, one mile for every dollar he owed on the debt.
Had he walked long enough? The man sat down one day and through the use of a
spreadsheet placed formulas in the program to add up all the income generated
from the second job. Yes, it totaled just a little over $11,000. The debt could
be paid and a great burden floated off his shoulders. Praise God!
What
had the man learned from his experience? He learned that while God will often rescue
His children from trials, He does not always work in this manner. He learned
that while God will sometimes bless His children with an overabundance of
resources during difficult times, He does not always. He learned that
sometimes, God provides solutions to problems that require more from a Christian
than one could ever imagine. God’s blessings are not always handed to you on a
silver platter, they are often beaten out with the hammers and the tools of
your trade. They are earned through trust in the Lord and hard work with the
talents and skills God created within you. It was a hard lesson for the man to
learn, but I know he learned it, because this man was ME and this was MY 11,000
mile walk.
While
I learned a good lesson from this long walk and grew in my faith and trust of
my Heavenly Father, I’ve also learned that such lessons are often just a
prelude to yet another walk or test of faith. Currently I am again walking in a
desert, learning more lessons of faith, growing in my trust of the Lord and
developing greater skills in denying myself and laying my life in the hands of
my God. The life of the Christian is always a dynamic one. It is ever changing
with God placing things in our path to cause us to seek Him, overcoming
obstacles so we can rely upon Him more and growing more intimate in our
relationship with Him. The hard lessons we learn are often just a foundation
upon which another lesson must be learned. This is part of growing spiritually and
becoming more conformed to the image of Christ. While the hardships I have
faced were never pleasant or enjoyable, they were worth the blessings of
sensing God so close to me as I struggled through them. I know that without
them my faith would be much weaker than it is today. I’ve learned to take joy
in the midst of trials because of what God can show me about His love for me. I
wonder if the reason the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with your
entire heart mind and soul because that is how He loves us, with all His heart,
mind and soul and He simply wants us to love Him as He loves us. A life without
trials and struggles would be like a walk in a spring meadow full of brightly
colored flowers, a stroll along path through a lush green forest or sitting in
the sun on a peaceful ocean beach. But how much would we appreciate such
experiences if we had not trudged through a hot dry desert, stumbled along a
bumpy rock strewn path or attempted to climb up a steep difficult mountain
trail?
I
hope and pray if you are in a storm of life that before you seek worldly ways
of coping and seeking answers, you will first of all seek the Lord in prayer,
seek guidance in His Word and listen for His Holy Spirit to speak to you. God
will not always give you an easy way out nor bless you with your request, but I
also know He will not abandon you, nor forsake you. He loves you with all His
heart and wants the best for you. His desire is for you to be a strong faithful
persistent obedient mature follower of Christ. Many times, and sometimes the
only way for this to take place is to take a walk in the desert, even if it’s
for 11,000 miles.
Psalms
91
“Whoever goes to the Lord for safety,
whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty, can say to him, "You
are my defender and protector. You are my God; in you I trust." He will
keep you safe from all hidden dangers and from all deadly diseases. He will
cover you with his wings; you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will
protect and defend you. You need not fear any dangers at night or sudden
attacks during the day or the plagues that strike in the dark or the evils that
kill in daylight. You have made the Lord your defender, the Most High your
protector, and so no disaster will strike you, no violence will come near your
home. God will put his angels in charge of you to protect you wherever you go.
They will hold you up with their hands to keep you from hurting your feet on
the stones. God says, "I will save those who love me and will protect
those who acknowledge me as Lord. When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will
rescue them and honor them. I will reward them with long life; I will save
them."