The Perfect Place

Have you ever considered the best place to be in time of trouble? For the small animal, scurrying for safety in order to escape the sharp talons of a circling shadow, it may be crack in a rock. For the fox, relentlessly pursued by the pack, it may be his den. For the child, it maybe his mother's arm. For the soldier, it may be a simple foxhole. For the weary traveller, it may be the light up ahead. For all these, who seek shelter in time of trial, trouble or tribulation, there is a perfect place.

Late one afternoon, many years ago when we lived in an area known as tornado alley, the flash of continuous lightening lighting the darkening sky and constant echo of the terrible roll of thunder warned of impending disaster. As night approached, I became quite concerned that I might find a place of protection for my young family. I sought a place and found it.

But there were others who were not as fortunate. The next day, as a pastor, I visited my cousin, one of the survivors of the terrible storm that came that night, in a local hospital. He was suffering from multiple serious bone factures and severe cuts and contusions. He told me the sad story of his failure to quite make it to their elaborate storm shelter. His wife and her mother didn't survive.  He told of glancing out his door at the approaching tornado,  grabbing his wife in his arms and then waking in the hospital.

Sometimes a Christian needs a perfect place of shelter during the inevitable storms of life. The Christian life at best is a stormy and sometimes troubling and terrifying experience. Jesus said it would be so when He told us that in this world we would have tribulation. But the exact location of that perfect place for a Christian may vary with time and circumstance.

The perfect place for Noah was an Ark. Even though it had never rained in all of history, he was called to warn his friends and neighbors of the inconceivable judgment of God and to invite them into that perfect place of shelter. He preached and warned for one hundred and twenty years, but they would not heed. Ultimately, only eight souls found refuge in God's perfect place.

The perfect place for Joseph was a pit, a prison and then a throne. The perfect place for Daniel was a lion's den. The perfect place for the three Hebrew children was a fiery furnace. The perfect place for Job was sitting in an ash heap, covered with boils from head to doe, being tongue scourged by his fair weather friends and nagged by an unrelenting wife. The perfect place for Jonah was the belly of a whale. The perfect place for David was hiding from the wrath of Saul in a Judean cave. The perfect place for Elijah was having a pity party beside a brook.

What do all these places have in common and what is the perfect place for a Christian? Obviously, it is sheltering in the very centre of God's will. Even in the greatest tribulation, those who turn to God and trust in Him will find a perfect place of rest and peace!

Responding To Adversity

Even more important than understanding why God allows adversity into our lives, is our personal response to it. The life of Paul and his contemporaries in the faith serve as positive examples of proper Christian response to the pressures of life. Paul may have been often knocked down, but he was never knocked out of the Lord’s service. Remember he said, “But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened to me have fallen out rather to the futherance of the gospel.” The problems associated with Christian living in our day are just as real as the pressures faced by Christians in the first century. Our response to pressure is important in advancing the cause of Christ as well.

We sometimes seem to abdicate our responsibility and adopt the role of mere spiritual survivors. When asked about how we are coping we tend to use the old cliché and say, “As well as could be expected under the circumstances.” When all along we know we should, by God’s strength and power, be victorious in all circumstances.

Our proper and Godly response to pressure can turn problems into patience, vexation into victory and tragedy into triumph. The same pressure that can cause a destructive explosion can be harnessed to drive the wheels of progress. Pressure usually produces and the production can be good or bad. Both the Old and New Testaments give many examples of the right and wrong ways God’s people have responded to pressure as they were tested in the crucible of crisis. The mere mention of names such as Job, Jonah, Joseph, Elijah, David and Peter immediately conjures up images of proper and improper responses to the pressures of Christian living.

Someone has said, “A Christian is like a tea bag, he’s not worth much until he’s been through some hot water.” Spiritual hot water is inevitable in the Christian life. Problems, real and imagined, afflict us on every hand. It is tremendously important that as we pass through the trials of life we come out on the other side as a source of blessing to those who may be looking to us for help and encouragement. Our response to adversity may make a real difference in the life of someone else.

One of my most vivid and pleasant memories from my childhood involves working the bellows for my father and uncle, who were both trained by their father as blacksmiths. I would watch as they would heat farm tools in a fiery bed of charcoal, quickly withdraw them, beat them upon an anvil and then quench them in a barrel of water. The tools were then ready for the task of tilling the roughest and rockiest of fields. It sometime takes the pressure of God’s fiery furnace and blows upon the anvil of life to produce sharp and enduring tools for His use in the planting and cultivating of His spiritual harvest.

Is Your Name Written There?

Have you ever thought about where your name might be recorded? In these days we when hear so much about internet hacking and phising and super chips and super computers have so revolutionized information acquisition, storage and dissemination, the possibilities are mind boggling and the prospects could be frightening. We might truly be surprised if we knew the whole truth; just where our name might be listed, how, when or why it may have gotten there, and the extent of the information that we consider personal and private contained in certain files.

There are times and places when a record of ones name might prove embarrassing and painful to say the least. Would a husband like to walk his wife past the tree upon which he carved a heart entwining his and his first sweetheart's name? Some motel or hotel registers may contain records of liaisons that could be potentially compromising and disastrous. Some passports are not the sort you would like to have your name inscribed in if your plane were to be hijacked. Who would look forward to having their name listed in an obituary or on a tombstone?

This is not to say that records are not important and necessary. Birth and marriage certificates and records serve important purposes. The authenticity of the simple birth certificate one world leader brought into question his qualifications to lead his nation.  Passports and visas seem to have a positive and necessary function. Criminal and court records are obviously pertinent and vital. Even property titles and voting lists seem to be proper and necessary places to find ones name recorded.

But no matter how important the listing or sophisticated man's record systems may become, all such records are destined and doomed to ultimately decay and be destroyed by the passage of time. There will come a day when the world systems and the very world in which they exist will be destroyed and consumed in the fervent heat of the awful and final judgement of an eternal God. Then the lists, honours and accolades of man will pass as the grass withers and the only thing that will be eternally significant will be the praise of God rather than the praise of men!

But there is an even better place to have your name inscribed. There is a book of eternal and enduring record that is far more important and significant than any temporal earthly record. What is that book? You guessed it! The Lamb's Book of Life. When the seventy returned excited and rejoicing because of the great power they had been given to work miracles, signs and wonders, and to overcome demonic spirits, Jesus reminded them that an even greater joy is to know that ones name is recorded in heaven.

Is it any wonder then that in the midst of His Revelation of all the terrible judgements of the Great Tribulation, our Savior reminds us a half-dozen times or so of the great blessing of our names being recorded in His eternal book? Is your name written there?