Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
The people immediately knew that this Preacher was different. He locked in to their souls because He let it be known that He knew first-hand what being "despised and rejected" means. At this stage they weren't sure Who He might be, but He grabbed their heart-strings when He said, "Blessed [happy!] are the poor in spirit, ... those who mourn, ... the meek, ... those who are persecuted, ... reviled, ... Rejoice!" (Matt. 5:3-12). He was backwards from every other speaker they had ever listened to!
You are going to meet someone somewhere who scans every face he or she sees, looking for someone who understands, for someone who is that exceedingly rare person who is "pure in heart," for he or she has "seen God." You may not need to say a word when you meet this person; something in your eyes will communicate that you "understand" what long waiting, yearning, and trials of faith mean.
If you will accept the conviction of sin borne in on your soul by the Holy Spirit--the conviction that has shattered your "rich-and-increased-with-goods" complacent pride, if you will let tears of contrition fall, you will be given a key to at least some human hearts. Jesus will condescend to share with you some of His secret riches of soul.
You will also share a kinship of soul with that dear man who morning after morning (probably for years!) begged the Lord to remove his "thorn in the flesh, ... a messenger of Satan" constantly "buffeting" him (2 Cor. 12:7), only to realize that God was refusing to grant his prayer. If any mortal sinner ever deserved an answer to heart-felt prayer, wouldn't it be Paul? He had endured such a lifetime of loving self-denial for Christ (read his immediate context in 2 Cor. 11:23-29)!
But after renewed fasting-and-prayer sessions, probably even "anointings," God told him, No, Paul; I'm not going to say Yes. The thorn in the flesh stays; you've got to live with it; how else can I bless your ministry? How else will you ever know how to reveal My grace to others unless you have tasted continual suffering? "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9).
Pretty heavy price Paul paid for what he was able to pass on to us. Was it worth it?
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 28, 2001.
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