Thursday Morning
We’re getting up and around right now, it’s 6:25 and breakfast is in about five minutes. Yesterday was a great day. 75.6 miles and we had a huge tailwind. Everyone finished strong.
We’ve spent the week studying what God’s Word says about trials and hardships of various kinds that the Lord allows in our lives to shape our conduct and our character. Our theme has been “I Press On” from Paul’s words in Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” It’s been very fitting to our time on our bikes.
Tuesday was a hard day for a lot of us. Not many hills, just some headwinds, but it was a struggle. That perseverance paid off with a strong ride yesterday, though. We’ve spent a lot of time this week talking about the parallels of that to our everyday lives. God allows painful circumstances in our life to stretch us and try us so that in the end we can come out refined and more like Jesus—but that only happens if we embrace the trial he has allowed and humble ourselves under it. If we don’t, we’ll face the same thing again—over and over—until God breaks us and we trust him to change us. When the same type of trial keeps coming up over and over, causing struggle in our lives, we need to recognize that maybe we are the common denominator. Maybe we’ve failed to embrace and endure the trial God has us in to shape us and it’s time to look in the mirror and ask “God, what are you trying to teach me that I’m not learning?”
One thing to note, though: there’s a difference between trials and consequences. Trials we have no control over, It’s just something God has allowed to happen in our life so that he can refine our character and our conduct. A consequence, on the other hand, is a natural result of something I’ve done. Don’t confuse the two. For instance, going to jail for robbing a bank is not a trial, it’s a consequence of a stupid decision. If you’re facing a trial, something totally out of your control, embrace it and and trust God to shape you. If it’s a consequence of a stupid choice, repent and turn to Jesus.
There was one guy in the bible who had absolutely everything. He was rich, healthy, and had a great family. But then through a series of events that were totally out of Job’s control, he lost it all. He lost his health, his wealth, and his family. Yet through it all he trusted God and remained under his authority.
In chapter 23, verse 10 Job says this, “But he knows the way that I take; and when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.” Job was confident that God was still firmly in control in spite of his circumstances. God knew the paths Job would take in life—he knew every detail, every joy, every trial, every hurt, every pain. And Job trusted God and knew that if he beared up and humbled himself under God’s mighty hand as 1Peter 5:6 says, that he would come out as gold. Like Romans 8:28, Job was confident that God would work this for good in his life.
Anyway, it’s time to load the truck and hit the road. Pray for our students and adults today. Pray that those biking would be able to embrace the trials on the road that today’s hills will bring, and pray that in life they would embrace the trials the God brings their way, that in the end, when he has tried them, they will come out as gold.
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