| “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” |
| —Hebrews 12:11 NKJV |
No one wants to wait until “afterwards.” When we go through trials of all kinds, we want God to remove the pain and give us the results He has designed for us as quickly as possible. Yet, no one would expect a surgeon to allow a person to get up during a surgical procedure and immediately enjoy the results of that surgery. Likewise, a child must take the sting of the antiseptic before he or she can experience the healing from a cut or scrape.
We have ample illustrations of this point in the lives of biblical characters.
- In the case of poor Jonah, who ended up in the belly of a great fish because of his disobedience even after he confessed his sin and repented, he had to go through the process of being vomited out upon the beach! Only then could he properly respond obediently to God’s call.
- In John 11, Lazarus experienced death and decay in the grave. His family had to go through the grieving associated with his death. Only after this trial did Jesus come and speak those words to his dead friend in the tomb: “Lazarus, come forth!”
- As recorded in 1 Kings 19, Elijah went through a terrible windstorm, an earthquake, and a fire before he heard the gentle whisper of God. Only after these catastrophes could he hear the words of direction and relief for which he had waited from his Lord.
- Job experienced unbelievable loss, lived through pain, grief, the misunderstanding of his friends, and his own crisis of faith. Yet, when God finally did speak to Job and bring his trials to an end, Job replied, as recorded in Job 42:5:
My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
While going through the deadly, mysterious, confusing storms of life, we simply don’t feel blessed. Afterward, if we persevere in faith and obedience, we can say with the Psalmist, as recorded in Psalm 94:12-13:
Blessed is the man you discipline, O Lord, the man you teach from your law; you grant him relief from days of trouble.
If the trial we experience seems more than we can bear, and if we see no good coming from it—even while we are still in the dark—we must decide before God to trust Him to help us through the trial and bring about the desired harvest in our lives. There will be an “afterwards.” And, it will be joyous, peaceful, and filled with God’s light.
