Responding to Trials in Faith

Embracing Your “Stage”

All four of my kids loved wearing costumes.  Starting as preschoolers, they were often dressed as characters in an original adventure or reenacting one they’d seen in a movie.

One day while they were playing in the backyard as Marvel characters, I answered the doorbell to find two police officers on my front porch.  Startled, I began a mental list of reasons for their presence, including truancy –  it was 10 AM and my kids were clearly not engaged in academics.  But to my surprise, one politely explained, “Ma’am, we received a call from one of your neighbors that there was a child in your backyard crying for help and just came to ensure everything was all right.”

It was quite embarrassing to explain we had taken them to see The Avengers the previous evening, and now they were reenacting the plot in great detail.  I assured them my five-year-old Black Widow was most likely yelling for my eight-year-old Captain America to help fight an alien.

Despite this brush with the law, the memories of those days are truly precious – these siblings had a blast turning any yard, park, or room into a stage for whatever scene they were reenacting.

In reality, we can’t always choose the stage on which our lives are played out.  There is much we don’t control, and many moments requiring confidence in a good and faithful God because the stage we’re on is shaky and unpredictable. 

I was recently struck by the contrast in responses of two people in Scripture who found themselves living their lives on challenging stages.  Both had encounters with the prophet Elisha, but each made very different choices.

The first was a widow at risk of losing her children to slavery to satisfy her creditor.  The second was a mighty warrior with leprosy.  Both approached Elisha and received unconventional instructions instead of immediate relief. 

The widow faithfully trusted and obeyed, collected jars from her neighbors, and filled them with oil from a small jar that miraculously flowed until every jar was full.  Her stage required humility and hard work, and God abundantly provided for her needs as she sold the jars and repaid her debt. (2 Kings 4:1-7) The warrior Naaman, however, almost missed the healing he sought because he was offended by Eisha’s instructions to wash in the Jordan River.  He had expected an impressive, immediate healing, but God chose a stage requiring patience, humility, and obedience. (2 Kings 5:3-14)

Their stories remind me of events in my past that did not go as I desired.  I didn’t choose the plots God arranged, and like Naaman at times I’ve been frustrated at God for placing me on stages I did NOT want or choose. 

I didn’t expect my dad to die so young, or infertility to seize the stage in our family plan.  I never wanted both of my biological children in the NICU after birth, with one needing a four-month stay and fifteen subsequent years of medical treatments and surgeries.  It certainly wasn’t my plan for my adopted children to face significant struggles following the trauma of their early childhood. 

But I am always able to choose my response.  I can grumble against the God who gave me these responsibilities, or, like the widow, I can offer the little I have and cede control of the stage He chooses to display His goodness.  And I can believe that from the first scene to the conclusion, He is working all things together for His glory and my good.

Responding to trials in faith is a choice. How will you choose to respond to the stage God has you on today?