Apples of Gold
Radio Script for October 10, 2008
“Look Beyond the Trial to the Blessing”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
We took away his cell phone.
With kids these days, it’s a great form of discipline. That cell phone is their connection to all their friends. They think it’s their lifeline.
So when one of the twin 13-year-old boys living with us got in a little trouble at school, he lost his cell phone.
“Until when?” he asked.
I thought about it, then said, “Until you memorize a Bible verse.”
I figured that was a winner. It’s good for the child to learn the Bible, plus it puts the ball in his court. Instead of me picking some arbitrary timeframe, he can get the phone back whenever he has a mind to.
“No,” he said.
“Oh really?” I said. “Fine. I don’t care if you ever do it.”
That didn’t last long. Soon enough he said, “When are you going to give me a verse so I can get my phone back?”
So I gave him a verse and he went right to work. He went over it and over it and before the evening was over he had it down cold. He got his phone back, and he still knows the verse.
Then his brother infracted and lost his phone, so I gave him a verse.
“Wait…that’s longer than my brother’s! This isn’t fair. This is…oh I can’t believe this. I’ll never learn all that!”
“Fine. I don’t care if you ever do it.”
And he went right to work. Actually it was the Lord’s Prayer. I told him, “Millions of people around the world have learned these verses. It’s not that hard.”
So he powered through. He said it over and over, adding line after line. He didn’t really want to, but he knew he had to if he wanted his phone back. And before the evening was out, he got it.
Like many teenage boys, these young men are not bookworms. They are all about action. So sitting still and focusing long enough to memorize some Bible was, for them, a real trial.
But they persevered. They did it. And they were blessed by getting their phone back, and they may not know it but they will be blessed by what they learned in the process.
See, we are always blessed when we persevere in the face of a trial.
Now our human tendency is to run from a trial. It’s hard and we don’t like it.
But God’s word tells us to look trials square in the eye and move forward. We don’t turn from trials, we face them head on. We do the hard thing.
James 1:2 makes what, on the surface, sounds like a ridiculous statement. It says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds…”
Well we don’t want to face them at all. How can we possibly consider it pure joy?
It’s not that the trial itself is pure joy. It’s what comes afterward.
For the boys, they looked beyond their trial to the moment when they got their cell phones back. They were able to face the trial and persevere because they saw beyond the trial to the blessing.
And that’s a good word for all of us today. Look beyond the trial to the blessing.
James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial…”
Look what Hebrews 12:2 says about Jesus. It indicates that He endured the cross because of the “joy set before Him.”
Not that the trial of the cross had any joy. No, He looked beyond the trial to the blessing. And in that case the blessing was the salvation of mankind.
So what trial are you going through today? Maybe you find yourself under the rubble of our economy. My goodness, the lead article of today’s Wall Street Journal said, “The market rout is rapidly wiping out vast amounts of wealth, casting a pall over households and businesses around the country.”
So is there a “pall” over your house today? Are you one of the many facing a severe trial? How can you possibly apply James 1:2 and consider it “pure joy?”
The key is to look beyond the trial to the blessing. And if you can’t see the blessing, then look a little further, on to the Blesser Himself. Back to Hebrews 12:2 which says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”
Maybe it doesn’t sound quite logical, but it is spiritually sound. Face your trial today, and not with dread but with joy. Look beyond the trial to the blessing, and beyond that to the Blesser.
And then we will be able to do the unbelievable. To persevere under trial and consider it pure joy.
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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