Life's Inanities and Ironies

  No New Testament figure endured more constant and varied change than the apostle Paul. He went from respected Pharisee to hunted Christian, from free preacher to chained prisoner, from successful church planter to shipwrecked castaway. Yet from a Roman prison he could write, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11-13). Contentment is not natural. Paul says he “learned” it. It is a grace cultivated through repeated experiences of both abundance and need, always in dependence upon the strengthening Christ. The fundamentalist Christian must reject the world’s counterfeit versions of contentment—positive thinking, gratitude journals divorced from the cross, or the pursuit of “balance.” Biblical contentment is the...

  David was anointed king as a young man, yet he spent years living in caves, hunted like an animal by the very king he had served. The path from the sheepfold to the throne was not a straight line of promotion. It was a long, painful education in waiting upon God while every outward circumstance contradicted the promise. 1 Samuel 16 records the anointing. 1 Samuel 18 begins the jealousy of Saul. By chapter 22 David is in the cave of Adullam with every one that was in distress, in debt, or discontented. The man after God’s own heart adapted by refusing two clear opportunities to kill Saul and seize the kingdom by force. He would not stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed. Adaptation for David meant protecting the integrity of his future throne by refusing to grasp it prematurely. The Psalms written during these years are the manual of godly waiting. Psalm 57, composed in the cave, begins, “Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: ye...

  Moses’ life is divided by the Spirit of God into three distinct forty-year periods, each requiring a complete adaptation of identity, purpose, and dependence. Forty years as a prince in Egypt. Forty years as a shepherd in Midian. Forty years as the deliverer and lawgiver of Israel. At each transition the familiar was stripped away and a new man was required. Acts 7:22-23 tells us that Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds. Yet when he attempted to deliver his people in the energy of the flesh, he failed, killed an Egyptian, and fled. The next forty years were spent on the backside of the desert, keeping the flock of his father-in-law. The man who once moved in royal courts now moved among sheep. The man who once spoke with authority now lived in obscurity. God was not wasting time. He was producing meekness. Numbers 12:3 records the result: “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth...

  The book of Job confronts every believer with the most severe form of adaptation imaginable: the sudden, comprehensive loss of nearly everything that makes life bearable, while the sufferer remains conscious that God Himself has permitted it. In a single day Job lost his oxen, his sheep, his camels, his servants, and all ten of his children. Then his own body was covered with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. His wife looked at him in the ashes and said, “Curse God, and die.” Job’s first recorded response remains the gold standard of godly adaptation under catastrophic loss: “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). The Holy Spirit immediately adds, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.” This is not stoicism. This is worship. Job did not deny the pain. He did not pretend the losses were small. He simply refused to let the lo...

  Brothers and sisters, few lives in Scripture display more violent and rapid change than the life of Joseph. One day he is the favored son wearing a coat of many colours. The next he is stripped, thrown into a pit, and sold to Ishmaelite traders. One day he is steward of Potiphar’s entire house. The next he is falsely accused and cast into prison. One day he is forgotten by the butler. The next he stands before Pharaoh and is made ruler over all the land of Egypt. Genesis 50:20 is the theological key that unlocks every reversal: “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” The fundamentalist Christian must learn to read every sudden downturn through this lens. Men may mean it for evil. Circumstances may appear chaotic. But the sovereign God is never absent, never surprised, and never defeated. Joseph’s adaptation was not passive resignation. In Potiphar’s house he served with excellence. I...