Guitars and Trials

This is a copy of our bulletin article I just finished up for Sunday. If you go to CF, you can get a double dose.

Whether you’re a musician or not, you would probably have to agree that there are few things worse than hearing someone play a stringed instrument that is severely out of tune. My parents love to remind me of a time when I was in kindergarten and I “led” music for my class with my guitar. I’m sure that was the first and only time I ever did such a thing. That little guitar that I had and cluelessly strummed was far from in tune. Yet my teacher and parents were gracious and let me have my day of glory. The process of tuning a guitar is simple in theory, but takes a musician with a decent ear (or a tuner for the rest of us) to get just the right amount of tension on the string so it produces the proper sound.

I think sometimes when we are going through trials, we need to remember the analogy of the guitar. Many times our perspective when a difficult circumstance comes is, “Lord, what do you want me to learn through this.” The unspoken next line of that thought is, “Because I’m ready to learn it and get this situation over with!” Yes, God does teach us lessons through trials. Yes, sometimes we learn and the difficulty ends quickly. But many times, if not most of the time, trials provide the necessary amount of tension on your life to make you useful for the kingdom. You shortchange God’s plan when you only ask, “Can this please end now?” The answer may be “no” and the Lord has good reason for that in His wise and benevolent plan.

The letter of 2 Corinthians gives us a picture of this lesson. In chapter 12, Paul is being tormented by a “thorn in the flesh.” Paul asks for this affliction to be removed and God denies this request. We are told why in 2 Cor 12.7. Paul was used mightily by God to deliver His Word. Because of this God found it necessary to give him this affliction to keep him from “exalting himself.” It is shortly after that we find the promise in verse 9 that we can cling to as well during a trial, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

Don’t waste your affliction. Consider the difficulties that life brings to be tools designed to make you more like Christ (Jas 1.2; Rom 8.28). Remember God’s grace is always sufficient (2 Cor 12.9) and he’ll never put more on you than he gives you grace to handle (I Cor 10.13)!