Resilience
By Stephen Terry
Commentary for February 12-18, 2011
“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant
it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many
people alive.” Genesis 50:20, NASB
Americans love a “rags-to-riches” story. Perhaps
that is why the movie “Princess Bride” has been so popular through the years.
It is the story of Wesley, the lowly stable boy, who rises in life to
eventually marry his beloved Princess Buttercup. We identify with poor
Wesley because life can be unfair, and we want to believe that in spite of
where we are we can become anything we choose to be. We like to say that
any child born in
The statistics tell us that more homes are “broken” than
not. Many, many children grow up without both parents nurturing them to
adulthood. Many are also abused in unspeakable ways physically and mentally.
Some parents may not be out-and-out abusive but have no problems
diverting family resources to their own needs and whims to the detriment of
their children’s needs. Whether their parent is using those resources for
drugs, alcohol, a big boat, an expensive sports car, a second home, or the
latest technology, it makes little difference if it means the family cannot
afford to provide the children with the care and education they need to make it
in this highly competitive world.
Faced with such disappointments, the children mature in a
world that seems to agree completely with the Buddhist tenet “to live is to
suffer.” Life can be very hard. God knows how we can be to each
other, even to our own children. So much of the Bible is meant to address
this. Even Christ, the “foundation stone” of the whole Bible did not have
it easy. But His example is of divinity. There are many more
examples of those who faced suffering in the Bible without having a divine
nature. Perhaps the best known is Job who suffered to settle a bet between God
and Satan. Even though Job ended up with much more in the end than in the
beginning, the “payoff” from the Winner of the bet does not offset the feeling
that the entire story of Job reeks of unfairness. Yet, in the end, one gets
the feeling that Job rises above the unfairness of his circumstances to become
someone more than he was before.
This is the trait of resilience. In spite of all the
poor circumstances we find ourselves in, in spite of what others may have done
to us, we can rise to be more than we might have expected. The choice is
ours. Perhaps no story illustrates this better than the story of Joseph.
He was trafficked into slavery in another country by his own, jealous
brothers. Then as a slave he was framed for attempted rape and
imprisoned. While being a slave has little social status, being a prisoner
has even less. But in all these circumstances, Joseph consistently sought
to be of service to others and to make the most of wherever he found himself.
When given lemons, he made lemonade. Eventually, after many years his
”lemonade” came to the attention of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Recognizing the
traits of faithfulness, hard work and understanding that Joseph had always
cultivated, Pharaoh made him second in command over all the country of
Why did Joseph not sink into gloom and despair and
eventually live out a useless life in an Egyptian prison? He knew that “God...is
a rewarder of those who seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6, NASB This is the
sustaining power of resilience that is at the heart of the Bible reading
Christian’s experience. The message the Bible consistently repeats is that
there is a reason to continue. God is a rewarder of those who persevere.
Don’t give up, the reward will come. It is just around the corner.
Just because you cannot see it does not mean it is not there. But those earthly
rewards are only tokens of what is to come. There is a heaven full of rewards
to come.
Karl Marx called such beliefs “opium for the masses” to
keep them content with inhuman working and living conditions. His words were an
angry response to the suffering and inhumanity he saw around him. He felt
that revolution by the workers to throw off the yoke of oppression was the
answer. But the Bible gives repeated examples that it is not the mass
uprising that delivers mankind, but the individual working faithfully and
living out an example of trust and kindness. Though we have had many
revolutions throughout history, suffering and pain have not gone away. The
only thing that has ever reduced suffering is what a favorite writer of mine,
Ellen White, called “disinterested benevolence.” She knew that by seeking
the welfare of others we will improve our own situation as well as theirs.
Like
a flower blooming in the desert, we need to rise above our circumstances to be
all we can be. We can lament that we did not have this opportunity, or
that association and list all the reasons we should fail, or we can simply say
we will not let what others may have done keep us from being what we know we
can be with God’s help. If we allow Him, God will overrule our past and provide
us with a new present and future. We may have suffered so much that our
hearts are like heavy stones within us, but God says “Moreover, I will
give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the
heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
This is the secret of the Christian’s resilience. This is
why a Christian tends to rise above suffering. God may find us wallowing in the
dust, but He will never leave us there if we will only trust enough to take the
hand of Jesus. Then He will help us become all that God intended. Then we
will enjoy prosperity and blessings beyond our greatest expectations.
“It is beyond our power to conceive the
blessings that are brought within our reach through Christ, if we
will but unite our human effort with divine grace.” Sons and Daughters of
God” by Ellen White, page 26.
Bible texts marked NASB, are from the New American Standard Bible and used by permission of The Lockman Foundation.
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