A Bend in the Road

David Jeremiah, popular preacher and writer, tells of his “gain through loss” in his book: A Bend In The Road. He chronicles his encounter with lymphoma, labeling it a “disruptive moment.” His “Five Principles to Remember” are impressive and instructive.
1. Disruptive moments are often divine appointments. “Every trial we face, difficult as it may be, comes from the hand of God, who loves us and wants us to grow. This perspective will keep you from lashing out at God in despair. It will keep you from giving in to discouragement.” Jeremiah catalogues many scriptures depicting God working good through challenging times and closes principle one with a prayer. “God, You have allowed this in my life. I don’t understand it, but I know that it couldn’t have happened to me unless it was filtered through Your loving hands. So, this thing is from You.”
2. Progress without Pain Is Usually Not Possible. “Unless there is pain in the formula, we will never stop to listen carefully to what He is saying… We’re not making any progress at all toward the deeper things our Father longs to show us. Sometimes He must allow us to stumble along the everyday journey. We’re wounded and filled with pain, yet our disaster is just the opposite of what it seems; it’s the demonstration of God’s determinate to teach us and to make us wiser and stronger. It’s up to us to choose our response. It can make us bitter, or it can make us better.”
3. The Promise of God is the Provision of Grace. “God says to us over and over in Scripture, ‘My grace is sufficient. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. You are my son and I will deal with you as my son.'” Jeremiah uses John 15 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 as a corner stone for this premise. “Wise, godly people who have faced disruptive moments will say without hesitation, ‘Never is all my life have I sensed the closeness and provision of God as I did when I came to the bend in the road. Never before have I been more fruitful than I’ve been since I came though the bend in the road.’”
4. Disruptive Moments Produce Dynamic Growth. Three specific products of adversity in the Christian life:
2 Corinthians 12:7-10 – More power
Hebrews 12:5-11 – More holiness
John 15:1-8 - More fruit
“You can struggle against the disruptive moment, shake your fist at the heavens, and find yourself exhausted, defeated, and in despair – or you can accept the moment and let it train and strengthen you. God allows no pain without purpose. Instead, He uses pain to dispense power, holiness and fruit.”
5. What we receive from disruptive moments depends upon how we respond.
“Disaster usually prompts the ‘why’ questions. Why this, Lord? Why now? Why not later? Why not someone else? Why questions are a natural part of being human. But we can ask better questions. We can ask ‘what’ questions. What Lord? What would You have me do? What are You trying to teach me. What is the value in this disaster for me?”
With a teachable spirit and a quest for godliness, we learn and grow through our bends in the road – through our times of seeming disaster. And we experience the Romans 8:29 …”becoming conformed to the image of Christ.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “I bear witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord’s workshop. I sometimes question whether I have ever learned anything except through the rod. When my schoolroom is darkened, I see most.”