Leadership: Testing Strengthens
A tree cannot stand upright unless it has met the resistance of the wind. Martin Laird
Gregg’s Reflection
In the early days of my discipleship journey, everything went well for me. I had sold my business, seeking a move from success to significance, as Bob Buford says it in his book Halftime. We built our cabin in Colorado. I was collaborating with other leaders to create a Leadership Academy for our Lutheran Bishop. We were living large: taking some long delayed trips once I was free of the business, investing time in family and friends, growing in faith, finding clarity in purpose and calling. Then, we hit some rough water.
We got a phone call as we enjoyed the first month in our new cabin telling us our son had hit a tree snowboarding at Whistler and had a compound fracture of the leg and was in an ambulance. With that phone call, I realized how quickly everything can change. Three surgeries later, doctors had saved his leg, and a long rehab began. It was a wake up call.
I was scaling back the consulting business in the marketplace and putting most of my energy into the church. I began encountering various obstacles to the work for the church, yet spent five more years trying to create a cohort based leadership learning community across the church that just did not want to happen. During these years, I found myself moving through seasons where God felt close, and I was really living out my gifting and purpose. These times alternated with other times when I was wandering through the spiritual desert encountering the dark night of the soul.
Times of trial and testing are spiritual, psychological as well as physical. We are holistic beings, and when we encounter turbulence in our lives, it expresses itself in many ways. During these times, I realized that faith is like a muscle. When everything is going great, the muscle gets very little exercise. These are the times when we experience God’s presence and movement in our lives. God’s power is on display. It is those other times, when God seems absent, that we have to call on our reserves of faith, and exercise the muscle. When we can call on the promises of God, even when He seems distant and we hear nothing from Him, that our faith is strengthened and grows.
The Baptism of Jesus
Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Ever wonder why the story of Jesus going off into the desert to be tempted just after His baptism is so prominent in scripture? It was a time of sifting and discerning exactly what being an obedient Son meant. Until he had faced the temptations of Appetite, Affirmation and Ambition, he was not ready to take the role God planned for Him. Funny thing is that we will each be tempted by these three things as well. Until we have faced these temptations, we will not be ready to live into the fullness of purpose and calling. I wrote a post about that here.
So, the next time you find yourself in a time of trial, testing and temptation, ask yourself, “What is God trying to say to me through this, and what am I going to do about it. To think about what this looks like, see this post on the Learning Circle.
Journaling Prompts
When have I experienced the “sine wave” of closeness and distance from God? How has it shaped my faith? What tests am I facing right now? How might God be using them to strengthen rather than weaken me? When God feels absent, how can I “exercise the muscle” of faith? Where have I already seen trials produce perseverance or resilience in me?
Scripture
Scripture
The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
Exodus 14:14
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalm 34:17-18
Why do we kick against the goads? All Scripture is a goad. Suffering, hardship, failure, adversity, godly counsel, holy confrontation, conviction of the Holy Spirit are all goads. We only hurt ourselves in resisting truth. Ecclesiastes 12:11 reminds us: Words of the wise are like goads, like firmly embedded nails-given by the shepherd.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you.
Psalm 55:22
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
My child, when you come to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing. Set your heart right and be steadfast, cling to him and do not depart. Accept whatever befalls you, and in times of humiliation be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him. You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy. Has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed? Or has anyone persevered in the fear of the Lord and been forsaken? Or has anyone called upon him and been neglected? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Sirach 2:1–7, 10,11
By definition God tests (intending to berengthen the believer's moral character and the devil tempts (intending to destroy that selísame character). Paradoxically, the same set of circumstances can be taken either as a test or a temptation depending on the response.
RENOVARE Bible notes on Mathew 4:1-11 (temptation of Jesus)
is God’s way to come cloaked, and for his greatest promises to come cloaked. It is his way to come when the storm is peaking or fear deepest or when hope is almost gone. It has always been his way.
RENOVARE Bible notes on Luke 24, The Road to Emmaus
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Romans 8:35
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:12
Endure trials for the sake of discipline. He disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. Discipline always feels painful, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Hebrews 6:7, 10-11
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
1 Corinthians 10:13
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
James 1:2-5
Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
James 1:12
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
1 Peter 1: 6
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
1 Peter 5:10
Ancient Writings
Let us strive to enter by the narrow gate. Just as the trees, if they have not stood before the winter’s storms, cannot bear fruit, so it is with us; this present age is a storm and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain an inheritance in the kingdom of God.
Amma Theodora, Celtic Daily Prayer Book Two, p. 1433
We carry ourselves wherever we go and we cannot escape temptation by mere flight.
Amma Matrona, Celtic Daily Prayer Book Two, p. 1432
Any trial whatever that comes to you can be conquered by silence.
Abbot Pastor, Thomas Merton, Wisdom of the Desert, p. 55
Go and pray to the Lord to command some struggle to be stirred up in you, for the souls is matured only in battles.
Abbot Pastor, Thomas Merton, Wisdom of the Desert, p. 57
Do not be troubled if you do not immediately receive from God what you ask Him; for He desires to do something even greater for you, while you cling to Him in prayer.
Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos & Chapters on Prayer
Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you; through those who endure sickness and trial.
St. Francis of Assisi, The Canticle of the Creatures
He said not 'Thou shalt not be tempested, thou shalt not be travailed, thou shalt not be dis-eased'; but he said, 'Thou shalt not be overcome.
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Grace transforms our failings full of dread into abundant, endless comfort … our failings full of shame into a noble, glorious rising … our dying full of sorrow into holy, blissful life. …. Just as our contrariness here on earth brings us pain, shame and sorrow, so grace brings us surpassing comfort, glory, and bliss in heaven … And that shall be a property of blessed love, that we shall know in God, which we might never have known without first experiencing woe.
Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love
Courage, courage, my daughters. Remember that God does not give anyone more trials than can be suffered and that his majesty is with the afflicted. For this is certain, there is no reason to fear but to hope in his mercy. He will reveal the whole truth; and some machinations, which the devil kept hidden so as to create a disturbance, will be made known.
St. Teresa of Ávila, Letters, in The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Vol. 1
Faith upholds a Christian under all trials, by assuring him that every painful dispensation is under the direction of his Lord; that chastisements are a token of His love; that the season, measure, and continuance of his sufferings, are appointed by Infinite Wisdom, and designed to work for his everlasting good; and that grace and strength shall be afforded him, according to his need.
John Newton, Letters of John Newton
Modern Writings
Abbot Pastor said: Any trial whatever that comes to you can be conquered by silence. Also, go and pray to the Lord to command some struggle to be stirred up in you, for the soul is matured only in battles.
Thomas Merton, Wisdom of the Desert, p. 55, 57
The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings.
George Müller, The Autobiography of George Müller
To be a man, to live here in this world, is to be put on trial
Søren Kierkegaard, Practice in Christianity
The difference between a good life and a bad life is how well you walk through the fire.
Carl Jung, Collected Works of C.G. Jung, Vol. 14
The contemplative journey, because it involves the purification of the unconscious, is not a magic carpet to bliss. It is an exercise of letting go of the false self, a humbling process, because it is the only self we know. God approaches us from many different perspectives: illness, misfortune, bankruptcy, divorce proceedings, rejection, inner trials. God has not promised to take away our trials, but to help us to change our attitudes toward them. That is what holiness really is. In this life, happiness is rooted in our basic attitude toward reality.
Thomas Keating, The Human Condition: Contemplation and Transformation
The purpose of these trials is to cleanse a person of all self-reliance and pride in his or her accomplishments and to teach pure and disinterested reliance on God. John Tauler, like Meister Elkhart, was convinced detachment was essential for finding God, and that suffering was the best way to realize detachment.
Bernard McGinn, Essential Writings of the Mystics, p.378
Failure is one of the forms contemplation can take.
Parker Palmer, On the Brink of Everything
Many people suffer because of the false supposition on which they have based their lives. That supposition is that there should be no fear or loneliness, no confusion or doubt. But these sufferings can only be dealt with creatively when they are understood as wounds integral to our human condition.
Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer
When suddenly you seem to lose all you thought you had gained, do not despair. You must expect setbacks and regressions. Don't say to yourself "All is lost. I have to start all over again." This is not true. What you have gained you have gained....When you return to the the road, you return to the place where you left it, not to where you started.
Henri Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom
Any simpleton can follow the narrow path in the light: faith’s rare wisdom enables us to march on in the dark with infallible accuracy, since she places her hand in that of her Great Guide.
Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Devotional
Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil, and let us see what we are made of. Good people must never expect to escape troubles; if they do, they will be disappointed, for none of their predecessors have been without them.
Charles Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Devotional
Maybe, sometimes, in the midst of things going terribly wrong, something is going just right.
This deepening of love is the real purpose of the dark night of the soul. The dark night helps us become who we are created to be: lovers of God and one another
The dark night is a profoundly good thing. It is an ongoing spiritual process in which we are liberated from attachments and compulsions and empowered to live and love more freely.
Gerald G. May, The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth
The most amazing fact about Jesus, unlike almost any other religious founder, is that he found God in disorder and imperfection—and told us that we must do the same or we would never be content on this earth.
Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See
The deepest need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest purpose of God in the universe–the glorification of the grace and power of his Son–the grace and power that bore him to the cross and kept him there until the work of love was done.
John Piper, Desiring God; Sermon on John 16:33
Realize deeply that the present moment is all you have. Make the NOW the primary focus of your life.
Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
Christians submit to trials and learn that the only trustworthy pattern of spiritual transformation is death and resurrection because Jesus told us that we must “carry the cross” with him.
Richard Rohr, CAC Morning Devotion, 4/4/20
Failure, sin, humiliation, and shadow work are very good teachers if we allow them to be.
Richard Rohr, The Naked Now, p. 11
Struggling with our own shadow self; facing interior conflicts and moral failure; undergoing rejections, abandonment, and daily humiliation; experiencing any kind of abuse or our own clear limitations; even accepting that some people hate us: all of these are gateways in a deeper consciousness in the flowering of the soul. In facing the contradiction that we ourselves are, we become living icons of Yes/And. Once we can accept mercy, it is almost natural to hand it on to others. We become a conduit of what we ourselves have received.
Richard Rohr, The Naked Now, p. 125-126
Remember that self-doubt is as self-centered as self-inflation. Your challenge is to reach as deeply as you can and offer your unique and authentic gifts as bravely and beautifully as you are able. Your humility must grow in proportion to your uniqueness and beauty.
Bill Plotkin, Nature and the Human Soul, p. 376
We suffer because we are living at a distance from our depths-it’s as simple as that. The more our souls are infused with being, the better we feel and the better life seems to us, no matter what our outer circumstances are.
Sandra Maitri, Spiritual Dimensions of the Enneagram, p. 46
We are tempted by the temptations of Christ: Appetite, Affirmation, Ambition.
Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture
At one point I said, “I’m willing to go through whatever experiences are necessary in order to wake up.” It was very difficult, but every step I took, there was something I saw in retrospect that I absolutely needed in order for part of my consciousness to heal.
Rodney Smith, Kathleen Singh, The Grace in Living p. 180
A tree cannot stand upright unless it has met the resistance of the wind.
Martin Laird, Ocean of Light, p. 86
The door into the silent land is a wound. Silence lays bare this wound. Trial, temptation and struggle are the making of the contemplative.
Martin Laird, Into the Silent Land, p. 86.