The “Van Kemps” were pillars in my childhood church; godly, faithful, and respectable people. Their two sons, “Steve” and “Phil” were in my youth group. One day, terrible news spread throughout the church: the Van Kemps’ oldest son, Steve, had been diagnosed with osteosarcoma, bone cancer. Sadly, it had already metastasized and he died a few months later.
But the family tragedy didn’t stop there. A few years after Steve’s death, Phil developed the same cancer and died from it as well.
And then, adding tragedy upon tragedy and sorrow upon sorrow, Mr. Van Kemp also developed the same cancer and he too died from it.
I was a teen at the time and lost contact with Mrs. Van Kemp. But over the decades since, I have often wondered how she survived those terrible Job-like tragedies.
As if it is not enough that, as I chronicled in my last post, men of God have to deal with their sinful flesh, a disdainful world, and a hateful Devil, at some point we will also experience terrible events that feel like we have been punched in the gut by God himself. I am sure that is how Mrs. Van Kemp felt when she experienced the deaths of her two sons and her husband. I call these extremely difficult events hurdles. They are hurdles because they challenge our faith in a good and all powerful God and responding the wrong way can “trip us up” and prevent us from doing the good works that God saved us to do.
The nature of our hurdles
The world’s reasoning about the existence of evil and God goes along these lines: since there is evil in the world, then God, if he exists at all, is either not good or not all-powerful. He can’t be both at the same time. For if he were good, he would want to rid the world of evil. Therefore, since there is still evil in the world, he must not be all-powerful. And if he is all-powerful, he can rid the world of evil. In that case, since there still evil in the world, he must not be good.
This theological problem, called “theodicy,” has bedeviled the human race ever since one of the earliest pieces of human literature – the book of Job – was written. The conundrum, “Why has a good and omnipotent God allowed this horrific thing to happen to me?” is at the core of each hurdle that every man of God must overcome. It perplexed Job, and it perplexes us believers to this day. Our hurdles challenge us at every level of our being – spiritually, intellectually, emotionally, volitionally, and physically – and reveal what we truly believe about God’s character and God’s power.
Three types of “insurmountable” hurdles every man of God must learn how to respond to appropriately
I have great respect for track and field athletes who run the hurdles. How they manage to run a race at lightening speed while leaping over each seemingly insurmountable hurdle after insurmountable hurdle is an amazing sight to behold.
Like those track and field athletes, every man of God who is doing the good works God saved him and equipped him to do eventually also faces three major types of what seem at the time to be insurmountable hurdles in his life, hurdles he must respond to appropriately or else he will get tripped up. These three types of hurdles are called tests, trials, and consequences. All three of these obstacles are always difficult and unpleasant experiences and sometimes, like Mrs. Van Kemp, they feel utterly overwhelming. Nevertheless, they are necessary experiences in our Christian life.
The first step in overcoming our hurdles is to understand what they are, why they are happening, and where they come from
There is no such thing as tragedy for a man of God. All of our hurdles, all of our obstacles, and, yes, all of what the world calls irrational, meaningless tragedies instead have a purpose for us and are ultimately for our good. “All things work together for good to those who love God,” Paul reminds us in Romans 8:28. Therefore, it is not the obstacles themselves, but whether we overcome them, that is important. Or, as the old adage goes, “It is not what happens to us, but what we do with what happens to us that matters.”
The first thing to do, then, when we have painful experiences is to understand what they are. Let’s look first at tests and trials.
Tests – δοκιμάζω (dokimázō) – and trials – πειρασμός (peirasmos) sometimes appear together in the New Testament and can be used interchangeably. For example, James writes in James 1:2-3, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials (πειρασμοῖς, peirasmois) of various kinds, for you know that the testing (δοκίμιον, dokimion) of your faith produces steadfastness.”
But while tests and trials can be used interchangeably, they do have slightly different meanings. For example, in James 1:2-3, we see that trials refer to the actual experience of our pain and suffering while tests refer to the outcome or result of our pain and suffering. We see this same distinction in 1 Peter 1:6-7, “”In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
So, when we experience trials in the form of pain and suffering of various types, we are doing so in order that we may pass a test. I like to think of these tests as being on three increasingly difficult levels: pop quizzes, tests, and final exams.
Pop quizzes
I think of the everyday trials and travails of life as pop quizzes. These are the normal nuisances – the lost keys, the overflowing washing machine, the speeding ticket – that occur in the warp and woof of life that test our patience, but are relatively easy, or at least should be easy, to overcome.
Tests
On the other hand, there are the major, and sometimes predictable, sorrows of life, like illnesses, problems with children, and difficulties at work. I call these tests. How we handle tests, along with pop quizzes, often predict how we will respond to the next and final level, the final exam.
The final exam – the ultimate test
Pop quizzes and tests are one thing. But then there is the dreaded final exam – our ultimate hurdle – that we prepare for all semester (or, like me, cram for at the last minute). God’s final exam for us refers to a shocking and nearly unbearable experience we have that challenges our very faith in a good and all-powerful God. Below are four biblical examples of “final exams” that God gave Job, Abraham, Peter, and Jesus.
- Job
Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life. So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.” Job 2:3-10
- Abraham
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” … Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.” Genesis 22:1-2, 10-12
- Peter
“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” Luke 21:31-34
- Jesus
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. Matthew 4:1-11
Summary
Note that out of these four examples, God gives his final exam to only one, Abraham, toward the end of his life. God tests the other three when they are relatively young. Also note that all of the tests are different. They are tailored to the individual person. In addition, except for Abraham, both God and Satan are involved in each test. For Satan, the purpose of the test is to tempt the believer to recant his faith, or, in Jesus’ case, to disobey God. But for God, the purpose of the test is to prove the genuineness of the believer’s faith and obedience.
Proven faith: what God is looking for when he gives us our final exam
“In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
God has one ultimate goal when it comes to our faith: to prove that it is genuine. But what is genuine faith? To answer this question, we need to look at proven faith in the context of three other types of faith.
- Ordinary faith – Ordinary faith is the kind of faith that everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike, uses to navigate their daily lives. Ordinary faith is so common that we are rarely even conscious of it. But without it we would remain curled up in a fetal position in bed, too terrified to get up and leave our home, a psychological condition called agoraphobia. The reason ordinary faith is so crucial to our existence is because we are finite, contingent beings with limited knowledge and experience. It is impossible for us to know everything about everything, so we make assumptions about things and act on them in faith that they are true. We believe that the signal for the cross traffic in our intersection is red and that those cars will stop when ours is green, but we don’t know for sure. We believe that the bridge we are crossing has been inspected and will not fall down, but we don’t know for sure. Nevertheless, we still go through the intersection and cross the bridge. That is ordinary faith and we exercise it all the time. But it is also not inconsequential. We stake our very lives on it. Cars do run red lights and bridges do fall down.
- Evidence based faith – However, sometimes we feel the need to shore up our faith by researching the details of a particular situation before taking action. But here, too, no matter how much information we glean from our research, we will always have to exercise a certain degree of faith. When we purchase a home, for example, we hire a title company to research the title to the home to make sure the person we are buying the home from actually owns the home and has no leans against it. But we can never be absolutely sure the title company is completely trustworthy. (In fact, our last title company sent our buyer’s payment to the wrong account and we had to wait several hours to get our money!) When we deposit money in a bank, we may want to research its solvency or check to see if it is insured by the federal government to make sure we can get our money out again. But we can never be absolutely sure we can get it out again. This is also evidence based faith. When we read about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we can ask, “What is the evidence for Christ’s resurrection?” and do further research. But no matter how good the evidence is (and yes, the evidence is good), we will always have to exercise faith in its reality. Again, this is evidence based faith.
- Saving faith – When it comes to the kind of faith that saves us, the Bible is very clear and explicit. We are not saved by believing that something is true (“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” James 2:19). Rather, we are saved by believing in or on someone who has done something very important for us (i.e. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life”). Here, saving faith includes the concept of entrusting ourselves into the hands of Jesus Christ as the one who paid the penalty for our sin and delivers us from God’s wrath. Flying on an airplane is an example of the difference between believing that something is true, and believing in it. We can believe that a Boeing 727 can carry us from Denver to Seattle. But we don’t really believe in it until we step off the causeway and onto the plane and actually let the pilots fly us on it from Denver to Seattle.
- Proven faith – The Bible tells us that there is a big debate going on in heaven between Satan, “the accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10), and God. The debate is about who we believers belong to, Satan or God. The issue centers around our faith, whether we truly believe in God for who he is, or whether we believe in him just because he does good things for us. Satan’s argument, as we see in the Book of Job (chapters 1-2), is that our faith is bogus because we are only believing God for what we can get out of him. God, on the other hand, argues with Satan that our faith is genuine and will stand regardless of how bad our circumstances get. This debate forms the basis for our “final exam.” In our final exam, God allows Satan to test us to demonstrate the nature of our faith, whether it will stand or fail (Luke 21:31-34). In order for this test to be effective, it has to be severe. This is why it is likened to fire. God is looking for faith in his goodness and his omnipotence, in spite of our suffering. This final exam – this extreme hurdle – doesn’t save us, our faith in Christ’s death on the cross for our sins does. But it does demonstrate to both God and Satan that our faith is real. Of course, God already knows that, but Satan doesn’t. Proven faith, then, is extremely valuable to God and us, because it brings him and us “great glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” 1 Peter 1:6-7.
One day Jill was happily married. The next day she became a widow. Then the day after that she became a single mother. It was her final exam.
“Jill” is our daughter’s best friend. They have known each other since grade school. Through their friendship, my wife and I have gotten to know Jill’s parents and siblings, and they are stellar Christians. Jill’s father is a wonderful man of God and a leader in his church and her mother is a kidney donor.
Jill and our daughter, along with our two families, have marched through many of life’s milestones together: graduations, marriages, new homes, pregnancies, births. …and a funeral.
Yes, a funeral. Jill’s husband’s funeral. She was nine months pregnant with their first and only child the morning her husband died. That morning, he got out of bed, went to the kitchen for breakfast, and suddenly collapsed on the kitchen floor while Jill was still in bed. Hearing the commotion, Jill got up and discovered that her husband had died of a heart attack.
That night, while grieving her husband’s death, Jill went into labor and the next day she delivered a beautiful, healthy baby girl. Within the span of forty-eight hours, Jill had gone from being a happily married, expectant mother, to a grieving widow and single mom with a newborn baby. Her entire world had been turned upside down.
Several days later, while driving to the funeral, I wondered what I would witness upon meeting Jill after she had gone through such overwhelming trauma.
What I witnessed at the funeral was a woman who was still grieving the loss of her husband, but thankful to God that a wonderful baby girl had been born. Jill’s faith in God’s goodness was holding firm. I walked away from that funeral knowing that, yes, the next months would be very difficult, full of extreme ups and downs. But Jill was passing her final exam.
As if to prove to the whole world that Jill had indeed passed that exam, God arranged for her and her daughter to meet a young Christian widower at her church who worked in the same profession as Jill’s former husband. Jill and he fell in love, married, and they now have two more children along with Jill’s first child.
The correct response to the first two hurdles: “God is proving my faith.”
We have seen that not all trials and tests, the first two hurdles, happen to us because we deserve them. In fact, many trials and tests occur specifically because we do not deserve them. It is this very fact that makes these types of trials and tests so difficult. Job’s three “friends” ignored that reality and tried to make the opposite case to him: “What did you do, Job, to deserve this? It must have been something terrible,” they accused him. “Otherwise God would not have let it happen to you” But in reality, we know from the first two chapters of the Book of Job that Job was a righteous man and the text specifically says that he did not deserve what Satan did to him. Job himself knew he didn’t deserve the pain and suffering he was experiencing and defended himself against the accusations of his three supposed friends throughout the rest of the book. Therefore, the correct response to the first two types of hurdles is to answer the question, “What did I do to deserve this?” by saying, “Nothing. God is testing my faith.” And then hold onto God with all our might until the testing ends.
“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
Consequences: the third hurdle
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” Galatians 6:7
But sometimes we experience pain and suffering and we know very well the answer to the question, “What did I do to deserve this?” The reason we know the answer is because there is a direct correlation between something wrong that we did and the pain and suffering that we are experiencing from it. In this case, the answer to the question, “What did I do to deserve this?” is always manifestly obvious: “I wrote a counterfeit check and now I am serving two years in prison for it;” or, “I cheated on my wife and now she is divorcing me;” or “I drove while drunk, and now my license has been revoked.”
In these cases, the correct response to this third hurdle – consequences for our actions – is to confess our sin to God and make amends to anyone we have hurt.
The consequences of forgiven sin
But make no mistake, there are still consequences of forgiven sin. I don’t remember where I read that phrase, but “the consequences of forgiven sin” is an excellent biblical observation. When we confess our sin, God forgives it and restores us to full fellowship (1 John 1). But there are still consequences that result from our sin. Here are four biblical examples of men of God who suffered consequences for their forgiven sin.
- Moses
In Numbers 20, we read that God commanded Moses to speak to the rock and it would produce water. Instead, out of anger Moses disobeyed God and struck the rock. As a result, God told Moses that he would see the promised land, but he would not enter it. And that is what happened.
- David
David sinned against God by raping Bathsheba, getting her pregnant, and murdering her husband. David confessed his sin and God forgave him. But David suffered severe consequences (a civil war, led by one of his sons, and temporary exile from Jerusalem) for the rest of his life.
- Peter
Peter denied Jesus three times, even though he said he would never do that. After his resurrection, Jesus forgave and reconciled with Peter, but also predicted that Peter would die by crucifixion (John 21:15-29).
- Paul
Prior to becoming a believer, Paul (called Saul) persecuted the church relentlessly. But at his conversion, Paul experienced God’s love and forgiveness, but was also told through Annanias “how much he would suffer for my name.”
While it is true that much of the pain and suffering we experience in life happens because they are trials and tests that prove the genuineness of our faith, some of our pain and suffering happens because it is self-inflicted. We know when this type of suffering is the consequence of past forgiven sin because there is an obvious connection to it.
The correct response to the consequences of forgiven sin: humble patience and a willingness to learn
The fact that there are consequences of our forgiven sin does not mean that God cannot or will not use us after our sin. It simply means he is disciplining us as a loving Father who uses us, often very fruitfully, in spite of our sin. As the writer to the Hebrews writes:
“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you completely forgotten this word of encouragement that addresses you as a father addresses his son? It says, “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.” Hebrews 12:4-13
Are we experiencing discipline for forgiven sin? Praise the Lord! We are sons of our Father in heaven who disciplines us that we may share in his holiness.
So how do we respond when we experience the pain and suffering the consequences of our forgiven sins cause us? We respond with patient acceptance and a willingness to learn from the sin.
No one said this would be easy
O man of God, let us not think that following Jesus Christ and doing his good works is a walk in the park. We have a world, our flesh, and the Devil to fight, and huge obstacles to overcome. But we have this promise, Jesus Christ has saved us, the Holy Spirit indwells us, our Father in heaven watches over us, our church supports us, our loved ones surround us, and the Word of God abides in us. As Jesus says:
“In the world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 13:33
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
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