Reacting To Distress

Issues – June 2023 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Reacting To Distress

My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when reproved by Him … afterward [it] yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it. —Hebrews 12:5,11 KJV

The eternal essence of a thing is not in the thing itself but in one’s reaction toward it. The distressing situation will pass, but one’s reaction to it will leave a moral and spiritual deposit in his character that is eternal. The circumstances and situations which confront us are beyond our control; we can do nothing about them. But with the help of God, we can control our reaction – our subjective attitude. Nothing that comes to us from any source can injure us unless it causes us to have a wrong attitude. It is our response that blesses or burns.

There are two attitudes one can have toward affliction. The first is wrong and leads to character deterioration and wasting of sorrow. This happens if we allow ourselves to fall into attitudes of self-pity, frustration, rebellion toward people and God, resistance, resentment and depression. The second finds it is a privilege to suffer for Christ. Pain and sorrow should be cherished and not wasted by lamentation, mourning, defeat and discouragement.

Those who submit to discontent, impatience and bitterness against God will be unsuccessful in their search for healing and deliverance. They will be defeated in their spiritual lives and wasteful of that suffering which God intended for their growth in love and enhanced rank in the eternal kingdom.

By Maurice Bassali

Ah me, I’m never well But when I on my best Beloved lean, And then I’m never ill, Crosses and trials all are right, And pain is sweet and trouble light, When Christ my heart doth fill. —Anonymous