Thank Him in the Fires

I remember years ago, when I was growing up, I had an absentee father. He was always gone, and I didn't see him much. I pretty much raised myself.

And when I became a teenager, I was always out with my friends, so the only communication I had with my father was saying hello and goodbye and passing. Then when I was in college, I hurt my back, and I was bedridden for several weeks. And it was during that time my father would put wet towels in a crock pot and warm them up.

And then he would painstakingly place those warm towels on my back as I lay on my stomach in bed. He would do this every day and spend a great deal of time trying to make me feel better. He would tell me jokes as I lay there in bed and bring a smile to my face.

And it was during this time of recuperation from my back injury that I got to spend some time with my father. And it brought us closer together before he died. And that's the way it is sometimes in our relationship to God the Father.

We tend to ignore him as we busy ourselves with our active lives and just tip our hat to him on Sundays and passing. But if we get in a jam, or if we fall ill, or if we enter a time of trouble and turmoil, then we are more apt to go to our knees and spend time with God in prayer to heal us or deliver us from our tribulation. And what we don't realize at the time is that our dire circumstances draw us closer to him.

Our pain and suffering draws him nearer to us as we lean on him in communion with him in prayer. And as we pass through a trial or difficult season in life, we end up being in a stronger relationship with our Heavenly Father. The title of my message this evening, friends, is Thank Him in the Fires.

And my text can be found in 2 Corinthians 12. You can turn in your Bibles there now, friends. We will be in verses 7 through 9. Let me read us this tender passage of Scripture to us at this time.

Here now is the word of God, and may the Spirit of the Lord be pleased to attend the reading of his holy word. And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations that was given to me, thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure for this thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me. Let me pause here, friends.

Here is the Apostle Paul, mighty in the gospel, and he's given a vision of heaven. And along with that blessed experience comes a trial, a physical affliction that brings Paul to his knees in prayer for the Lord to remove it from him, to deliver him out of this affliction. And Paul states that he went to Christ three times to plead for a delivery from this difficult situation, which was pressing hard on him and bringing him low.

But as Paul is hard-pressed in prayer to God, he's also in deep communion with God during this trying time. Paul goes on to say that God answered his prayer with clarity, although he did not remove the difficulty. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

So we see that Paul not only received an answer to his importunate prayers, he also receives a revelation. He learns more about the Christ he serves. And in this process, he learns more about his own heart and his utter dependence upon his God to take the gospel to the nations.

O friends, let us learn to thank him in the fires. For it is in these hard seasons of life that we spend quality time with him in desperate prayer. It is during difficulties and beneath stormy skies that we seek him most earnestly and fervently.

It's in the trial that our prayers have a heat attending them. Let us thank him in the fires, for it is when we are placed in the fire that the dross is burned out and the gold shines more fully, as it reflects the face of our Master, who prayed fervently while he was in the fire of Gethsemane, sweating drops of blood on our behalf. The cross was Christ's most intense pain and suffering, so we could be free of the fires of hell.

Let us thank him in the fires, where he often does his greatest work, while we linger in his presence, beseeching him in prayer. Let us pray.