Don't Miss the Messages in Your Misfortune, Part 1

Most of the sermons you hear on Insight for Living are delivered at the local church where Chuck Swindoll serves as Senior Pastor. But today, we have the privilege of hearing a message that Chuck delivered to the students at Dallas Theological Seminary, where he prepared for ministry more than 60 years ago. In this particular message, Chuck reminded his audience that God uses our imperfections, our mistakes, and our disappointments in redemptive ways.

And wise are those who submit their deepest regrets to the one who promises to redeem them. I was shocked when I sat where you're sitting in Chafer Chapel back in the summer or the really the early fall of 1959. I was a first-year student sitting, not knowing what to expect from the chapel speaker. I was really in for a surprise.

I think it was either his opening line or the major line of his message when he said, when God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible person and crushes him. That put a chill down my back. Even though I'd just recently come out of a tour of duty in the Marine Corps, even though I was at that time approaching my mid-20s, I had not been crushed. Cynthia and I were happily married. At that time, we had no children, though four would come along in the years to come. We had known the love of one another and of so many friends. Our arrival at the school was an answer to prayer, and my even having a place and a desk at the school was just an act of God, for which I to this day do not cease to give thanks.

But crushed? I wondered what that meant. In fact, I had that statement in mind when I selected the hymn we just sang.

Maybe its words are so familiar, you have forgotten what Isaac Watts wrote. Am I a soldier of the cross? A follower of the lamb? Shall I fear to own his cause or blush to speak his name?

And get this line. Must I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas? Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace to help me on to God? Those are powerful words and unpopular in our self-serving era, where it's all about me, mine, myself, my comfort, my desires, my will, my plans, when in fact ministry is none of the above. We are not called with me in mind. He is the reason for our calling.

His plan is the plan to follow. And it is often surprising, which ties in with the statement that the Lord breaks us down, as that speaker put it, crushes us to carry out his will through us. During the more than 60, almost 60 years that have followed that time of ministry, I have come to know something of the crushing. Though not nearly as much as many of my brothers and sisters, but I know of no one greatly used of God who has not also been wounded, hurt, bruised, broken, lacerated, crushed.

That's an essential part of his plan. I call it the crucible that God puts us through. And you who have not yet entered into ministry can only imagine. And you may even wonder if that's going to happen in your life. And I will tell you it will. Though I cannot tell you how or when, it will. He will break you.

He will shape you into the image of his son, whatever that may take. And the crushing will often be very, very difficult to bear. This ties in with my theme during this academic year. I want to speak on the pros and cons of ministry. During this fall semester, I want to talk about what makes the ministry so challenging.

And then the spring semester, I want to address what makes it so fulfilling. Lest we think it is all crushing, it certainly is not. But some of it is. And it's that part that becomes disillusioning because we didn't expect it to happen. Even though people tell us, as I'm telling you today, we could never guess how it will impact us. I've already talked about two areas that make the ministry challenging. On one occasion when I was here earlier this semester, I talked about the people who are around us, who are difficult people to deal with. They cause a great deal of challenge for us when we serve our Savior.

Difficult people. And then the next time I was here this fall, I talked about the human characteristics we bring into ministry. Especially those fleshly, carnal characteristics that we don't leave behind. We're not rid of them when we enter the halls of learning or the ranks of ministry.

You carry yourself with you. Your bad habits here are bad habits then, later on. Your ugly side remains your ugly side. And it doesn't go away just because you have earned a degree at a seminary. Or because people refer to you as doctor this or reverend that.

You're still who you are. And sometime it'll embarrass you. It'll often disappoint you how it comes out. We simply cannot rid ourselves of the old nature. It's with us until we breathe our last and we are in that glorified state where we no longer have that nature to hound us and haunt us. And so today I want to talk about the unexpected things that happen to us. Now get this, they are rarely our fault. They happen to us. And they impact us deeply. As I said earlier, they hurt us. They can crush us. And unless we realize they are all for our good and for our God's glory, we'll resent them. We'll even resist them.

We may even try to deny them. But there they are nevertheless. Before I turn to the scriptures and illustrate these things from God's word, let me turn first to a very interesting commencement speech. It's delivered by, well, an unusual source. First of all, the audience is a group of ninth grade graduates.

A rather modest gathering. And the chief justice of the Supreme Court is the commencement speaker, John Roberts. Now he's the commencement speaker because one of the ninth grade graduates is his son.

That's how that happened. But I'm sure not even his son expected his daddy to talk on what he spoke on because commencement speakers usually tell you what you long to hear. How great you are. How marvelous your accomplishment is. How good things will be and great wishes for you. Just all the great things that pour forth from a commencement speaker. Not with John Roberts, not that day. He called his speech, I wish you bad luck.

But he did so with good intentions. I'll cut to the chase and not give you all of his speech. But listen to his wishes for the graduates.

And be sure you hear all of them. Not only the event, but what follows. Because that's where the lesson is.

That's where the message is. He told his audience, from time to time, in the years to come, I hope you will be treated unfairly. So that you will come to know the value of justice. Second, I hope that you will suffer betrayal from someone you trusted because that will teach you the importance of loyalty.

His unusual wishes went on. So he adds, sorry to say this to you, but I hope you will be lonely from time to time. So that you never take your friends for granted. And he added, and when you lose, as you will from time to time, I hope every now and then your opponent will gloat over your failure.

It's a way for you to understand the importance of sportsmanship. And I hope you'll be ignored so that you know the importance of listening to others. I will hope, and I hope you will have just enough pain to learn compassion. Whether I wish these things or not, adds Justice Roberts.

Whether I wish these things or not, they're going to happen. And whether you benefit from them or not will depend on your ability to see the message in your misfortune. That's the title of my talk today. Don't miss the messages in your misfortune. There are many of them you have yet to learn.

You've not learned them because you've not suffered the crushings of those misfortunes. And they will crush you. They will break you down. They will cause you to wonder, should you be doing what you're doing? Should you keep on doing it? Should you ever trust anyone else when a really good friend betrays you?

Should you ever try to select another elder when an elder you have endured has made your life miserable for years? You're going to be crushed. So don't miss the messages.

That's my point. Now, the Scriptures. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 8 and 9 give us sort of a, well, difficult job description. We are afflicted in every way. We are perplexed, the passage goes on to say.

It means not knowing which way to turn. Several render this in paraphrases. We are at wit's end. You'll be there.

You'll be there. We are afflicted. We are at wit's end. Third, we are persecuted. And fourth, we are struck down. Knocked down.

So each of them has a contrast, the benefit, the message, and the misfortune I'll not get into from this passage. The point is, you will be pressed on every side. You will be bewildered. You will be at a loss to explain why this happened. And you'll be knocked flat down, wondering if you'll ever get back up.

Yes, yes, yes, that will happen. Right now it doesn't seem possible. I understand that. That's where I was in the fall of 1959.

I thought, well, he must be talking to some of these guys around me because crushing is not in, that's really not part of my M.O. I made it through the Marines. I'd make it through anything. The stuff I've had in ministry would make the Marines look like, I don't know, knitting daisy chains in the scouts. You ain't seen nothing yet until you enter the ranks of ministry. And I'm here to warn you.

I'm here to help you enter those ranks realistically. So many times in your ministry you'll ask, I wonder what could happen next. And here's the really confusing part. What's happened isn't your fault. So you'll ask, what did I do to deserve this?

You really did nothing. It's happening to you. Like a really good friend of mine I had lunch with, let's see, it was I think early this week. He's involved with us at Insight for Living. While engaged in ministry he gets a phone call from home. His wife is in E.R. She can't see very well out of one eye. She was able to get to E.R. and she doesn't know what the problem is. And they're calling to let him know he needs to come home quickly.

After testing they found a tumor in her brain about the size of a tennis ball. Just stop right there. Just stop right there. This is the woman he loves. The mother of their three children. Godly couple.

Finest couple you'd ever want to meet. Going blind in one eye from a tumor and their words were, it's got to be taken out. It wound up being a cut from here down to here. And they got it all. But they didn't know the details of this. When I heard the story again from him I said, you know, all of us had our hearts go out to your wife, but I got to tell you I identified with you how that must have felt. And by the way, the ministry goes right on.

I forgot to mention that. It just goes right on. Sunday comes next Sunday.

Sound like Yogi Berra here. Next Sunday, Sunday happens. Yeah. And next Sunday.

And the following Sunday. As the tumor has been growing. As surgery has happened.

As the neurosurgeon who is so qualified, he's known as the artist. Excises the tumor. It's benign.

Is there a better word to use ever in life than benign? And as he puts it, you can't even see where she was cut. And she is recovering. But during that period of time, who knew? It could have been you.

It could have been your spouse or mine. Things happen to us and they crush us. And we're reading the Bible in a whole new light. Suddenly it's talking to us about our lives.

So when we read words like verses 8 and 9, we're not reading about Paul living through this, though it's true. We're reading our autobiography. Our biography. Our knowledge is limited to bits and pieces.

We can't figure out. The work of the ministry goes on. So what do you do? Well, I'm going to turn to a verse of scripture you have memorized.

And I'm going to use it on purpose so that you will have a whole new appreciation for it, I hope. I'm referring to Romans 8. What verse? Right.

28. And we know that all things work together for the good to them who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. You just give those words out. You just preach those words. Just write those words. And I want you to see them deeply and how they apply. By the way, we need to see the context. Look at the context.

Maybe you've never checked it before. Romans 8, 28 is preceded by verse 24, which includes the words we do not see. And verse 25. No, it's 24.

What's the matter with me? Verse 25 and then verse 26, we do not know. We do not see. We do not know. We do not see what's coming. We do not know how to pray as we should.

We don't. How does he pray for his wife? How does the 17-year-old pray for their mother? How do you, facing Sunday service, go on? You don't see with any sense of perspective and you don't know how to pray. In fact, it is so difficult. The Spirit of God prays for you with groanings that cannot be uttered.

Isn't that an amazing way to put it? Since we don't see and since we can't know, then there's only one place to look and that's up. And there's only one to turn to and that's the one who sees and knows. And may I add that his ways are not our ways. Neither are our thoughts. His thoughts. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His ways are better than our ways.

In light of that, we look to him with some sense of confidence and that's where verse 28 plays its vital role. First, we know. Look at that. This is a promise that's to be claimed and never ignored. We know this. We don't hope this is true.

We don't guess this is true. We don't just think this is true. We know it. We know it. Everything in this verse starts with something we know. We have absolutely unshakable faith in the words that are going to follow. We know this is true.

What's true? God causes. Not because he's cruel, but because he's wise. He either makes it happen or permits it to happen, but he's behind it.

He okays it. The plan and the project, these are gods, not ours. It's all in his hands. He is fulfilling his will in his time and in his way. In all this mess and misery, he is at work. His plan is relentlessly unfolding.

He's causing his plan that he doesn't stop to explain to you. To you, it's a storm. George Herbert wrote on one occasion, storms are the triumph of his art. He specializes in storms.

Nahum 1.3 speaks of, he has his way in the whirlwind in the storms, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He causes these things. He permits these things. He okays these things. They have his approval.

What is it he causes? All things to work together for good. For his glory, for our good. There's much more that Chuck Swindoll wants to say about the storms in your life. This is Insight for Living. Stay with us when Chuck continues his message called Don't Miss the Messages in Your Misfortune. This is the fourth message in a brand new series called The Pros and Cons of Ministry. As we mentioned earlier, it's a collection of sermons originally presented to the students attending Dallas Theological Seminary where Chuck prepared for ministry and where he later served as the seminary's president.

To learn more about this series and to access Chuck's online study notes, go to insightworld.org slash studies. By the way, you're invited to participate in an online worship service made possible by Insight for Living. Thousands of people around the world are taking advantage of this opportunity to enter the worship center where Chuck serves as senior pastor. For instance, we were touched by a note we received from a man who views that worship service from far away. His note said, Dear Pastor Chuck, I'm a Bible teacher.

Both my wife and I have been training men and women at the grassroots level for the last 33 years. In a time when sound Bible teaching and meaningful worship have become so scarce in India, we find it spiritually encouraging to attend your online worship. Thank you, Pastor Chuck.

Isn't that great? Through technology, your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ are finding refreshment by viewing Chuck's messages from their homeland. And you can too, no matter where you live. To view the service as it occurs on Sunday morning or watch it at a time that's best for you, check out the details at insight.org slash Sundays. Opportunities like this are made available through the generous support of friends just like you. So as God leads you to give, please follow His prompting. If you're listening in the United States, call 800-772-8888 or you can go online to insight.org slash donate. I'm Bill Meyer. Chuck's Mundall's practical series about the pros and cons of ministry continues on the next Insight for Living. The preceding message, Don't Miss the Messages in Your Misfortune, was copyrighted in 2021 and 2023, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2023 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Implication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.