Spring 1989
The Blessings of Adversity
Wade E Taylor

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10.

"We are ... created ... unto good works." The word "we" in this verse speaks of all (us) who identify themselves with the Apostle Paul by willingly, unconditionally, placing their lives in the hands of the master workman. The "good works" speak of the many varied circumstances that affect us each day of our lives, which He arranges and places in our path.

However, some of these good works may "feel" to us as if they were sandpaper, or a cutting tool. Nevertheless, these abrasive circumstances have a purpose. They are among the "tools" that our Heavenly Father uses in the process of making us conformable to the image of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Each one of us is individually known to the Lord, "We are His workmanship." He knows when a sparrow falls to the ground. He knows exactly where we are, in our present life situation. Many of us have said at one time or another, "If it were not for my present circumstances, I would be much more spiritual than I am now." Or, "Lord, I could do much better if I were in a different place."

The Lord has a ready answer to this. During His time on earth, He lived among a people who were very antagonistic toward Him and finally crucified Him. Yet He is able to say to us, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, EVEN AS I ALSO OVERCAME, and am set down with my Father in his throne" Rev 3:21.

When we complain to the Lord about our present circumstances, He will call our attention to the fact that He placed Adam and Eve in a perfect environment, within the Garden of Eden. Their situation could not have been more desirable. The Lord even manifestly came and walked with Adam in the cool of each evening. Yet with all this available to them, they failed. Thus, when we explain to the Lord that we could do better if we were in a better environment, He will simply remind us that this has already been tried, but did not work.

According to the list of testimonies that are recorded in Hebrews, and the testimonies of many overcomers since the day of Pentecost, multitudes have come to the Lord's highest through times of adversity, suffering, and temptation. All of these things became the tools that formed a people who truly knew the Lord. An on-going train of saints, having paid a price for their faith, live in His eternal presence, testifying of the quality (His image) that this "short moment" of adversity had produced within them.

That which the Lord could not get from man while he lived within the comforts of a garden of perfection, He is presently getting through an environment that is far less than that. The enemy thought he had defeated God by deceiving Adam and Eve. Instead, he caused them to enter an environment wherein they (and us) could become overcomers.

To become an overcomer requires the presence of difficult, contrary, situations that provide us with an opportunity to choose.

"To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne." All that the enemy was able to accomplish by causing Adam and Eve to be cast out of the Garden of Eden was to provide tools (good works) for the Master Workman to use in forming overcomers (us, if we rightly respond) into the mature image of our Lord Jesus Christ.

My first decision, after I settled the fact of being in the ministry, was to limit my ministry to an area within twenty miles of my home town. Shortly after this, the Lord caused me to understand that I was before Him as a small, tender plant that needed to grow. I saw that some plants grow best in a hot, tropical climate. Others would grow best in a cool, northern climate. I began to pray, "Lord, you know far better than I what kind of environment is needed, that I might grow to the fullness of the potential that is within me. Lord, cause me to be planted in the "climate" (good works) that I need, wherever it may be."

Now, I was willing to go anywhere that He might lead. I knew that I was His workmanship (a tender plant) and that He, as the master gardner, had prepared (before ordained) for me a series of good works (adverse circumstances) that would result in His satisfaction (joy) with the mature person I was about to become.

In "that day" He will be able to say to me, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" Matthew 25:21.

It is eternally important that we recognize that the Lord, in infinite wisdom and love, has placed (before ordained) us within the "green-house" (our present environment) of His choosing, where we can become all that He intends us to be.

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" Eph 2:10.

He is waiting to roll up His sleeves and go to work. Allow Him to re-form you as He chooses. You will never regret this decision.