Life in the Trenches
By Dennis Peacocke
Someone once said, “In a calm sea, every man is a captain.” It’s true that any one of us can take charge and act calm and level-headed when there’s nothing of any significance challenging us. The real test is how we conduct ourselves when things are at their worst and, frankly, we don’t feel like being captain of anything. At times like these, we find out what we’re really made of—and have the true stuff of an overcomer forged in our spirit.
How well we “play under pressure”—to use a sports term—is the real issue. The story is told of a Zen master who sought to free himself from his selfish and uncontrolled emotions by withdrawing to the quiet solitude of the mountains. Day after day, year after year, he was able to meditate far away from the distractions of life and inter- personal conflicts. There in the quiet, he felt layers of tension and untamed conflict drain away.
After many, many years, he finally considered himself “free” and so left his remote mountain environment and returned to the bustling streets of the city. Now he would be able to use his hard-won peace and self-control to free his fellow man. In a crowded marketplace, however, a garbage collector accidentally tripped over the Zen master, spilling a bucket of refuse on him. “You stupid fool!” yelled the now anything-but-calm “wise man.” His heart immediately sank within him as he realized that twenty years had been ruined by a simple pail of trash. How often have we thought we’ve achieved some spiritual goal only to discover that our newly gained discipline or virtue quickly disappeared when put to the test?
It really is in the trenches of life, rather than isolated seclusion, that we find out what is real. Mountain-top experiences and insights are wonderful, but if you can’t live them out on a day-to-day basis, they are of little immediate value. I’m sure all of us are looking for something that “works” and not just another theory. At this stage of my life, I will quickly exchange seven visions and three “warm feelings” I had in church last Sunday for one small spiritual victory during the week. Every responsible preacher should always be asking himself, “Am I giving my people something that will work on Tuesday when there is no choir to lift their spirits, no Sunday clothes to make them feel tidy, and no supportive smiling saints to urge them on to victory? What do I have in me from God that will work for them in the trenches?”
Tribulation is a Gift from God
Jesus promised us that in the world we would have tribulation (John 16:33). While I’ve yet to meet a saint who claimed this for a “life-verse,” we would all do well to draw from this Scripture the essence of its promise and blessing. Tribulation is a gift from God designed to show us reality. Struggle, temptation, pressure, and the general unfairness of life all help us see where we really are. It is amazing to realize that, through the way He conducted Himself on the cross, Jesus was recognized as the Son of God by the hard-headed Roman centurion assisting with the crucifixion. For Jesus, this was the ultimate test of the recognition of the reality He had preached. Jesus, a man like us (Philippians 2:7-8; Hebrews 4:15), had the goods when it counted, and the battle-hardened heathen sinner had the sense to know the real thing when he saw it (Mark 15:39).
To make things more difficult, most of us are playing the game injured—that is, we are tired, battle-weary, and scarred from our own sins and the sins of others. We say to ourselves, “If only we could be fully healed and fully rested, then we’d be ready.” But seldom does either happen. God calls us to be battle-tired and injured so that reliance on Him must be all the more a necessity just to survive, let alone be victorious. I rarely trust Christians without battle scars, and I trust the always-ready-to-fight ones the least. They don’t understand the issues, the battlefield, or the reality of having to live by God’s strength and not their own.
Father God, deliver me from Sunday sermons and Sunday Christianity, and let me dwell in the trenches with Your workable truths and tested saints. Thank You that Jesus made it work in the streets with the common sinners during the week as well as on the Sabbath with the religious and the rich. And Lord, when we stumble in the trench, may we draw strength and peace from Your encouragement: “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33). And that, my friends, is…