PARENTHOOD
a divine stewardship

Let me give an example. Once I had a very serious illness. I was X-rayed three times in two months, and each time the report was very grave. I prayed, I believed, and I hoped that God would cure my illness. At times my strength was greater than normal. Before God, I confessed that I had been empowered, but I was angry because I did not know the reason God was treating me this way. At certain times I would be well and full of strength, but I would relapse without warning. What was the use of God giving me this temporary strength? I was very sick at heart. One day as I was reading the Bible, I came across 2 Corinthians 12. Paul prayed to God three times about that thorn, but the Lord was not willing to do anything. Instead, He said, "My grace is sufficient for you." The Lord increased His grace because of the thorn. The Lord increased his power because of the weakness. I saw what Christianity was. As I lay in bed, I asked the Lord to show me more clearly what this was all about. Inwardly, I had the impression of a boat in a river. The boat required ten feet of water for navigation. In the river, however, a submerged rock rose five feet from the bottom of the river. If the Lord so desired, He could remove the boulder to let the boat pass, but within there was a question: "Would it be better for Me to remove the rock or to increase the water level by five feet?" God asked me if it would be better to remove the boulder or to increase the water level by five feet. I told the Lord that it would be better to increase the water level by five feet....

The Paradoxical Spiritual Life

Today I would like to say that no Christian has an earthen vessel that is earthy enough to prohibit the Lord's treasure from being manifested. No matter how weak we are, remember that the Lord's treasure is manifested in it. Therefore, we see a spiritual paradox in Paul and in us. Do we know what people said about Paul? They said that his speech was contemptible (l0:l0b), that he took them by guile (12:16), and that he was fickle and said "Yes, yes" and "No, no" (1:17). They said his letters were weighty and strong enough to terrify people (10:9-10). But paradoxically, God's treasure looks very good in such an earthen vessel. God's treasure would not look so nice without the earthen vessel. I am saying that Paul was a genuine man. Thank God that the Lord shined out, or broke out, from within him. He was not a man without feelings. But in his sorrow, he said, "I always rejoice." He was not rejoicing constantly or in sorrow constantly; rather, he constantly rejoiced in his sorrow....

I hope we would see something before the Lord. Today God is not requiring or expecting abstract things. Some brothers ask me why they are so weak. I say that weakness does not matter at all; they will become strong. One brother asked me what he should do after having done a terrible job. I told him that it was not a problem because the important thing is that God puts this treasure into us. We do not need to pretend, by fixing up the earthen vessel. We do not need to cultivate a certain tone or style. Everything comes from God. The treasure can be expressed from within us, the earthen vessels....

One brother came to tell me that he was learning to believe in God. He dared not say what the outcome would be. Perhaps it would turn out all right, but even if it did not, he would still believe. He prayed to God the day before, and God gave him His promise. He knew that God had answered his prayer, but for some reason he began to doubt when he got up that morning. He prayed again, but he did not know what to do. As he was walking on the road, he began to doubt again, but he did not know what to do. I told him that his doubts were unimportant. True faith cannot be killed by doubts. In fact, real faith looks better when it is surrounded by doubt. I know what I am saying. I hope you will not misunderstand me; I do not want you to go out and doubt. The main point is that our human, earthen vessel is joined to God's treasure. There is not just the latter....

Many Christians have a life and walk that are all too artificial; they do not express the treasure. These ones only have human endeavor, performance, and outward behavior. A normal Christian life, however, is one in which one may doubt even in the moments of his greatest assurance. It is one in which one finds himself inwardly weak even in the moments of his greatest strength, inwardly fearful in the midst of real courage before God, and inwardly doubting in the moments of exhilarating joy. This kind of paradox proves that the treasure is in the earthen vessel.

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