We arrived home this week very thankful to God for all the wonderful experiences we have had over the last two months while travelling through Europe and the U.K. His “every gift is good and to be received with thanksgiving”. As well, we were blessed to spend time with our daughter, and the family she lives with, in Oxford; and caught up with Keith Underhill and his wife, Priscilla – long time missionaries from Kenya with whom we often enjoyed fellowship when we lived there, now more than 30 years ago. We are also thankful to God, who gave us health and strength at this time in our lives and kept us as “strangers in a strange land”. “

We have shared some of these wonderful moments with you on facebook. We debated whether to do so, conscious that a number of our brothers and sisters are going through times of suffering; while others, though well, are not in a position to travel at this time in their lives.
But we received many requests to share our experiences, and were humbled by those who, though unable to travel themselves, selflessly shared our joy as they travelled with us.
We are very much aware of and thankful for the privilege we have had.

But the best travel involves travail (from which the word “travel” derives) and requires effort to be truly rewarding; but the reward makes it worthwhile. This is true of most experiences in life.
The greatest human physical feat, when a woman in travail gives birth, is only accomplished through great effort; but the reward makes it worth it (John 16:21).
(Though a word to expectant fathers: it is not helpful (as I discovered) to explain to your wife in labour, that the word just means “work” rather than “suffering”: your long-suffering wife will probably not show much interest in etymology, will not thank you for your effort, and you are the one who will suffer for it. Seriously.)

But, for the Christian, “work” is not a four-letter word, but a reminder that nothing in the Christian life that is worthwhile is accomplished without effort.
The greatest accomplishment of all time was accomplished through much travail, but with it came the greatest reward: “He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11).
Many Christians willingly put in time and effort to work out at the gym. But it is more important that you “exercise (Greek: gymnazō) yourself toward godliness”. For, while “bodily exercise (Greek: gymnasia) profits a little, yet godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:7-9). Promise makes effort worthwhile.

Grace does not negate effort, but rather enables it. Grace “teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12).
But again, the effort is worth it because of what lies in store: “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ,  who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (Titus 2:13-14)

Ironically, on the day we were departing from the Wilderness to come back to this Promised Land, we read Paul Tripp’s devotional for that day, about the Israelites, on the border of their Promised Land.
They faced the prospect of the hardship of battles against seemingly overwhelming odds; but instead of trusting God and looking to the future hope He promised, they were filled with fear.
They lost sight of the glory of the promise; they focused only on the pain of the effort.
And they lost their reward.

Here is Paul Tripp’s devotional for that day:

Discouragement focuses
more on the broken glories of creation than it does
on the restoring glories of God’s character, presence, and promises.

They were standing on the borders of the land that God had promised them. It stretched out with beauty before their eyes.
They had sent explorers into the land to check it out. The report came back that it was rich and lush, producing sweet and succulent fruit.

But the children of Israel were not jumping up and down in celebration and anticipation. They were not chomping at the bit to get going. They were doing quite the opposite; they were digging in their heels and refusing to move at all.
They stood there grumbling against the Lord, saying: “Because the Lord hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us… ‘The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven’” (Deut. 1: 27– 28).

The Bible says that these historical moments, significant times of spiritual evaluation and decision, have been recorded for our example and our instruction because these were people just like us.
It was the most wonderful moment of grace in their lives. They were about to be given what they did not deserve and could not earn. Life, rich and full, was on the other side of that border. It was theirs for the taking because the One who had redeemed them from bondage was not just a Deliverer of freedom; he was also a Giver of life.
They had earned nothing, but they were about to get it all.

But they refused. They would not move. It all seemed unrealistic and impossible. It seemed like a cruel setup; the big, spiritual bait and switch.
They had been promised a land of their own, but what they got was a place filled with people who didn’t want them there. What in the world was God doing anyway?

Their disappointed thinking had a fatal flaw in it:
What they saw as being in the way of God’s plan was actually part of his plan; what caused their faith to weaken was actually God’s tool to build their faith.

God knows what you too are facing. He sees well the brokenness that is all around you. He is not in a panic, wondering how he’ll ever pull off his plan with all these obstacles in the way.
Don’t be discouraged. God has you exactly where he wants you.

He knows just how he will use what makes you afraid in order to build your faith. He is not surprised by the troubles you face, and he surely has no intention of leaving you to face those things on your own.
He stands with you in power, glory, goodness, wisdom, and grace. He can defeat what you can’t, and he intends these troubles to be not enemies that finish you but tools of grace that transform you.

Paul Tripp, New Morning Mercies (June 25)