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Triumph Over Trials
Triumph Over Trials
Introduction
Chippie the parakeet was simply minding his own business and signing his song one day when his
owner decided to clean out his cage with the vacuum cleaner. The phone rang and the lady went
to answer it and that was when things began to go horribly wrong for little Chippie. Without the
guidance of the woman the business end of the vacuum cleaner sucked up the bird and sent him
to the dust bag.
Realizing what had happened the woman tore open the vacuum and ripped apart the bag to find
Chippie, fearing the worst. However, Chippie was not dead but merely stunned and covered with
dust.
The woman decided that he needed to be revived and ran to the bathroom sink. She turned the
water on and stuck Chippie under the flow. Now Chippie is cold and wet from the sudden bath. So
the owner decides to dry the bird off but not with a towel. She gets out her hair dryer and blows
the bird off.
Chippies goes from being sucked up, to being nearly drowned to being blown over. The owner
was asked by a friend a few weeks later about how Chippie was doing, she replied: “Chippie
doesn’t sing much anymore, he just sits and stares.
Does this sound familiar? Life comes at us at an alarming rate and we are blind-sided just like poor
Chippie. One moment we don’t have a care in the world and the next we are sucked up by trials,
problems and difficulties. There are times when life is enough to suck the song right out of our
hearts.
Life in this world has been corrupted by the effects and the power of sin. Life here is filled with
trials and difficulties. I believe that each and every day we are reminded of the fact that life is just
not fair.
Maybe you have felt like the Psalmist who wrote these words: How long, O LORD? Will you forget
me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Psalm 13:2
Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with
rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea,
26 I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits,
in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the
country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 2 Corinthians 11:24-26
Anyone who says that the Christian life is a bed of roses is nothing more than a liar. The fact that
life is not fair is still very real for people of faith. The rain falls on the just and the unjust.
Conclusion
D.L. Moody - Better higher up
Today if you are experiencing a trail that is overwhelming you, come and find strength from Christ.
ILLUSTRATIONS:
A clay pot sitting in the sun will always be a clay pot. It has to go through the white heat of the
furnace to become porcelain.
Mildred Witte Struven, Bits and Pieces, September 19, 1991, p.6.
In adversity we usually want God to do a removing job when He wants to do an improving job. To
realize the worth of the anchor, we need to feel the storm.
Source Unknown.