We Are Able
“But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” ”
They said to Him, “We are able.” Are we able - Are we able to go through the pain and the suffering that we are experiencing at the moment? The answer is “Yes, we are able.”
Why? Because He will walk with us, through our time of going through a raging inferno.
Maybe you have lost a loved one and you are in a state of mourning, maybe you have no work, maybe you are physically incapacitated because you have hurt yourself. Pain is sometimes like the blacksmith’s fire. The iron gets through the forge to heat it so that it becomes white-hot. Then it gets put on the anvil and with a big hammer, it is beaten into shape to temper it so that it will conform to the shape the blacksmith wants it to be.
I remember my old dad, who was a blacksmith, would take a piece of stubborn coal iron - He would heat it so that it was white-hot, then he would beat it into shape and make beautiful wrought iron gates out of it. That is why Paul says in Romans 5:3-4:
“I rejoice because suffering brings patience, patience, character and character, hope.”
I have never met a person yet who has character, that has not been through fiery trials, pain or suffering. Jesus will not take you out of the fire but He will walk with you through the fire because He has been there Himself. You see, that fiery trial takes stubbornness, self-righteousness, arrogance and pride right out of us. We haven’t got such a sharp tongue of criticism when we have been criticised ourselves... Remember: "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."
The sportsman will tell you: "No pain, no gain." So don’t be afraid to suffer, don’t be afraid that you are going through hardships. That cup that the disciple said to Jesus they could drink, was not a cup of prosperity - It was a cup of pain and suffering but out of it these disciples became gentle, kind, understanding men, slow to speak and quick to listen.
Call upon Him today, He won’t necessarily take you out of the fire, out of your suffering but He will walk with you through it and you will be a much better person when you come out the other side.
God bless you and have a wonderful day.