Living With the Arrows By Ben Fronczek

http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?p=1395

Living With the Arrows    By Ben Fronczek

This past week I read an article about a man who holds the Guinness World Record for living the longest with a bullet in his head. He recently passed away in Central California at age 103.  William Pace lived for nearly 95 years with a bullet lodged in his skull after a shooting accident. In 1917, his older brother accidently shot him in the head playing ‘stick em up’. Neither brother knew that the rifle was loaded.

The injury damaged one of his eyes and facial nerves, but did not prevent Mr Pace from working as a cemetery custodian, but he still had to learn to live with how that bullet affected him the rest of his life. Despite his infirmity, his obituarysaid Mr. Pace was known for his kindness and sense of humor.  He was married to his wife Onetia for more than 70 years before she died in 2004.

As I thought about Mr. Pace and what he had to live with for 95 years, and how he maintained a good attitude, I thought about each of us and the wounds that we have to live with that the devil has inflicted us; spmetimes secret things.

As most Bible students know, the Apostle Paul reminds Christians that we are in a spiritual battle with the devil and his demons. Paul reminds us of our need to be ready when attacked however subtle or powerful those attacks may be. Using the imagery of a soldier suiting up for battle, he encourages every Christian to take up the spiritual armor that we have at our disposal so we can take a stand against those evil forces and their attacks.

He wrote about putting on the belt of truth, and the breastplate of  righteousness, fitting your feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. He tells us to put on the helmet of salvation and take up the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.  In addition he tells us to take up the shield of faith which can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

As I thought about this armor, and the shield of faith, I could not help but think about all those flaming arrows of the evil one which pierced us before we put on this armor or even knew about it. That is before we even became a Christian. Or even what about those arrows that have caught us off guard and struck us when as a Christian we fail to take up our armor?

Now what am I talking about? Some of us did not become a Christian until later in life… we did not even know about this supernatural armor.  Some of us even though we are Christians have left our self wide open to the devil’s attacks and temptations.

And so I wonder if we could see with spiritual eyes, I wonder how many of his arrows have been driven deep into us; how many are still there, arrows that are meant to hurt us deeply, tempt us, discourage us, cause us to fear, or cause us to degrade ourselves, causing guilt, or simply wounding us?

And sad to say, just like with Mr. William Pace who lived with a bullet in the brain for 95 years and had to suffer from some ill effects of that bullet, we likewise demonstrate some side effects of those dastardly arrows that the devil has already sunk into us.

I could not help but think of the poem written by Dr. Dorothy Nolte years ago called Children Learn what They Live. He is part of it:

If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) hostility, they learn to fight.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrow of) fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrow of)  pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children lives with (or has been shot with the arrows of) shame, they learn to feel guilty.

Some of us have been pierced with all kinds of hurtful arrows that are still sticking deep within us leaving us with less than perfect personalities and ways of thinking. Maybe no one else knows, but some may have had:

–       Critical or abusive parents and that criticism or abuse struck deep at your heart and has affected your ability to love.

–       Maybe without anyone else knowing it maybe someone sexually abused you when you did not know better, and now that arrow pains you with guilt or maybe you have a problem with intimacy.

–       Maybe it was a health issue, or a physically cosmetic problem you had when you were young. When I was a teen I had a problem with acne.  It was like painful arrow plunged into my psyche of self esteem.

Whatever that hurtful arrow, it may still be affecting you today in how you think or how you act.  Speaking of today, those who let their guard down can still be wounded.    The devil is still aiming for our heart; using arrows that discourage, tempt, make us feel anxiety, fear or guilt.

That’s why Paul tells us we need to be ready to raise our shield of faith which can help extinguish the impact of those flaming arrows.

But the question I mulled over in my mind is, ‘What about those arrows or things that are already planted deep within us that still hurt, that still fester every now and then?’

Should we just ignore them now that we are Christians? Sad to say, sometimes we just can’t. Just like that bullet in William Pace’s brain, sometime we do just have to learn to live with them and do our best despite those old wounds.

 And today I’m here to tell you that whatever it is that has wounded you, God is here to help us.

What I find ironic is how God can take the very things that the devil is trying to destroy us with, and turns them around and uses them to help draw us closer to Him, empowering us to become even stronger.      

No matter what blows life has dealt you and no matter what effect it has had on you, one thing you have to remember is that your Father God loves us so very much. Just like we love our children when we see them hurt, God loves us the same way and more..

But because of who He is, I don’t believe our heavenly Father will allows you to experience anything beyond what you can handle with Him by your side… And I believe that is the key, having Him by your side. Like I said already, He can actually twist things around and turn what may seem bad into something good, or something that can draw us closer to Him and empower us.

As I looked for an answer as to how to put up with, or deal with the pain or ramifications of these arrows planted in us, the Lord reminded me of something that Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 12:7 as he dealt with something painful in his life, he wrote,   “… In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul had an amazing epiphany that he shared with all his readers; That his thorn (his arrow) had been left there in his life so that he would learn to lean on and depend more on God everyday for strength and help.

He learned and then wrote, “For when I am weak I am strong.”

He came to that conclusion because the Lord let him know that His Power is made perfect (or fulfilled completed, and show itselves most effective in our weakness.)

Paul recognized that God helped him see that thorn or arrow that was meant to hurt and discourage him could be the very things that made him stronger. Why? Because it humbled him and he had to depend on God just to get through each day.

That’s a lesson for us today! It isn’t when everything is hunky-dory, and all is well, and life is carefree we find ourselves clinging to our Lord and talking to Him a lot. But rather, many us have grown closer to Him in the most difficult times of our life; those times when we’ve been shot with arrows that are meant to hurt us, confuse us.

Like when someone close to us really hurts us, or when we get really sick or injured, or when someone close dies, or we have a financial loss.   God told Paul, “My Grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you)… My power is perfected (or is shown or comes through in your times of weakness.)

Some of those arrows and their effects on our life have dissipated and are long forgotten but others have are still implanted deep in us. And as I see it, we can either moan and groan, and complain, or lash out on others because of what has happened to us. We can turn in on our self and become introverts and hide our self from the world.

Or, we can turn to God, confess our weakness, and ask Him to help us with our pain, and even to help us grow from what we have experienced.  And maybe even help others along the way who may have be shot with the same arrows and had the same experiences.  It’s times like that when His power is perfected or comes through in our time of weakness.

And it is in this way that arrows of the evil one that we meant to hurt and destroy you can be turned around to help and serve others and glorify our great and awesome we God.

For more lessons click on the following link: http://granvillenychurchofchrist.org/?page_id=566

All comments can be emailed to: bfronzek@gmail.com