Dealing with a Difficult Audience - Martin Wiles

They are a stubborn and hard-hearted people. But I am sending you to say to them, “This is what the Sovereign Lord says!” Ezekiel 2:4 NLT

God never promises that what He asks us to do will be easy, and it wasn’t for Dad.

Other than when I was a small child, I only knew Dad as a preacher. Living in a preacher’s home makes one privy to information that the typical church member might not know. One thing entailed getting the inside scoop on how difficult some people can be.

I recall one church my father pastored. Mom, my two brothers, and Dad loved the area and the people. It was country living at its finest. I loved it too and soon decided to move to the area. No sooner had I settled in than Dad decided to move.

Dad and the members got along well, but one thing bothered him. On the Sunday of his resignation, he said, “I’ve been here two years, and no one has ever come forward during an altar call.” In Dad’s mind, this made them a difficult audience to preach to. Perhaps the needed decisions were all made in the pew, but Dad wanted to see action.

I’ve felt Dad’s concern. Having pastored several smaller membership churches, I, too, have preached hundreds of sermons and witnessed little, if any, movement to the altar. Maybe they, too, made their decisions in the pew.

Ezekiel, however, didn’t have to label his audience as difficult to preach to. God made the judgment for him. Stubborn. Hard-hearted. But God sent him anyway.

Whatever the audience God sends us to, our responsibility is to be faithful to His call. God doesn’t hold us responsible for their decisions—whether many, few, or none at all. Or whether the decisions have been made publicly or privately. Our job is to deliver the message God gives.

Sometimes, God has to remind us that even though we don’t see the fruit, it doesn’t mean it hasn’t been produced. Seeing matters of the heart is difficult. Our job is to trust God to give us the strength to do whatever task he assigns. And he will. As he does, he’ll walk by our sides, giving guidance the entire way.

When God calls you to deliver a message to a difficult audience, remember he’ll be faithful to you if you are faithful to him.

Father, enable me to trust you to guide me and give me the strength, regardless of the audience you call me to speak to. 

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Worth the Cost - Martin Wiles

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23 NLT

We saw the top, but wanted to see the bottom.

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with the stay-at-home or work order, made my wife and I pen sick. We looked for an outing that authorities allowed. Sure enough, hiking qualified—as long as we could find an open trail. But since we had just hiked two days prior, we needed a trail that accommodated our aching backs and knees. Pig Pen Falls and Lick Log Falls seemed to fit the bill since both rested on the same trail and were rated easy. 

My wife, I, another couple, and two of our grandchildren set out early one morning, looking forward to a picnic lunch and cool spring weather. The only part I wasn’t sure of was the last couple of miles to the trailhead. The directions said we had to lumber down a gravel road. We had just purchased a new van. We had previously traveled on mountain gravel roads and knew how unpredictable they were: narrow, dusty, gulleyed. But we wanted to hike, so we had no alternative. 

Our destination was Mountain Rest, South Carolina, just above Oconee State Park. The last leg of our journey took us down Nicholson Ford Road, a gravel road that started narrow but then widened. Maybe we were okay after all. 

We discovered a packed house when we reached the end and the trailhead. We weren’t the only ones tired of being home. I squeezed the van into the only remaining spot, and we donned our gear. Excitement spread across the grandboys’ faces as they anticipated letting out their energy and seeing waterfalls. 

Whoever rated the trail got it right. The only thing that slowed us down was roots. We began on the Foothills Trail for around one-half mile, then intersected with the Chattooga Trail. Just to the left lay Pig Pen Falls. A large rock made a nice resting and picture-taking spot, and my wife—the picture taker in the bunch—took advantage of the photo ops. 

During our rest stop, we met an emergency responder we had seen two days before. We asked about Lick Log Falls and smiled when she told us it was only five minutes down the trail. We had read it cascaded down a three-tier rock face. The upper two we could see from the trail, but the bottom tier required scaling down the mountain. I wasn’t sure our young grandsons—or I—could master it. 

Sure enough, we passed the top of the falls within five minutes. A little farther, and we saw the first two tiers. A few yards farther, we came to the descent trail—a steep trail littered with roots and fallen trees. An older couple approached. They had descended before, seen the falls’ bottom tier, and considered the view worth the trip down. We asked if the boys could handle it. They thought so. My wife didn’t. I did. As we began our descent, she stood on the trail and cried—a place she stayed until we returned. 

The sight from the bottom trumped the cost of all the aches and pains the descent cost me. I witnessed the bottom tier of the falls, took beautiful photos of them and the Chattooga River, and let the boys play in the sandy beach area. The climb back up to the trail challenged us more than the descent, but my wife’s smiling face and tear-stained cheeks greeted us. 

Jesus spoke of a greater cost than a trip down a mountain to see gorgeous waterfalls. His entailed taking up a cross—something He knew lay in His future and something He knew involved pain. Only His pain would be greater than anyone who hung on a cross. His entailed the pain of spikes and the pain of the world’s sins. 

Our cross probably won’t be literal as Jesus’ was. The cost varies. For some, it might only involve being made fun of. For others, it might include jail and even death. But there is a cost. Our journey with Christ involves times of ease, times of difficulty, and times somewhere in between.

Regardless of the cost, the decision to follow Him is worth whatever it costs. And whatever the price, it won’t compare to the cost Jesus paid for us on the cross as He took our sins upon Himself. Anything worth doing or having is worth paying something for—and salvation is no different. Although salvation comes by grace and costs us nothing, we must willingly pay the price of serving the one who served us. And in the service lies a mixture of sacrifice, joy, and pain. 

No greater joy exists than following the One who gave His all for us. Take up the cross, and be willing to pay the price. The beauty, in the end, will be worth anything you pay. 

Father, make me willing and eager to pay the cost of following You. 

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Throwback Tuesday - When Tragedy Strikes - Martin Wiles

When Tragedy Strikes

A family loses their beloved patriarch; two weeks later the matriarch follows. A woman in her thirties dies suddenly of a massive heart attack. Innocent people are killed at a well-known marathon. A father incurs a deadly infection after surgery and never leaves the hospital.

I always seem to have more questions than answers when tragic occurrences crop up. Death is a daily part of someone’s life and so is tragedy. But how to cope with the unanswered questions is the dilemma. Read more...

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Throwback Tuesday - Martin Wiles

Treading on Problems

They had witnessed a miracle they didn’t understand; now they were about to observe another they wouldn’t comprehend.

What do you do with thousands of hungry people who come to hear your boss speak? Especially when you forgot to have a meal catered? And when you know some of them have ulterior motives for being there? You ask his advice, do what he says, and leave the rest to him. Which is what the disciples did. Read more...

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Trudging Through Muddy Waters - Martin Wiles

When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! Isaiah 43:2 NLT

Before us was a wide river; behind us were miles of unmarked territory.
  
Panthertown Valley in North Carolina was the most confusing place I had ever hiked. Numerous trails meandered through hundreds of acres, but none were marked. Maps didn’t seem to match the actual outlay of the areas, and a number of side trails veered off from the main trails, making following the map extremely difficult. 

On one particular hike, my brother, son, and I chose a route we’d not taken before. After hiking several miles, we came to a bulging river. None of us could swim, and we weren’t sure we could return the way we had come. While the water wasn’t raging, what if it was deeper than it appeared. My brother decided to be the guinea pig and made it safely across. My son was short; I’d have to carry him. So with a child on my back and a hiking staff in my hand, we traversed the cold water and made it safely to the other side. 

God’s Old Testament people had been through deep and muddy waters more than once. In their history, wave after wave of foreign invaders attacked them and on several occasions carried them away as captives. But each time, God delivered them. 

Like the nation of Israel, I can recount an entire list of muddy water episodes: rebellious children, dying relatives, financial meltdowns, broken relationships, unemployment, low-paying jobs, abuse, cancer, and physical ailments. And if I haven’t faced the muddy waters myself, I’ve been close to someone who has. 

God never gave up on the nation of Israel. He always came to their rescue. He’s done the same for me. Just as I couldn’t see the bottom of the river we crossed, so I’ve not been able to see the bottom of the muddy-water episodes I’ve encountered. But it doesn’t matter. I knew the One who allowed me to cross through the waters, and He had a reason for doing so. The lessons I’ve learned have resulted in spiritual growth. 

And God has given me many opportunities to share my lessons with children, teens, and adults. I’ve also noticed that people traversing muddy-water episodes listen more carefully to someone who has been through the muddy waters themselves. 

When God takes you through muddy waters, enjoy the journey and be open to what He’s trying to teach you.

Prayer: Father, we trust You to guide us through life’s muddy waters, believing You will keep us safe and provide something better on the other side. 

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