Bread & Water

"Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them." Isaiah 30:20

     Throughout history bread and water have been recognized as the bare bone essentials for survival. Prisoners in olden days were at times placed on bread and water rations as punishment, and as we see in today's scripture, Isaiah used the analogy in comparison to life's struggles and hardships. It's hard to imagine that afflictions and adversity are essentials for life, yet if you're faith is grounded in trust, then you must certainly have an understanding of what we are talking about in today's Flat Tire Ministries Thought for the Week.
     When Isaiah wrote this passage, the Israelites had been under Babylonian captivity for years and their situation was the epitome of adversity and affliction. Yet for Isaiah the message was clear, through all of this hardship, we will gain a better understanding about life and the lessons gained through the experience would serve them well going forward. What a challenge in life to look at the adversity you are going through and to be able to believe in your heart that you will come out on the other side of the situation better and stronger, kinda the "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" attitude. 
     I firmly believe that adversity is a tool for each of us. I know in my own life when I have faced some of my greatest challenges is when I have learned to persevere and hunker down to see things through to the other side of the matter. Every mountain has two sides and I am that bear that went over the mountain to see what was on the other side! It isn't easy enduring adversity nor is it a cakewalk to overcome afflictions such as aliments, injuries, or disease, yet believing, truly, honestly believing that your suffering is part of the process makes it a little more "bearable". I believe in my heart and soul that the strength I have gained through my not so positive experiences in life has fully equipped me to be the man I am still working on becoming today! When I started looking at adversity from that perspective my attitude and my outlook changed completely. In my mind, I no longer was suffering because I was a bad person or because I had the worst luck ever, but instead, I suffered so that I can become stronger so that I can help teach others about how the struggle is part of their training. My suffering isn't about me any longer, the life lessons I can share and teach my children, students, athletes, and others which in turn equips them to teach their children makes it all worthwhile and actually beneficial. If you are struggling, if you are hurting, God doesn't just take those things away just because you are experiencing pain or discomfort. That would actually rob you of what God has planned for the eventual outcome. I know and understand this is a hard concept to accept, but just as the knot tightens as it is pulled on, so too are we strengthened by life's bread of adversity and water of affliction. 
     How can you accept this? How can this be possible that a God that loves me would allow me to go through pain and suffering? The answer to that question is found in the life of His son, Jesus. Jesus was sent to earth with one assignment, die for the sins of mankind so that mankind could have life. Hope, founded in trust, created by faith. In John 6:35 Jesus explains, "I am the bread of life, he that comes to me shall never hunger, and he that believes on me shall never thirst." God may allow us to go through adversity, but it isn't because you are not loved or cared for, instead it is because Jesus is right there with you in that adversity and in that affliction. He is with you and He will see you through whatever you face in life. If God is the bread of life, and if we trust in Him we will never thirst or do without, then I am more than willing to face the challenges I must endure. God is with me, He will never leave me nor forsake me.  Read Hebrews 13:5. I stand confident in that promise and you can too! I will be praying for each of you that read this message today. My prayer is for strength to endure, courage to overcome, and wisdom to understand that being filled on God's bread and water will only help you to see things through and will only make you stronger for those you love and care.
Go out and change your world, what are you waiting on?

Coach Carter