By: Obed Pineda
One day a young disciple accompanied his old master on a walk on an old trail in a small forest. Taking advantage of the rare opportunity he had to be alone with his master, the young man began to inquire from his mentor about his life experiences and how they had impacted him in his old age as they hiked together. While the young student carried on his conversation enthusiastically, the old teacher walked, listening to his young disciple, with is eyes always focused on their path ahead. As they advanced down the path, suddenly the young disciple tripped on a stone, hidden by the earth it was buried in, and fell to the ground, but the old mentor stepped on the buried stone as it were a step. The old man extended his hand to help his young student get up from the ground, and asked, “Tell me, what caused your foot to stumble and fall on this path?” Without taking a moment to meditate on his master’s query, the young lad responded that the stone hidden in the earth was an obstacle to his feet, thus provoking his fall. The old sage, turning to the buried stone, responded to his student, “If indeed it was that stone that snared your feet, how is it possible that it did not ensnare me also? Certainly, that stone has already been in that same place for a long time since it is buried, thus it could not have been the cause of your fall. It is obvious that if you had kept your focus on the trail ahead, you would have spotted it beforehand and understood how to transform a stumbling block into a stepping stone. That same buried stone that for you became a hindrance, for me it became an opportunity that assisted me on my path.” In his acrostic poem, King David declared, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statues” (Psalm 119:71). It is no a secret that in the walk of life, there will always appear “buried stones” in our path. How we perceive these unexpected challenges is the key difference between the wise man and the foolish man; the strong and the weak. For David, these obstacles that tripped his feet (seeing that he admits it afflicted him) were a good thing because they increased his understanding of God’s commandments. Like in our anecdote, the young pupil who tripped on the buried stone, learned from that painful & embarrassing experience to focus more on the path his foot steps on, to avoid stumbling on buried stones. This lesson, too, applies to our Christian walk for the Holy Spirit exhorts, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15, emphasis added). Remember that circumspectly is composed by the Latin words circum (around) and specere (to look), which conveys the message of being aware of one’s surroundings; to consider carefully the path you walk on. It is crucial to clarify that the inspired apostle is not stating that we will never stumble in our walk. Instead, Paul is teaching us how to grow from those obstacles that surprise us. Seeing that it is an impossibility to live a life without struggles, it is valuable to learn how to shift our perception of them when they appear. In other words, where there are those who solely focus on the negative aspects of problems, constantly murmuring about them, those who trust in the Lord patiently wait in Him knowing that “the Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lamentations 3:25-26, emphasis added). The epistle written to the Hebrews has as its central theme the superiority of Christ. This epistle was inspired by the Holy Spirit as a response to those Christians who had converted from Judaism that were doubting if they had chosen correctly due to Rome’s terrible persecution of Christians. These men and women had become discouraged by Cesar’s heavy hand striking them and were seriously considering recanting their Christianity and returning to the Law of Moses. Thus, this epistle was written to demonstrate to them why living in Christ is better than living under the Law, aiming to reinvigorate their faith in Jesus. One example presented by the inspired Hebrew penman is how instrumental life’s sufferings were for Jesus in His mission on earth. Holy Writ advocates, “for it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10, emphasis added). It is curious to read that an already perfect being such as Jesus Christ, was in need to be perfected. We must comprehend that this process of perfection was in the flesh, Christ being in the form of man. Ergo, the Hebrew epistle is revealing that Jesus, too, needed to suffer as a human being to be able to become the captain of our salvation. The Hebrew amanuensis wisely comforts his beloved brethren who were burdened by Rome’s violence by instructing them that it was those same obstacles that perfected our great Redeemer, allowing Him to become “the Author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2, emphasis added). Scripture illustrates that for our Lord and Savior, the cross was not a stumbling block but a stepping stone He needed to secure our salvation. If He had been unwilling to suffer crucifixion, then we would be doomed to suffer eternal damnation. Hence His response to Peter, after striking with the sword the high priest’s servant, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me” (John 18:10-11, emphasis added)? The inspired Hebrew writer validates the Master’s words to Peter as he elaborates, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which he suffered. And having been perfected, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9, emphasis added). It is worth noting that because of what He suffered in the flesh, the Lord is able to understand our pain more perfectly (Hebrews 4:14-16, 1st John 2:1-2). However, it is for this reason that He also provides for us the validity that problems can be transformed into opportunities for growth and improvement. Undoubtedly, our Lord and Savior did not stumble upon the buried stones of suffering, but utilized them as steps to aid Him toward obtaining His Father’s glory. Knowing that Christ fulfilled our God’s will in the condition of man, also provides His church with a mold of how to convert adversity into opportunity. Verily, it is comforting to verify in Jesus “that all things work together for good to those who love God” (Romans 8:28).