Our parakeet has bronchitis and the veterinarian has prescribed an antibiotic which we have to give him three times a day. The doctor really knows what is best for him but he certainly doesn’t think so. He resists taking his medicine with every fibre of his being and cries out in protest while we hold him with one hand, open his beak with the other and my wife squeezes the medicine into his little mouth. After it is all over he acts as if we have done him a great injustice. No sooner are we perhaps forgiven for the ill treatment he feels we have done him than it is time to do it again and once more bring his ire upon our head.

If he had his own way our bird would certainly refuse the medicine but then he would be dead by now instead of getting better because we are doing what is best for him in spite of his protests.

How often do we protest taking and doing that which is best for us? We are told that our Heavenly Father’s thoughts are as high above ours as the heavens are above the earth. We feel that we have quite a bit more brain power than our parakeet, but in comparison with our Creator we are closer to the bird than we are to God. If we know what is best for our bird how much more does our Heavenly Father know what is best for us. We should be filled with awe when we consider that the smallest details of our lives are all known to God and that not even a sparrow can fall to the ground without the Father knowing it. This is the same Father who created the heavens and the earth with His fingers. When we realize that He knows us, knows what is best for us, and is chastening us and correcting us so that we can become rulers with His son in His Kingdom we should accept the trials He sends our way with grace. If our parakeet only had more sense he would thank us for what we are doing for him. If we only had more wisdom we too would thank God for the trials that come our way.

The apostles reacted this way for we are told in the Acts how they felt after being beaten. We read that they departed ”rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” After being stoned Paul exhorted the brethren ”to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

It is one thing to believe and accept this academically but quite a different thing to accept trouble cheerfully when it happens to us. It is very easy to advise the other fellow to smile at the storm when we are in smooth waters, but then when we are in it ourselves our smile can change very quickly.

The key to accepting our troubles gracefully is prayer. This is where we have the advantage not only over the birds but over fellow human beings who do not communicate with God. Our prayers will see us through all our troubles for ”God is our refuge and strength and a very present help in trouble.” When we feel in our hearts that He knows, cares and hears, then we can take heart for ”our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

It would seem that few of us today are being tried as severely as they were in the first century, yet we know that God will always send us the right kind and amount of trouble to prepare us for glory and so with Paul we can say, ”I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”