"LEARNING LIFE LESSONS IN THE SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS!"
Written and preached by David P. Nolte

PSALM 42:1-11

1. WE CAN LEARN TO APPRECIATE OUR BLESSINGS: V4:
1. In the midst of their tears, the sons of Korah, authors of this Psalm, looked back on former days; days of joy and thanksgiving and festival. Perhaps they took those former happy times for granted; now, in retrospect, they appreciate them more fully.
2. You know, if tears never came, if I always had it good, if things always went my way, if I always prospered, if all I knew was comfort, then:
1. I would tend take those things for granted and think it should always be so and my appreciation would dwindle.
2. Those things would lose some of their ability to produce joy they'd be so common place, run of the mill and ordinary and I would scarce appreciate them.
3. Consider it this way:
1. Step into a room from utter darkness and notice how bright it seems - until your eyes acclimate. Then it doesn't seem so bright.
2. Step into a quiet place after being in the din and hubbub of a crowd and see how golden the silence is - for awhile. Then the silence becomes almost boring.
3. Have you noticed that you appreciate something more when you've lost it? I had a little pocket Bible; I lost it. I have no clue where it is. But I took for granted it would always be mine - until I lost it.
4. The same holds true for our blessings and benefits! They taste better, shine brighter and seem sweeter and we value them more after suffering and pain has deprived us of them for a season.
5. The next time you emerge from the valley of suffering, note how blue the sky; how bright the sun; how fresh the breeze; how sweet your blessings!
4. Suffering can teach us the lesson of appreciation of blessings. A fifteen year old girl had been hospitalized after an auto wreck. She wrote this letter to the local newspaper: "I never appreciated being able to go places and do things until this happened. You learn a lot through seven long months of pain and misery. For one thing I've found out that good health is a blessing. Without it, life doesn't mean a thing. And with it nothing else really matters." When she got home from the hospital she counted her blessings: her mother's cooking, her comfortable bed and clothing she had not been able to wear. Things she had taken for granted; things which had lost their luster; things that were made more notable by suffering.

So, what life lessons are to be learned in the "School of Hard Knocks?" Well, to appreciate our blessings for one

2. WE CAN LEARN TO DRAW NEARER TO GOD IN TRUST: VV1-5:
1. Sorrow had caused a great longing for God in the hearts of the Psalmists. A yearning for God was born afresh by tears. Hope in God was deepened in time of weeping.
2. Think about this:
1. Suffering can show to Whom we belong and to Whom we flee when we hurt! Let me clarify that: A little girl became frightened in a large store and immediately ran to her mother. In the midst of a large group of women, only one was "mother" and her fear caused her to seek that one out. She wanted mother; she trusted mother. In our suffering, if we belong to Him, we earnestly desire God and run to Him in trust.
2. Suffering, like a compass, can point the way to the source of Help and Strength and Comfort and Peace.
3. As a magnet draws iron to itself, suffering can draw the heart to God.
3. In retrospect, in my own "School of Hard Knocks" I have sought God most diligently, cried to Him most honestly and trusted Him most implicitly!
1. Job experienced that, too, and said, "Though He slay me, I will hope in Him." Job 13:15 (NASB). 
2. In his trust of God, Job said, "But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside. I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food." Job 23:10-12 (NASB).
3. "And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.'"
   Job 1:21 (NASB).
4. Suffering can teach us the lesson of drawing nearer to God in trust. One lady in particular shows that to be true. While still a young woman, she gave up a precious child in death. Then her beloved husband died. Two more of her children suffered severe injuries. One tragedy followed another. But she experienced, and manifested, peace and trust. When asked how she survived all her heartache, her testimony was: "It's the Lord! You just can't imagine how precious He is to me. And this is the verse God has given me day by day: 'For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness. For He does not afflict willingly, Or grieve the sons of men." Lamentations 3:32-33 (NASB). Her suffering did not dim but brightened her confidence; pain did not eradicate but edified her trust; grief did not turn her from but to God.

So, what life lessons are to be learned in the "School of Hard Knocks?" Well, to draw near to God in trust, for one.

3. WE CAN LEARN TO KEEP OUR FOCUS ON HEAVEN: V2:
1. Note that God and a desire to come before Him prevailed for the Psalmists. Their focus was heavenward, not earthbound.
2. Yet how prone we are to anchor into the things, pleasures, and escapisms of this world. We vainly seek comfort and relief and peace and safety in the resources of the tangible, material world.
3. But when we want to find hope and help in this world alone, we ought to remember:
1. What Paul wrote: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." Philippians 3:19-21 (NASB).
2. He said, further, "If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Colossians 3:1-4 (NASB).
3. People of faith always seek heaven in hard times. The author of Hebrews wrote of ancient men of faith: "But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11:16 (NASB).
4. Our hope is not just in this world, but in the one to come: "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NASB).
5. We ought to keep our eyes less transfixed on our suffering and this world, and more on heaven and glory to come.
4. A man said goodbye to his precious little girl as they laid her body to rest. He went home, angry with God to his lonely house. After walking back and forth in his room until he was exhausted, he fell onto the bed and into a deep sleep. He dreamed that he stood beside a river. Across the river he could hear the sound of children laughing and playing. He looked over there and saw a group of girls running toward him. At the head of the company of laughing girls was his own precious daughter. She stood on the far bank and called to him, "Come over here, Daddy! Come over here!" He awoke with a start. He overcame his bitterness. In his time of suffering, his heart had been turned from earth to heaven and he sought Jesus to prepare to go over there where his sweet child waited.

So, what life lessons are to be learned in the "School of Hard Knocks?" Well, to keep our focus on heaven for one. What hope for the heavy hearted, what strength for the suffering soul, what peace for the pained. After the cross, the crown; after the weeping, joy; after earth's gloom, heaven's gladness. In the interim, God Himself stands ready to help you in and through and even by means of your suffering. Have you turned from Him or to Him in your pain? Have you ignored or laid hold of His grace and help? If you will trust Him in and in spite of, your suffering He will make your heart sing again; He will make your sun shine again; He will replace your momentary, light affliction with an eternal weight of glory! Will you believe Him? Will you trust Him? God our Father loves us and has given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace! He will comfort and strengthen your hearts "And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you." 1 Peter 5:10 (NASB). Don't waste your pain! Let it turn your heart to Him as you turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Stories from "SEEK" Standard Publishing Company, Walter Knight's New Illustrations and Dr. Clyde Narramore tract: "Does God Spare The Believer?"