Fallen Soldiers Ministries has been approached by Navy Seal Team members to write for FSM's Quarterly Newsletter when inspired, time allows and anonymity is protected. They will use the pseudonym "The Chief".
This is their sixth contribution and we look forward to their future contributions.
by "The Chief"
During Basic Underwater Demolition SEAL training (BUD/S) those who quit wouldn’t reach the final torment: the knowledge that no matter what is conjured up by the instructors, I will have to endure it. Everything is on the table: magnitudes of suffering far exceeding earlier preconceptions.
I remember a young man confidently telling a group of us pre-BUD/S candidates that he would never quit, "No matter what they do to us—even if I break my leg." What overcame him was much more mundane and much less heroic. Some guys have broken their legs, but he didn’t, and, of course, the instructors made us keep running—through the night, through the cold, without sleep, without rest, and for days. The man who was so confident that his fighting spirit would outlast his skeletal integrity never took the time to analyze the strength of his bones. The misery is what defeated him.
Words mean things, but talk is cheap.
So it is with believers in Christ. How simple it is to mouth great swelling claims: I’ll follow Christ no matter what. I’ll die for Him. I’ll give up anything, become anyone, suffer anything because of what He did for me. I’ll endure any hardship for the prize (Hebrews 12:1–2). Easy to say is "no matter the cost," but quite another thing to be made to pay. Our God requires loyalty and devotion, even as He cuts into our flesh; even as His hammer strikes us. He’s promised to make us new (2 Corinthians 5:17), but He never said pain would be absent. In fact, He guaranteed suffering would be present (2 Timothy 3:10–13).
A 100 percent disabled Marine veteran and sister in Christ once told me she never imagined the body could endure such pain as she experienced after a drunk driver slammed into her vehicle, stopped at a red light. And then pain during her rehab. She was listening to worship music and singing to God the very moment it happened, the very moment His hammer struck her, taking her career, her health, her money, and the future she’d envisioned. As with Job, God often waits in a period of silence to observe His shattered creatures. Will her worship continue? Will it be free of bitterness and resentment? Will it be sung as it would be if all her dreams had come true?
We serve a good but hard Master (Matthew 25:24; Luke 19:21), and our talk is cheap. "Sure Jesus, I’ll follow You—no matter what—to the death." Meanwhile, I recall believers who were shot by Bolsheviks and beheaded by ISIS jihadists. Such a hefty price, but I can hack it. I’m a frogman! We’re supposed to die.
Never once did I consider the possibility of dying in prison, fifty years from now, after being wrongly convicted. What about wasting away from a strange, debilitating disease that steals my motor function, mental capacity, and eyesight? Neither had I contemplated watching my children die or my wife being abused for her allegiance to Christ. There are Christians who endured these; their stories can easily be found.
So, what does Christ mean by "Seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33)? What does He mean by "No one, having set his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62)? What does Jesus mean by "I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name" (Acts 9:15)?
We often see ourselves as David or Daniel—towering examples of victory in the name of God—and easily gloss over the other examples. What about the generations of Israelites who were slaves in Egypt for over 400 years? Had you been born two hundred years into the timeframe, you would have known that God promised Abraham that He’d free him after four centuries. That meant Abraham, his children, their children, and the next generation would spend their entire lives as slaves.
Would we be willing to accept such a long-delayed promise? What about Ezekiel’s wife? God took her life as a demonstration before the Israelites (Ezekiel 24:15–18). These are hard realities found in Scripture. If I were her, I’d be thinking, Wait, so I have to die? My husband won’t be allowed to mourn for me? Are such examples so our nation can taste how much God is hurting? Yet, they won’t even listen to Him?
Our Creator is wholly committed to molding us into the image of His Son, Jesus, as He said (2 Corinthians 3:18). There is no blessing or hardship He will not bring into our lives to achieve His plan (Hebrews 12:6–11). His ultimate goal beyond our salvation is not our happiness, but Christ’s glory (John 17:1). We, as servants of Christ, are to desire the same. When our greatest desire is the exaltation of Jesus, we then find our ultimate happiness, regardless of our personal circumstance, because we know we are pleasing our Savior.
We serve a good, but hard Master, and His path is only for the strong of heart and mind (Matthew 8:19–22). A path set for Him—"the cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:20)—and walked by Him, the greatest Son of Man, to sweat, bleed, suffer, and die—for us. He didn’t give us glimpses of heaven or bravado-filled pumped-up speeches to motivate us when life’s tragedies and afflictions weigh us down; He gave us something better: His example. No other god descended from glory to prove through his actions that the road given to us was worth it. Our God didn’t leave us with mere talk; He walked the path. He shouldered the burden. He tore Himself asunder. He bled Himself dry. That path is for the strong, but only those who know the totality of their weakness are truly strong. His strength is your need, not your own.
I’ll follow a God like that.
He’s promised to give me His strength to see His will done (2 Corinthians 12:9, Isaiah 26:12, Psalm 37:39, Psalm 18, Habakkuk 3:19).
When we stand before Jesus in His radiance, witnessing with our own eyes our Savior’s splendor and magnificence, we will each wish we had suffered more for His sake.
There is an opportunity down here below the clouds, one that is not afforded to angels and has been withdrawn from saints who went before. We have the ability to bring an offering to God that no one else can: praises amid suffering. Surely, worship is sweeter to God when it comes from people who are bleeding. Surely, the ring of such notes, the aroma of such prayers, are wonderful to Him.
Which means more:–a person who obeys in ease, or one who obeys even though obedience crushes them? My brothers and sisters in Christ, when the pain comes, set your feet —"having done everything, to stand. Stand firm then" (Ephesians 6:13–14).
The King is watching.
How His heart must swell with pride as He beholds His children gritting their teeth and bearing their pain with patience, because it reminds Him of Himself. What a good and wonderful God we serve. He lets us suffer for His sake as He suffered for ours.
In BUD/S, we were always told to suffer in silence. Our instructors screamed it at us, even as they deliberately intensified our pain. "Be a man and suffer in silence." Just like Jesus (Isaiah 53:7, Matthew 26:63, Mark 15:5, Luke 22:63–65). It’s hard to think of a more countercultural statement in our social media era of "virtue signaling" and victim competitions. So let us be of few words and steadfast action like Jesus, even when our legs break. Cry out to God in your agony, not to men, for the glory of His matchless name. No matter what.
Ultimately, God will do away with all suffering (Revelation 21:4). Our light and momentary trials will prove to be trivial when measured against the glory that awaits us (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). Until that time, realize who you are as a Christ–follower:
We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. —Hebrews 10:39
Whatever burden God has laid on your back, He designed for you. Furthermore, you were made for it; you were created for this victory in Him.
My prayer for the church is that we shoulder the weight patiently and carry it with honor because our Father placed it on us—and He is a kind and gracious God, a good and worthy Master.
Our lives to His honor,
Hail to the King!
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
by "The Chief"
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