Endurance of Suffering

Arthur W. Pink wrote about the endurance of suffering: “One second of glory will outweigh a lifetime of suffering. What are years of toil, sickness, battling with poverty, sorrow in any or every form, when compared with the glory of Immanuel’s land! One drink from the river of pleasure at God’s right hand, one breath of Paradise, one hour amid the blood-washed around the throne, will more than compensate for all the tears and groans of earth.”

 

Is God Ever Mean?

Now this is a loaded question: Is God ever mean? People, whether Christians or not, don’t like hearing that God might be hard to get along with. They want the divine to be manageable. They like a God who obeys the laws as they understand them, who doesn’t get frustrated or angry. Unfortunately for such people, God’s own revelation of himself is different. God can appear to be very mean to us humans who become subject to his wrath, even if we live according to all the rules.

I’m not speaking of his wrath focused on people who don’t choose to follow Jesus Christ. I’m thinking of how mean God can seem to those who do choose God’s Son as Savior and Lord. When adversity comes upon them, Christians sometimes ask, “Why me, Lord?” After all, if we have faith in Jesus Christ, we’re redeemed people. So where is the power and gift of redemption when fatal illness comes over you or unemployment overwhelms? Adversity seems to fly in the face of promises that life goes better with Jesus in it.

Yet God promises to be mean to his rescued people if they should sin. To the Israelites of Moses’ time, he declared,“Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you” (Dt. 12:47-48, NIV). There is no way around it: God is mean to his people when they need it. If they sin, he will punish them.

“Wait a minute!” you say. “That was the Old Testament. God isn’t like that now. Saved in Christ now, our sins are all forgiven. Grace is ours always.”

Do you really believe that it makes no difference how you live after coming to faith in Christ? Does your conduct not matter? Can you do anything you want? I doubt it. Our activities must line up with God’s grace in Christ. If Jesus has redeemed us, we have to live as redeemed people. When we don’t, God is good and right to be mean toward us. He can send—actively send—trouble our way.

The adversity you experience may be the simple result of living as a faithful Christian in a world that wants nothing to do with godliness. You’ll have to grin and bear such trouble. Yet it is possible that some of your adversity is God’s deliberate action toward you which is aimed at dealing with a new or recurrent sin in your life. You should not grin and bear this trouble. You should examine it and learn if you have transgressed. You ought to admit whatever sin brought this trouble from God. Indeed, the only way out of the trouble, could be confession and repentance.

The apostle Paul taught this clearly in Romans 2:9-11, when he wrote, “There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism” (NIV). Adversity comes to everyone, to the Jew first, that is, to those who are chosen and blessed, to Christians. Hard times are not only for faithless people. The faithless get what they deserve, but the believer who sins gets what he needs, help toward repentance.

Will God not judge the actions of those whom he loves and calls according to his purpose? I believe he will. I believe he does.

 

Have you read Amos lately?

Have you read Amos lately? It’s a good prophetic book because Amos was an average person who was called by God to proclaim a tough message to people who lived selfishly in prosperous times. Amos was a shepherd and dresser of sycamore-fig trees. He was a working man, a regular “Joe” whose conscience was moved by the Lord. He saw the selfish character of human beings in other countries and in his own. He was so moved that he spoke out against the “me-ism” of his day.

One by one, he indicted Israel and Judah’s neighboring nations for their self-centered conquests and horrible treatment of the peoples around them. Then he turned the tables of Israel, the northern half of God’s people, and Judah, the southern portion, indicting both for being led away from the Lord, for beating down the poor, for sexual sins, and other immorality.

Through Amos, God called nature to witness his people’s sin. He summoned the Philistines from Ashdod and the Egyptians to observe their judgment. He  ordered, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people” (Am.3:9b, NIV). His people didn’t understand what was right; they amassed goods and weapons for protection, but their refuges would be plundered. God recounted how he sent famine and disaster, yet they hadn’t heeded his warnings. Israel was about to encounter their God, the Judge, and the meeting was to be calamitous.

In chapter 5 of his prophecy, Amos urged Israel to think and to repent with honesty. “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is” (Am. 5:14, NIV). National confidence felt as if God would not forsake them. All was well. It was not, and the Lord would stand against them if the people did not mend their ways. The people felt the day of the Lord would vindicate them, but Amos did not think so. “Why do you long for the day of the Lord?” the prophet asked. “That day will be darkness, not light” (Am. 5:18b, NIV).

The complacent were warned, and Amos delivered a series of visionary episodes which were designed to announce God’s measurement of his people. A brief section of the book of Amos recounted how he was opposed by a priest at Bethel because his message opposed the king and called for repentance and change. Then he resumed his warnings, ending with an announcement of what later became a reality—the Dispersion. Israel was to go into exile! But she would be restored in time to come (see 9:9-15). Even in judgment, there was hope.

On one hand, Amos’ character shows how God can use an ordinary person to call for change in a society. On the other hand, Amos’ plea reveals the Lord’s lasting desire to redeem his wayward people, along with his willingness to discipline them for a greater good. The prophet Amos raises our view of God to a higher level. The Lord is both compassionate and a God of judgment. Amos prepares us to learn from Jesus Christ, who was also of humble origin yet showed us a God who was both our heavenly Father and a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29; cp. Mk. 9:47-49).

 

A Rock Greater Than Myself

People everywhere want to get along in life as blithely as possible. They put on a cheery face at work, pleasing customers or clients as best they can. At least, they smile and hope to win confidence by projecting a sense of contentment to those whom they serve. Happiness is what buyers seek. Jovial jokes or witty repartee will make the sale, sign the contract, or expand the company’s horizon. Nobody wants to buy from a glum clerk or a morose sales rep. Show some gladness, even if you don’t mean it! So runs the advice of a few business gurus.

I’ve met a few Christians who’ve taken this advice to heart when practicing their life in Jesus Christ. You sense the image of delight and an impression of bliss added like a veneer to their personalities, but where’s the peace that passes understanding?

“Rejoice in the Lord always,” the apostle Paul wrote. “I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:4-7, NIV).

The foundation of a believer’s joy is God’s peace. Knowing Jesus, you know the Father, and divine serenity filters into your heart and mind. An inner silence develops over the time of your increasing acquaintance with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the silence, you can hear the Lord’s voice, and it teaches you how wonderfully your life is directed. As peace envelopes you, contentment, pleasure, happiness and exultation become the stones at the bottom of your character. From a solid foundation in God’s peace, your joy exudes and overflows.

Warren W. Wiersbe said, “God balances our lives by giving us enough blessings to keep us happy and enough burdens to keep us humble.”

Troubles come to everyone who lives in a broken world such as this one, but Christ’s followers have no good reason to allow anxiety to overwhelm them. They have the tool of prayer, which gives them direct contact with the divine world. God hears, and he answers. You can be thankful even before the Lord’s answer arrives, because you’ve learned to rest peacefully in his Son. Make your request known to heaven, and let your heart be light! After you pray seriously about a problem or a decision you must face, relax. Be at peace, and allow the happiness of the redeemed flood into you.

This is more than developing a good attitude or a positive outlook on life. Your peace and cheeriness that radiate from trusting Jesus with everything important sit on the rock of relationship with a living God, who cares enough about you to guide and direct your steps in an uncertain world. You’re fortunate in ways beyond the lucky happenstance that occurs for someone who doesn’t know Jesus personally because you maintain a close connection with the blessings of heaven through your prayer and gratitude to God.

 

The Glue in the Joints

The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians explaining the strain he felt: “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many” (2 Cor. 8-11, NIV)

Paul was able to endure severe pressure because of two things. He did not rely on himself, but God. He also relied on the prayers of others. This is a root lesson, a rudimentary principle, about living the Christian life that all of us believers know. Yet we undervalue it in practice too often. We cannot rely on ourselves; only reliance on God is sufficient. Plus, we need the prayerful help of others.

I have nothing within me that can carry me through crisis and temptation and pressure from others and any other stress. Under my own power and with all the intensity I can muster, counting on my internal gifts and abilities, I may survive for a time. I may even look as if I’m successful at bearing up, to an outsider. But inwardly the turmoil takes a terrible toll. Eventually, I submit, surrender, or just sag into disaster. I haven’t the resources to last until the end.

For this reason, God in Christ must become my source of stamina. He has to be my encouragement in distress. He alone has the wisdom, the necessary provisions, and the wherewithal to pick me up when weariness etches itself on my heart. He cares enough to let me bear some of the burden, but little of the genuine weight of it. His hand lifts more of it than I realize. He guides me through the maze and brings me safe to the other side. God has the will and authority, power and interest in me to raise my spirits from the dead if they should succumb. He can keep me going when I haven’t the desire nor the muscle to continue. I must rely on God.

But the prayers of others are a second tool God places at my disposal. I have to seek the petitions of Christian friends to succeed, as I have to offer my prayers for them if they are to prosper in the labor God sets within their hands’ reach. Prayer is a key to Christian service. None of us pulls through a rough patch in our work unless we’re borne up on the folded hands of our companions in grace. Why? Because in the knowledge that others are praying for me, I will find the encouragement to stand back up and carry on. God knows my mind and heart will trust him only so long. For this reason, he gives me others who are more tangible to lift my spirits, to direct my plans, to bear my burdens by their prayers. Prayer is essential to faithfulness because it connects me to other believers, and discipleship is never… never… never a solitary affair. I’m never a successful Christian servant if I serve alone. I need the body of Christ because I’m part of the body of Christ.

As a table is made of a horizontal surface with four legs holding it up, so Christians support one another. Yet the legs and table top have to be attached by screws and glue. Prayer is the glue in the joints!