How to Suffer

Don't know about you, but I am not a fan of suffering.  Not.a.fan.  Whether you are suffering with allergies or suffering from abject physical pain or suffering the loss of a loved one, it ain't fun.  In the picture above, a dreadful earthquake has occurred.  The shaking has been so severe that walls are cracked, ceiling tiles have been shaken down. Things are a mess.  Suffering and desolation are evident.

Yet, fans or not, suffering is part of this life.  It invariably comes, and indeed it provides a backdrop for joy.  In happy times, we enjoy life, but we often take them for granted.  Past suffering reminds us to appreciate times of happiness all the more.  This is common to both Christians and non-Christians.  Even though our text was written by Paul to the Christians in the early Roman church, I'm writing to both groups today, because we all experience suffering, no matter how long we live.

So, when we see suffering coming at us like a blazing asteroid...yikes!  What should be our response?
First of all, let's examine why suffering/hardship comes, in the first place.  Why can't life be all "roses and posies"?
Is it because God hates us?
Is it because God does not care?
Is it because ... there is no God at all?
The answer to all those questions is emphatically, "No".

God is not the author, originator of suffering.  Suffering is a by-product of the sin that pervades our world.  It is a result of our world's overall broken condition.  Because of the pervasiveness of sin, the effects/consequences of it (the suffering) often splatter onto the innocent, as the person on the city curb is drenched by the gritty street water flung from the wheels of a speeding taxicab.  We should not be surprised by suffering.

God does, however, allow suffering, in both His children and also in those who do not yet know Him. He allows it and harnesses it as a tool to draw us closer to His heart.  In the final analysis He wants us, our love, our worship.  Often, in our suffering, we more clearly hear Him calling to us and are willing to answer.

Getting back to today's topic, though, how do we get through it?   Part of our answer lies in our text for today, Romans 12:12 (NET) - - -

Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 

We should begin at the end of this verse.  Our first action should be to turn to God, to run to Him.  He will embrace us in His loving arms and hold us during times of suffering.

A friend was telling me yesterday about how her grandbaby is teething and how miserable he is. When babies are feeling that bad, what do they want?  Most often, they want to be held.  They want to press their ear against their mother's chest, feel her warmth and hear her heartbeat.

God can't physically hold us, but when we go to Him in prayer, He is there, waiting for us.  To the unbeliever, He is there as Jesus Christ extending the invitation to the life-changing salvation relationship.  To the believer, He waits with spiritual comfort and healing in His arms.  This is why Paul tells the Roman church to "persist in prayer".  Although the human inclination is to run the other way, drawing close to God in times of suffering must be the first step.  (Why is it listed last, then?  I don't know!  They are listed in reverse order!)

The next admonition is to "endure".  Timothy tells us to "endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:3)  How do we do that?  Well, Believers, after drawing near to God through prayer, we must listen for His heartbeat.  He has revealed Himself to us through His Word. We can better endure suffering as we listen to Him in prayer and study His Word.  He will reveal tools to help us endure.  Invariably, there is something He wants us to see or to learn.  As in all things, He wants even our suffering to bring Him glory.

"Rejoice in hope"! What does this mean?  Let's remember that the English word "hope" as it is currently used is a very bad translation. In our vernacular, "hope" is sort of like "wishing, on steroids".  The original Greek word is ἐλπίδι, which is better translated "a certain future",  or "a strong and confident expectation".1
Usually, as in Romans 8:24-25, the direct object of the word "hope" is "salvation".
So, when Paul reminds us later in Romans (4 chapters later) to rejoice in hope, he is reminding Christians that our eternal salvation is our "end result" of life and of suffering, and that we should constantly rejoice in that certainty.
In other words, he is telling us to "reframe", to shift our paradigm, to alter our perspective.  Instead of focusing despondently on our suffering, which lasts only a little while (in light of eternity), we should "keep our eyes on the prize"... "looking to Jesus, who is both the Author and the Finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2). In making that shift of focus, we can once again find joy.
Psalm 30:5 says, "weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning".  This refers to the fact that, at this moment, we may be suffering, but "when the morning comes", when we are face-to-face with the One who saved our soul, eternal joy will rush in and last forever.
Now, that is a "hope" worth rejoicing in!

Father, first of all, I want to pray for those reading this who are not only suffering in some terrible way, but who are slogging through it alone, without your Holy Spirit in their lives.  I pray earnestly that they will study Jesus and come to claim Him as their own Lord, their own Savior.  So many times, we look for healing, for comfort, in other places, when only the Lord Jesus is the great Healer, the Great Physician.  So, Lord God, for those who don't know you, yet have read this far, I pray for them.  Oh! Let them find you, the everlasting Source of All Comfort!  You have promised in your Word that those who truly seek You will surely find You, and I praise You for that.  For those of us who are already Your Beloved, Your Children, Your Church, may we be encouraged today through Your holy Bible, and through drawing near to Your loving side.  Make us a praying people, O God! In Jesus' name, amen.

Source:

1  https://bible.org/article/hope

Hoping for the Impossible

Romans 8 is like a treasure box.  Even though I wrote on it in yesterday's blog, I can't leave just yet. Today's emphasis is on verses 24-29 and 38-39.

24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, 29 because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Romans 8:24-29

As I've blogged about before1, Scripture is full of paradoxes.  One of those is that the resplendent walk is characterized by both grief and joy, the two mediated by faith/hope.  And, that's ok.  It's all part of the "conformation process" God has ordained for His own.

My scales are leaning toward the grieving side this morning, for a number of reasons.  I am grieving over a lost world, my country careening seemingly toward destruction and loved ones walking in disobedience.  Just last night, I learned of two "impossible" health situations .... Do you have any "weaknesses" this day?  These verses help to clarify our vision and to refuel our endurance and, yes, our joy.

In hope we were saved.  The Bible defines "hope" as "looking forward expectantly to a certainty". Just as faith that is "proven" is not faith, hope that is seen is not hope.  Paul mentions the critical element of endurance here.  The King James Version translates the word as "patience".  Patience and endurance.

You may today, like me, be facing a situation that looks "impossible".  The greatest weapon in our arsenals, Believers, is prayer.  And, praise God!  We can pray for "the impossible" not worrying about whether or not we are praying in the will of God.  As long as we are not knowingly praying against God's will, we can pray fervently.  Why?  Because the Spirit of Jesus Christ the Son, the Holy Spirit, intercedes for us2, the saints.  WE are "the saints", not because we are "saintly" every moment, but because we are His. The Holy Spirit, who IS God, would never intercede before the Father to pray anything that is against the will of Elohim (the plural name for our Triune Godhead).

So, regardless of your "impossibles" today, take them to the Lord in prayer.  Ask other believers to pray with you.  This is very important.  There is something mystically powerful about the accumulated prayers of God's children, Jesus' brothers and sisters.  Accessing the throne of God our Papa (Abba, Father! vs. 15 ) is our right as co-heirs with Jesus Christ.  Don't let the enemy deceive you into believing otherwise.

King David earnestly prayed and fasted over his ailing, failing toddler son, whose name we are not told.  It was an "impossible situation", from a human standpoint.  The child died (2 Samuel 12:18 ).
The prophet Elijah breathed into the body of a dead youngster and, by the will of God, the child returned to life (1 Kings 17:17-24).
The Giver of Life and all good things is our Papa, but He works things out according His perfect plan.  He is Sovereign.  And, He uses all circumstances in our lives to "conform us to His Son's image" (vs. 29), to shape our souls to be more like our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Don't give up or faint.  Don't stop hoping/"faithing", or praying for "the impossible".  Patiently endure!  We serve the High King of Heaven, the God of the Impossible! And remember, no matter what the outcome, we are loved more than we can imagine, by the One who died so that He could know us and we could know Him (vs. 38-39 KJV).

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Lord, I know that Your plans will always be more beautiful than all of my fears and "disappointments".  I understand that all the circumstances of my life enter my life with Your approval so that they will make me more like my Lord Jesus.  I thank You that you care enough to work Your sanctifying power inside of me.  There are days when my faith is weak.  If Your Holy Spirit did not live in me, the despair would be, at times, overwhelming.  I hold on to Your love at these times and to Your purposes, as You choose to reveal them.  I honor and worship You, my King. In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:

1.  See resplendentdaughter.blogspot.com,  "Embracing the Paradoxes and Making the Trade", July 14, 2014.
2.  See resplendentdaughter.blogspot.com,  "Groanings Which Cannot Be Uttered", July 8, 2014.

The Despair of "Not.Even.One"

Why do you think that so many people have no peace, why they instead slog through life in despair?
The many reasons we could list generally fall into two categories:
1.  Despair is the response to our own shortcomings.
2.  Despair is the response to events we cannot control.

We are going to walk through Romans 3 this morning, a chapter that contains some of the most-often quoted verses for the Bible.
It is here we find despair's antidote.

Paul has just finished lambasting the Jews, destroying their belief in their own superiority.  I can imagine that they are floundering in despair, having had their "supports" kicked right out from under them.  This is reflected in verse 1, where Paul asks the obvious question:

"What's the advantage in being a Jew?"

I want you to imagine someone coming along, coming to your congregation and telling you that some major tenet (or tenets) of your faith are worthless.  That's about how these Jews felt.  It is how all people, with an established "religion", feel when they are slammed in the face with the brilliance of God's true salvation.  It is not found in "religions" or in the keeping of a bunch of rituals.

Rituals, unless grounded in an already settled salvation only serve to distract from the truth.

Paul goes on, then, to tell the Jewish Christians that the number one advantage to being Jewish is that God entrusted to them the writings of the Law and the prophets, writings which served several purposes.
1.  The Old Testament writings revealed to the Jews the nature of God, "who He is", insomuch as they could comprehend.
2.  The Old Testament writings revealed to the Jews the centrality of faith (although a lot of them missed this key teaching), and to expose the human impossibility of perfectly keeping the whole Law.
3.  The Old Testament writings showed the Jews excellent rules for "clean" living.  These kept the Jews a physically strong and healthy people, one of the key factors in their enduring as a people (although scattered) until this day.

Those are just a few, key purposes.  It's little wonder Paul listed the Scriptures as the number 1 advantage being a Jew.

However, when it comes to earning a righteous, holy standing before a holy God - - that is, taking care of our own "sin problem" - - we are all on equal footing.  Busted.  The Jews' involvement with God's revelation did not serve then, nor does it serve now, to make them right with God.  Jew or Gentile, we are all alike under the crushing burden of our sin, all despairing in the same sinking boat, apart from the salvation of Jesus Christ. Without Him - - -

"There is no one righteous, not even one;

There is no one who understands;

There is no one who seeks God.

All have turned away,

Together they have become worthless;

There is no one who does good,

Not even one" 

Romans 3:10-12

NIV

Here, Paul quotes Psalm 14:1-3 and 53:1-3, catapulting the Old Testament into the New, to hammer home the truth: works-based salvation is totally ineffective in pleasing God.

Fortunately, God did not leave us there, to wallow in our despair.  Are you ready?  Here's hope!
Here's grace!  Hallelujah!  God's perfect grace, to our rescue!

21-24 But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

25-26 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.

Romans 3:21-26  The Message

This is the central message of Romans.  This is the heart of "the gospel".  God put His love on the line for us, by giving His Son in sacrificial death, while we were no use whatsoever to Him. Everything else in the letter to the Romans is reiteration of this passage.

The despair of Not.Even.One. is answered by the pure gift of The.One.And.Only!

Our closing prayer today will be from Psalm 86:12-13 (NIV).

12I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;

I will glorify your name forever.

13For great is your love toward me;

you have delivered me from the depths,

from the realm of the dead.

A Painful Truth

 If you were to ask me which passage of Scripture is the most divisive in today's American culture, I would have to say that it is Romans 1:26-32.  I knew that this passage was in the "Romans line-up", ever since making the decision to exegete this book; and, I've been dreading it. The Bible as a whole is unpopular in today's culture.  However, this passage is extremely inflammatory to many people.

Such was not the case when I was young.  50 years ago, there was near-universal acceptance in this country of this passage of Scripture.  Yet, the Bible has not changed.  "Modern society" has.

If you remember from yesterday, Paul has been describing people who reject God - - who reject His authority over their lives, His plan of salvation, His rules for righteous living.  These people choose badly, exchanging God's truth for the lie, which says "I am my own god."  They follow the example of Satan, who walked down this path away from worshipping the one, true God long, long ago.  We also touched on, yesterday, how God "gave them over" to their depravity, in the wake of their making such a horrible exchange.  In other words, He let them go, so that they could practice their godless ways unrestrained.

26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, 27 and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. 29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Romans 1:26-32 (NET)

Let's begin at the end of the passage, with verse 32, because it is the anchor verse of this passage.  The group of people Paul is describing practice these behaviors.  He does not say that they are tempted to do them, or that they occasionally sin and fall into them.  He does not say that they are "born to them" or that they are helpless against these sins.  He says that they choose these behaviors as a lifestyle, reveling in them, wallowing in their sin gleefully, defiantly.  AND, they encourage others to follow their example, while approving of those who live the same way.  Insolence, rebellion and unrepentance are present here, a sort of "in your face" attitude toward righteousness and toward God Himself.  Make no mistake: the lack of repentance is this group's most egregious sin.

That being established, let's look at the specific depraved behaviors which most often characterize this people:

• "dishonorable sexual passions" (any sexual relations with anyone or anything outside the bounds of holy matrimony) 
• wickedness (a general term)
• covetousness and envy (a hunger for what God has given to someone else)
• malice (spite, vengefulness)
• strife (promoting friction, discord and dissension)
• hostility
• murderers
• deceitful (a lying tongue)
• gossipers 
• slanderers (those who spread lies about others to destroy them)
• arrogant
• boastful
• haters of God
• heartless, ruthless
• disobedient/disrespectful to parents

Paul ends the passage with the strong affirmation that those who live this way KNOW that their actions and attitudes are wrong.  Still, they repeatedly choose to walk in their own ways, rejecting God's.

There is an analogous passage in the Old Testament book of Proverbs, and I was thinking about that as I copied down the list above.  Perhaps the apostle Paul was thinking of this passage as he wrote Romans 1.  Take a look and note the similarities.  Can you count the 7?

16There are six things that the Lord hates,

even seven things that are an abomination to him:

17haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

18a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that are swift to run to evil,

19a false witness who pours out lies,

and a person who spreads discord among family members.

20My child, guard the commands of your father

and do not forsake the instruction of your mother.

21Bind them on your heart continually;

fasten them around your neck.

22When you walk about, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

23For the commandments are like a lamp,

instruction is like a light,

and rebukes of discipline are like the road leading to life

Proverbs 6:16-23 (NET)

I fully realize that some of you, readers of this blog, are going to be highly offended at this post, that you will see it as a rebuke.  Society has made some of the behaviors, sins, on this list very socially acceptable.  In fact, if you do speak out against certain sexual sins, you are condemned by a large segment of our modern American society.  However, I am not in this "business" of blogging in order to twist and pervert the word of God.  His judgment on me, were I to do that, would be more awful than any shunning or backlash I receive from readers.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is (physical and spiritual) death.

Proverbs 14:12

If you are my internet friends, how can I stand by silent, cherry-picking and choosing only the most comfortable Bible passages?  I can't, not in good conscience. Paul warns in Romans 1:32 that those who condone, approve of, give consent to these evil behaviors are just as guilty as those who practice them!  What a dire warning!  

The end of the Proverbs 6 passage reminds us that rebukes of discipline are like the road that leads to life, (both physical and eternal).  It is my prayer that today's post will be viewed by you in that light and that you will search your own heart in these matters.  As long as a person has physical life, there is hope.  He or she can turn around, walk in the other direction toward God, toward His plan of salvation, toward eternal life.

Father, these types of horrible trades remind me of folks who get high-interest title loans.  They trade something of true value for something of seemingly equal value, only to later find themselves in a deep, deep pit.  I pray for those who are in one of these lifestyle situations, walking purposely far from You.  I pray that You will open their eyes to their imminent destruction and their eternal peril! May they turn around, turn around and run toward You, their only salvation.  May they trade in their dirty, broken lives for life eternal.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Hope Rope

I wonder who decreed that the colors of Christmas should be red and green: red, the color of blood and often of death, green the color of life and growth?  Somehow, I don’t think the designation of these was any accident.

In Matthew 1:5, we see the name Rahab, and we read that she was the mother of Boaz, and mother-in-law of Ruth.  Looking further down the list, we see that she was the great great-grandmother of King David, that her blood was in the ancestral line of Jesus Christ, our Messiah.  But, just who was Rahab?

Her story is recorded in Joshua 2.  Wow, it is an amazing one!

The two spies mentioned in the story are not named, but I have wondered if one of them was Salmon, the Jewish man who eventually married Rahab.  Both of those men had to have been impressed with her moxy.  Rahab was an astute businesswoman, even though the nature of her business was ungodly.  Her house was part of the city's wall.  

Have you ever ruined something, seemingly beyond repair?  Ruination carries with it a sense that whatever was messed up can’t be fixed. 

Rahab must have felt a bitter sense of futile hopelessness - - that her life had been ruined far past redemption.  It is extremely hard for many of us to accept the love of God, not because He is insufficient, but because we do not see ourselves as lovable, as "worthy"!  We see no way out, no hope.  Ann Voskamp tells us that the word “cord” in the Joshua passage, that same red cord Rahab threw out the window of her house-in-the-wall, is tikvah, which means “hope”.

And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

Joshua 2:21b (NIV)

I am simply amazed at how Rahab, when she HEARD the truth of the one God Jehovah, saw hope.  She grabbed hold of that lifeline, that hope rope, and held on!  She threw herself "all in" with the God of the Hebrews.  When God opened her ears, she switched her allegiance.  She was obviously a talented, passionate woman before switching sides. No doubt God used those talents in her new life as well.  He saw fit, in His amazing grace and redemption, to weave her into the ancestry of his Son.  Y'all, are you "getting" that she was a "madame"?  She ran a whorehouse, for goodness sake!  

But, don't miss this: sin is sin is sin.  Rahab's sin - - - it is no worse than mine.  All sin separates us from our God, and He hates it - - - all of it:  the pride, the lying, the cheating, the slander, the hatred of people, the immorality....all of it separates us from Him.  This is why we need a Savior!  Yes, after we accept Jesus, all of our sins (past, present, future) are forgiven; but, we still need to come to Him for cleansing (confession, repentance, forgiveness) every day (and usually all during the day!)  We are never turned away, hallelujah!

Such is the unfathomable grace of our God!

It's no mistake that the cord was red.  The spies told her: the red cord is a symbol by which you and your family will be spared, as long as you stay inside your house during the upcoming raid and conquest.  

That red cord represents the blood of Jesus Christ.  It is a foreshadowing of what God would do through the sacrifice of His Son centuries later and what He will do for anyone today who comes under the blood sacrifice of Jesus for forgiveness of sin and for protection.  When we accept Jesus' blood sacrifice for our sins, we are "in God's House" of protection.  Spiritual destruction will never come near us again.

Notice that it was not Rahab's own merits which saved her; in that Jewish culture, she would have been stoned for her sins of harlotry.  It was her obedience and acceptance of the gift, the grace of the Hebrew God that saved her.  The same revolutionary, redemptive offer is available today!

A couple of years ago, I attended an event where a former prostitute spoke.  She told us about the hopelessness of The Life, as those in the sex trade call it, how she felt forever trapped, unable to escape.  That was, until a Christ follower told her about the red rope, the saving blood of Jesus.  All she had to do was accept it.  Now, she is free, and has been for 12 years.  Additionally, as He did for Rahab, He has given this woman a loving husband, children and a successful career.  Praise His name!

“He took my feet from the miry clay, yes He did, yes He did,

And placed them on The Rock to stay, yes He did, yes He did.

I can tell the world about this.

I can tell the nations that I'm blessed,

Tell them how Jesus made me whole

And He brought joy, JOY to my soul!"

                    Traditional Spiritual, based on Psalm 40:2

Just about anytime you hear a Christian talk about Rahab, they refer to her as Rahab the Harlot. Well, I understand why they do that; it's because they want to illustrate just how awesome the saving power of GOD is.  But, because her story does not stop with her left in her sin, it is more appropriate to refer to her as Rahab the Marvelously Redeemed, or Rahab the Great Great-Grandmother of King David. When we come to Christ, God obliterates the sin debt of our past.  We become a new creation in Jesus Christ.  (2 Corinthians 5:17 - - - If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation: old things are passed away; look!  all things have become new!)  Harlot to princess!

Do you understand that THIS is the theme of the entire Bible, Old and New Testaments … the love story of God pursuing fallen mankind.  It is a scarlet thread, a hope rope, which runs through and unites the Holy Scriptures.  Beginning with the animals’ blood spilled in Eden, so that their skins could cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, it runs on through millions of animal sacrifices.  It is seen running through the blood of the Passover lamb, that blood painted onto the doorposts of the Hebrews in Egypt.  It runs on through the story of Rahab, into the Garden of Gethsemane, where the blood of our Savior eeked from His pores.   It pools at the cross of Calvary, where He was broken and spilled out….for you, for me.

There is no stench so great He cannot dispel

No filth so putrid He cannot cleanse

No mire so deep He cannot free

No situation so desperate, no sinner too hopeless.

He rescues, redeems, restores.

Grab hold of The Hope Rope today.  Tie it in the window of your soul.

Father, thank you for the sacrifice of Your precious Son, for me, to save me from my filthy, dirty sin.  I am incredulous that You opened my ears as a nine-year old girl, but miraculously, You did.  "Thank you" does not begin to cover it.  Your grace is amazing! Thank you for The Hope Rope.  In Jesus' name, amen.

Sources:

Voskamp, Ann. The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas. December 10. Print.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCdm9MNBmfI