02/18/2019
Is your life full of hardship and adversity right now? Are you going through the gates of sorrow, or crossing a desert in which you are feeling lost and parched? Perhaps it is illness, mourning, or some other wrenching moment! If so, then are you tempted to lash out at God and ask Him why, or to look for Jesus and cry out “Where Are You?” Sometimes we feel like we are being punished when nothing could be further from the truth.
“"I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.””
Job 10:1-2 ESV
I played sports as a young fellow, baseball, football, and ran track, and I absolutely loved the games, and races, but before I could play the game, or run the race, I had to prepare myself for it. Practice was grueling and hard! Sometimes I wondered if it made sense, or if the game was worth the effort I was putting forth... sometimes I questioned my coach’s motives, and thought that I was being mistreated, but then race-day would arrive and I would excel... I would be faster than I thought possible, or on game day I could endure the struggle of the game with greater ease than before. In the moment of action the struggle of preparation revealed its worth... and the demands of my coaches showed their wisdom. Hardships in life and faith are much like that, and this morning, as I read the words of Charles Spurgeon, I could see that he understood this as well...
“Don’t you know that your faith never looks as grand in summer weather as it does in winter? ... Afflictions are often the black background in which God sets the jewels of His children’s graces, to make them shine better.” - Charles Spurgeon
Job was tempted... not by God, but by Satan, yet God allowed it to happen, and used it for a His purposes. There are three rather pronounced goals that God fulfilled through the suffering of Job; first He demonstrated the character of Job and then increased it through each hardship he suffered. Secondly, He used Job to teach not only his family and friends, but all of mankind a lesson in how to resist temptation, and to face life’s suffering and impending death. Then finally, He used Job to show us that He will bless us... even in the midst of suffering, and most certainly as s result of it. God performs the same things as we face our trials and suffering. In the midst of them it is hard to see the purposes or the goodness of God in what is happening to us, and to those around us, but if we persevere in our faith He will show it to us in glorious increase as we reflect Him more, if we hold to our belief in Him He will use us to demonstrate a righteous and holy life to those who witness our strife, and if we endure then He will also bless and reward us for having advanced His will. We often compare ourselves to Job when we are hurting, but there is another more perfected Job in the Bible... Jesus Christ. Standing on the shoulders of Job Jesus takes us to new and more astounding heights in God’s character. His suffering is unmatched, and yet his life teaches us how to further ourselves in the character and image of God in obedience. Then finally He shows us God’s mercy and grace... not only in His reward, but our reward and blessing in it.
So often when we are in the midst of great hardship we try to look beyond what we are going through to find God’s purpose, or we try to see God’s goodness in the reward that awaits us if we can just endure long enough to obtain it, but the real reward, the real benefit, and the absolute love of God doesn’t come in completing the trial... it comes from walking through it with Him; knowing He is with us. Remember these words in Psalm 23... “I walk”, and “for thou art with me”?
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
Psalms 23:4 KJV
God doesn’t abandon us in the midst of our suffering, He is right there with us with His rod and His staff, and He will comfort us if we look to Him. Then at the pinnacle of our ordeal He shows us He is still there...
“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”
Psalms 23:5 KJV
Until at last He reveals to us what we have been walking through all along, the fullness of His goodness and mercy, and finally the victor’s reward... eternity with Him.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”
Psalms 23:6 KJV
What trial are you in the midst of? How much suffering are you enduring? Is your faith wavering, or is it steadfast? Are you being tempted to curse God and die? Remember my friend, that you are in the midst of a walk with God, and He will lift you up and never forsake you. Our moments in the mortar of our suffering are meant to grind us ever finer with the pestle of trial and hardship, until we are combined more perfectly with His Son Jesus Christ.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the lessons of my suffering, and for your presence there with me. Help me Holy Father to look for you always, and to never doubt your goodness, mercy, and grace, in the midst of the most horrific pain, or devastating loss that I might be faced with. Grind me ever finer Father, do that I can be blended perfectly with your character, and the perfection of your Son Jesus. Give me strength to withstand the agony of suffering’s pestle, and to not escape the mortar of your will. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who draws me into Himself, and walks with me in the midst of everything that is my life. Great are you my Lord, and greatly to be praised. Your blessings are ever present, and though I might be battered and downtrodden through many trials and tribulations, the ultimate eternity I seek with you is my greatest desire, and reward. Praised be your name always my God!
Rich Forbes