03/29/2019
Do you suffer and not understand why God allows it to happen? Do you experience misery in your life, or see it in others, and ask God in prayer to remove this from you, or from those you intercede for in prayer? Well, as men it is natural for us to wince and withdraw from pain, but as faithful creatures it brings us to perfection in our faith, obedience, and prayers for the suffering and afflicted. How perfect are you being made? How perfect are your prayers?
“Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.”
Hebrews 5:8-10 ESV
Pain and suffering... this is a topic that is not a favorite to us as men and women, but it occurs in every one of our lives, and is not without reason, and benefit. Jesus was not made to suffer for no “good” reason. He endured not only the pain of the cross, but the agony of a beating so severe that it made him barely distinguishable as a man, He was pierced by both thorn and spear, suffered the humiliation of spit and insult, and shouldered not only the weight of the cross, but the sins of the world. This was the Son of God, and by this He, who had been without sin, was made perfect. He suffered and bled in perfect love for us, and perfect obedience to the will of His Father. As we are in the midst of our own suffering do we see Christ in it, or just dwell on our own misery?
“if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.”
2 Timothy 2:12-13 ESV
When I was a boy I ran barefoot through the fields and woods of my grandfather’s farm. I was a lean, dark brown, and shirtless little boy, who rarely wore shoes, and whose feet were like leather. I didn’t think much about being barefoot in those days because it was only natural for me to do that, but on occasion I would step on a thorn, a bee, into a pile of manure, or stump my toe violently on a rock, and when this happened I would cry out in pain or disgust. To my thinking, there is no pain more intense than to stump your toe, and nothing more detestable than to step into a slick cool pile of barnyard excrement with a bare foot. Neither of these things would you do of your own accord... well maybe you might step in manure to win a dare, but it would have to be a double dog dare before you would even consider it. The point I want to make here is that when we experience intense pain, like stumping our toe, the feeling is so sharp and overwhelming that it is hard for us to even breathe... let alone consider subjects like faith, obedience, or love; as a matter of fact we might even say some words that as Christians we shouldn’t. We react out of instinct, and the curse words we utter come from years of hearing them on playgrounds... and perhaps secretly saying them too. It takes a number of stumped toes (or mouth washing) before at last we just jump around on one foot and holding our toes in our hands say “Oh! Oh!” Jesus suffered, and He was perfected in it; He knew pain, and He knows how we feel when we experience it... I would venture that He even felt the overwhelming pain of an occasional stumped toe, and the temptation of playground sins.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Hebrews 4:15 ESV
So as we are in the midst of our own tribulation, or as the agony of another’s suffering causes us to fall back into those engrained lessons of worldliness and temptation, it is for our perfection... a “good” reason. By repetition, and often intense pain or discomfort, we eventually become perfected in our faith, and our reflection of Christ, and the words from our mouths become “Oh! Oh, my God! hear my prayer!”
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for the suffering, and tribulation that is my lesson of obedience and faithfulness. I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ who was perfected even as you are perfecting me. Take time with me Father, and don’t neglect me in my lessons. Help me to endure the agony, even those moments that seem insignificant in comparison with those of Jesus’. I pray that my heart and eyes remain fixed on the prison cell he was beaten in, the whipping post, the Via Dolorosa, and the blood stained cross on Calvary. Keep my mouth open in praise for my savior who hung there naked, beaten, caked in blood and sin, and forgiving. In the midst of carrying my own cross Father, teach me to love as He loved, obey as He did, and to remain in your will, even as my body casts an unrecognizable shadow behind me. Have mercy on me Holy Father, and sooth my wounds with the warm blood of Jesus... my balm of perfection, and the cleansing wash of my soul. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who leads me through the valley of the shadow of death, and yet in whose rod and staff I take comfort all the while. Praised be your name by the still water, and as I rest in green pastures, but praised also be your name as I dine in the presence of my enemies. My trust is in you Father, and I lean on you for my deliverance from all pain and suffering. All Glory is yours in my perfection... the fruit of your efforts in me.
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.”
Hebrews 2:10 ESV
Rich Forbes