My ideas on a Proper Response to Suffering!
I have a theology on a proper response to suffering that includes 4 parts.....Protocol is critical, that is, we must start with step 1 and go in order thru step 4. Well, here it is........... !
Trust
I have 2 very simple questions - -
Have we come to the point in your lives where God can withdraw ALL of His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected?
The question becomes Why do we trust God? For what we can get or because of who He is and what He's done.
We must trust in God's sovereignty over every and all occurances in our lives. God is either sovereign over all or not sovereign at all ! I read in the following comment from the chapter on Pain in the book Prayer, Faith and Healingfrom Dr. Richmond in direct response to my theology:
"God is not responsible for it {Pain}, but God will give us strength to help us cope." If our particular view of God is adding to our suffering rather than easing it, we may want to re-examine those beliefs, Dr. Richmond suggests."
God is not responsible for pain??? Then, in Dr. Richmond's mind, He is not sovereign ! I know better...............
"Child of God, never forget this; all that you are suffering of any sort or kind, comes to you from the Divine Hand." Charles Spurgeon
"As long as I trace my pain to accident, my bereavement to mistake, my loss to another's wrong, my discomfort to an enemy, and so on, I am of the earth, earthly...but when I rise to my God and see His hand at work, I grow calm. "Cast thy burden on the Lord" is a precept which it will be easy to practice, when you see that the burden originally came from God. Charles Spurgeon
It seems suffering either moves us closer to God or further away. I've seen both examples in my own family. The key is that suffering should build our trust in His resources, not our own. Cardinal Joseph Bernadine agreed:
"One of the things I have noticed about illness is that it draws you inside yourself. When we are ill, we tend to focus on our own pain and suffering. We may feel sorry for ourselves or become depressed. But by focusing on Jesus' message - that through suffering we empty ourselves and are filled with God's grace and love - we can begin to think of other people and their needs; we become eager to walk with them in their trials. My decision to discuss my cancer openly and honestly has sent a message that when we are ill, we need not close in on ourselves from others. Instead, it is during these times when we need people the most." Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, 1928 - 1996 from Newsweek magazine, November 25, 1996.
As my body continued to weaken due to Muscular Dystrophy, I began to see the worthlessness of relying more and more on my own resources. Why trust in something that is withering away?Yet, that's usually what happens with suffering isn't it - - we become quiet, ashamed and don't want to come in contact with people - - we just don't want to be a burden - so we turn into ourselves and lock others out of our lives!!! God, in His sovereignty, has different plans ....
"The fact that disabled people hang in there does something for Christians. It's not about being an inspiration for others, it more than that.... it's a mystery. God somehow strengthens others by their faithfulness. They may feel like a burden to thers, but God thinks the opposite. He thinks its necessary for others to take care of the disabled... they do more for one's spiritual well being than can be imagined. What's more is that it's all being credited to the disabled person's account, per Phillipians 1:25-26. If the disabled person is alone and does not meet others, they must endure for the purpose of teaching the unseen powers, the rulers, and authorities in the heavenly realms about the powerful and all sustaining Lord (Eph 3:10)." Joni Eareckson Tada
You see, we who have been given suffering from the hand of God have been given a great responsibilty ! His purpose in giving suffering to us is to strengthen our trust in Him.......
"This is God's universal purpose for all Christian suffering - more contentment in God and less satisfaction with self." John Piper
"It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud (sorrows and suffering) he brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child - a relationship between God and our own souls and where people are but shadows. Is our relationship to God becoming more simple than it ever has been?", Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
We must trust - - - in any and all suffering and difficult situations......we just must simply trust God !!!!. Like Job in the Old Testament, when Job proclaimed in great agony, "Though He slay me, YET WILL I TRUST IN HIM!"
Need to adopt a "trusting God" strategy in every trial?? Try this......
"In times of trouble say, First: He brought me here ; it is by His will I am in this strait place: In that I will rest. Next: He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child. Then: He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn, and working in me the grace He means to bestow. Last: In His good time He can bring me out again - how and when He knows. Say: I am here (1) by God's appointment (2) in His keeping (3) under His training (4) for His time." Andrew Murray
Again I ask : Have we come to the point in your lives where God can withdraw ALL of His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected?
"Do we not see God at work in our circumstances? Dark times are allowed and come to us through the sovreignty of God. Are we prepared to let God do what He wants with us? Are we prepared to be separated from the outward, evident blessings of God? Until Jesus Christ is truly our Lord, we each have goals of our own which we serve. Our faith is real, but it is not yet permanent. And God is never in a hurry. If we are willing to wait, we will see God pointing out that we have been interested only in his blessings, instead of God Himself." Oswald Chambers
Trust Him - - He is in control !
"Real faith is refined in the fires and storms of pain". Eugene Peterson
2. Eternal Perspective
How much of your life, on a daily basis, is influenced by heaven?
I try to think about heaven every day, but the Bible says I'll never be able to truly envision it:
"No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Cor 2:9
Yet, two places in the bible paint an incredible picture of what heaven will be like:
Revelation chapters 4-5
Revelation 4
1 After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."
2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 3 And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.
4 Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.
5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back.
7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle.
8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever,
10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 "You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being."
Revelation 5
1 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, "Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?"
3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.
4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.
5 Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne.
8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
9 And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
12 In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!"
13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"
14 The four living creatures said, "Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped.
Revelation chapters 21-22
Revelation 21
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using.
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Revelation 221 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
6 The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place."
7 "Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.
9 But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
10 Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near.
11 Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."
12 "Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14 "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.
15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16 "I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
19 And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.
Life on earth is so short compared to eternity, where every person will live forever - in either heaven or hell. And ......how we live our lives on earth will affect how we live forever in eternity......
Now a Christian's life on earth should be like his namesake's - Jesus Christ. Think about the life of Jesus Christ and how He chose the path of suffering:
As followers of Christ, the Bible says we will suffer:
Remember the words I spoke to you: `No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. John 15:20
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. 1 Peter 2:21
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him, Phil 1:29
Our earthly sufferings have a tremendous impact on how Christians will live in heaven forever:
"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." Romans 8:18
"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." 2 Cor 4:17
"Blessed are you when people ...persecute you...rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven." Matt 5:11-12
The eternal perspective is the key to my life as described in the book Prayer, Faith and Healing. I can't get through any day wthout knowledge that glorifying God through my sufferings is having an eternal impact.
How much of your life, on a daily basis, is influenced by heaven?
Better think again if it's not your main focus..........It's all that matters.......
3. Joy !
WRITE-UP TO COME !!!!!!
SOME QUOTES TO THINK ABOUT:
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Rom 12:12
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Hab 3:17-18Rejoice in the Lord always. 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 everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Phil 4:4-6
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thes 5:16-18
"Everywhere a greater joy is preceeded by a greater suffering." Augustine
4. Daily Perspective
WRITE-UP TO COME !!!!!!
SOME QUOTES TO THINK ABOUT:
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Rom 5:3-5
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, 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 4:6-7
And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Phil 4:19
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:6-7
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory . Eph 1:11-12
"Paul reckoned his great trial to be a gift. It is well put. He does not say, "there was inflictedon me a thorn in the flesh", but "there was given to me". This is holy reckoning. Child of God, among all the goods of your house, you have not one single article that is a better token of divine love to you than your daily cross." Charles Spurgeon (2 Cor 12:7)
Best definition of prayer I know? - - - - - "CRY" "Charles Spurgeon
"Christianity has always insisted that the cross we bear always precedes the crown we wear." Martin Luther King, Jr.
