pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: trial


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Promise = Hope

Reading: Isaiah 65: 21-25

In the new kingdom, all will be blessed.  The works of the peoples’ hands will bring enjoyment.  The homes they build and the crops they plant will be enjoyed.  Nothing will be done in vain.  Even before their prayers are spoken, God will hear and answer them.  Life will be wonderful when the earth is renewed by God.  The renewing will affect all things.  Even the wolf and the lamb will lie down together!  There will be absolute peace and all will be blessed by God Almighty.  We long for the day!

The promise and hope in these words from Isaiah were just what the Israelites needed to hear.  Times were very bleak and it was an easy time to begin to lose faith in God.  Nothing in life seemed to be favoring the chosen people.  While the people knew their situation was the consequence of their sins, at some point we all say, “How long”?

We too have uttered this question to God.  Like the Israelites, we may have wandered from our faith and there is a consequence that we must endure for our choices.  Often we too get to the point of longing to return to ‘normal’ in our lives.  At other times in life, our time of suffering is not caused by us.  We can be adversely affected by another’s sin or choices.  We can also be affected by the circumstances of life – a diagnosis or sudden loss comes our way and we suffer and experience pain.  In all of these scenarios, we long to move past and to come to terms with our hurt or loss, but it can be so hard.

The promise of a new heaven and earth cannot remove the hurt or pain or suffering.  But it can give us a new sense of hope.  In this promise we can find hope and strength and comfort and maybe even a little healing.  One day all will be restored.  May we cling to this hope.  The promise is true!


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In Peace

Reading: 2 Thessalonians 1: 1-4

“Grace and peace to you” is how Paul begins his second letter to the Thessalonians.  In our churches, during our worship services, many of our congregations practice something similar in our times of greeting or the passing of the peace.  We are reminded, through these practices, of our love and fellowship with each other and with Christ.

At the time Paul wrote this letter, the church was growing.  But is was also facing persecution and abuse from the much larger, non-Christian, segment of Thessaloniki.  Hence, Paul’s words of encouragement to persevere.  Persecution and abuse may not be the words we would use today, but there is definite conflict with the larger society outside the church.  The messages of the world and the messages of the church often run head-on into each other.  At times this means saying “No!” to or disagreeing with the messages of the world.  Inadvertently, at times this will draw negative attention and sometimes it will draw conflict.

We usually end our services by sending forth the congregation with a blessing of peace and some words of encouragement as we go back out into the world.  Often these words include reminders to share it bring Christ’s love out there with us.  As we bring our faith out into the world, God’s peace is a good thing to bring along.  As we ourselves face trial or persecution, it is a good thing to have along.  As we enter alongside another struggling in life, it is a good thing to share.

Paul notes that the church is growing.  A church in the midst of a culture that was largely non-Christian is growing.  It was growing because the believers were living out their faith in the world outside the walls of their church.  The same principle works today.  Christ’s love is attractional.  It draws us in.  It will draw others in as well.  So go forth in peace, being the light and love of Jesus Christ in a broken world.  Go forth to love and serve the Lord.


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Cannot Be Shaken

Reading: Hebrews 12: 25-29

This passage in Hebrews was written in a time when following Christ could be very dangerous.  It could cost you your life.  While many of us do not face this danger today, in some parts of the world it is the reality.  Christians around the world die for their faith daily.  While most of us do not face this ultimate price, being a follower has a ‘cost’ to all believers.  This passage today is meant to encourage all believers and to remind us if the hope we have in Christ.

In following Christ, the cost can come in a number of ways.  It can be economic or social or relational.  As a Christian our choices and decisions can cost us popularity, status, position, or power.  It may cost us success as we choose to live following God’s ways.  We may choose to live less extravagantly as we choose to honor God first with our resources.  Our faith may cost us friendships, business partnerships, and even familial relationships as others choose to walk a worldly path.  There can be many costs.

Hebrews reminds us that we are one day “receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken”.  While in this earthly kingdom we face many ‘costs’.  They can shake us at times.  They can make us question and doubt.  We can also have our faith and our lives shaken by forces out of our control.  Economic downturns, violence and wars, disease, and death are just a few examples of things that can shake us.  Life and the circumstances that surround it and fragile and often we have little or no control over it.  Yet in the midst of this stands Jesus, our rock.  In the here and now, Jesus is our unshakable foundation.  As we lived out our blessed lives here on earth, we know beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus awaits us in the heavens, the kingdom that cannot be shaken.


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Refuge

Reading: Psalm 71: 1-6

The psalmist is experiencing a rough season.  The writer desires to seek refuge in God and to find a place away from their attackers.  There are pleas for God to rescue and deliver, to save.  The psalmist turns to God for help.

At times in life we may also feel like we are under assault.  We may feel like things are stacked against us or that life is a lot uphill lately.  When this is just a day or maybe a few days in a row, we can usually lean on God to help push us through.  Soon enough we see daylight and are thankful for God’s presence and strength that helped us endure and remain faithful.  But what about those times when a few days turns into a few weeks, maybe longer?  It is in this place that we find the psalmist.

We can relate to the psalmist.  It feels as if attackers and other negative people are all around us.  We think we are remaining faithful and obedient to serving God.  So why the conflict?  Why the opposition?  It seems unfair and unjust.  It becomes a tipping point.

Maybe we have stepped where we shouldn’t.  Maybe we have followed our own plans instead of God’s.  So maybe the opposition is calling us into check, back into alignment with God.  Maybe the trial is to refine or define or purify our faith.  When we are deep in a time of trial the temptation can be to turn away from God and to run to something else.  So maybe the discomfort forces us to really look at our faith, to define or refine our trust in God, or to deepen our faith.  It may be a season that yields growth.

There will be times of conflict and opposition when we serve God.  It is Satan’s best trick – doubt, questioning, fear.  It is his attempt to derail us.  The psalmist wrote, “Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go”.  May the Lord our God always be our rock of refuge.  In God we can trust.


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Rooted

Reading: Psalm 52

David is in the midst of a trial in Psalm 52.  King Saul has become crazed with jealousy and paranoia and is pursuing David to kill him.  David is on the run for his life.  He knows in his heart that he is in the ‘right’ and that God is with him, yet he faces this trial.  Despite being physically on the move, David states that he is like “an olive tree flourishing in the house of God”.  In the midst of this crazy pursuit by Saul, David remains rooted in his faith in the God he loves.

In the song “Always”, artist Kristian Stanfill sings, “My foes are many, they rise against me, I will hold my ground”.  In our life we can often relate to David’s trial and to the thoughts expressed in this song.  At times we can feel beset on all sides.  In these moments it can be easy or tempting to pull up the roots we have in God and to turn to other means to deal with the fear or pain or doubt or whatever else we are facing.

David wrote, “I will trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever”.  The songs says, “I will not fear, His promise is true, my God will come through always, always”.  In both we find the blessed assurance that God will always live us and will always be there for us.  For our part, we must stay rooted in God.

It can be hard to do this.  The song goes on to day, “Trouble surrounds me, chaos abounding, I will test in You”.  It is a faith deeply rooted in God that can rest in Him in the midst of a trial.  To be deeply rooted requires daily watering and fertilizing.  This day may we water our faith in the Word of God and allow it to permeate our faith, to fertilize it as its message sinks deep down into our soul and strengthens our faith.  May we do this day by day do that when the winds and rain of life come, our faith will be deeply rooted on the true foundation, Jesus Christ.


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Righteous Anger

Reading: Luke 9: 51-62

As God incarnate, as human flesh fully alive in this world, it makes sense that Jesus got angry.  Being divine did not keep Jesus from weeping a tear for Lazarus, from being joyful over a lost sinner being saved, or from being moved by a poor widow’s offering.  So why should we be surprised that at times Jesus got angry too?  Too often we want Jesus to be only the warm and fuzzy and loving.

The reality is that Jesus exhibited anger at times throughout His ministry.  He gets angry at the Pharisees and Sadducees and even at His own disciples.  And I am sure that He gets angry at me and at you from time to time as well!  In this story today, what lies ahead in Jerusalem has surely put all on edge; Jesus is probably as likely to break into tears as into a rant.

As disciples of Christ, we are ever seeking to become more and more like Him.  Jesus felt all emotions, as do we.  We should.  Anger has a place.  We might be angry over an injustice and be moved by our anger to intervene.  We might be angry at ourselves for falling into sin and the emotion may lead us over the stumbling block to a place of change and transformation.  Anger is also present in our prayer life.  In times of deep emotions we may need to rail at God out of the depths of our pain and suffering.  God can take it.  He desires an open and honest relationship.  This day may we offer all to God.  May we offer all that is inside of us – joy, pain, praise, anger, love, adoration.  May our relationship with God be all it can be.


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Presence

Reading: Psalm 77: 1-2 & 11-20

Psalm 77 begins with, “I cried out to God for help; I cried out for God to hear me”.  In this opening line we can feel connection.  Whether recent, long ago, or present, we have all had occasions to cry out to God and to lay out great need at His feet.  When we find ourselves at the end of our hope, we desperately reach out to God and beg Him to hear our prayer.

Then the psalmist goes on remind himself of all that God has done.  In this way we too can recall times we have been in God’s presence in our past and can again rejoice in the blessings we have and are currently experiencing.  Then he goes on to recount God’s goodness and the many miracles God has worked in the past.  In the midst of a difficult time it is important to think on God’s love, goodness, and power.

As the Psalm concludes, the writer recalls God’s leading of the people.  God still desires to lead us each day of our lives as well.  God seeks to be an active and engaged participant in our lives.  In times of stress or trial it can be easy to forget God’s role in our lives.  Even in those times that He seems to be absent, He is always ad near as our next prayer.

God’s desire is to heal and save the world.  The master plan is to make all things new again.  There is hope in our faith.  We do go through dark moments in our lives, but we also dance in God’s light and love.  May today be a day of dancing.  And even if the dance is slow and mournful, may it also be bathed in God’s presence.


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Rejoice in All

Reading: Romans 5: 2b-5

Paul calls for us to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  For the believer, it is easy, almost natural, to hope in God’s glory.  His glory was revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus, who rose to eternal life and calls on His followers to walk in His ways so that one day we too can do the same.  This glory is something we can find hope in!

Paul also goes on, in the very next verse, to call us to rejoice in our sufferings.  Why, oh why, would we be happy in our sufferings?  It is in the place of suffering that we can truly experience God’s power and presence.  In those times of high stress, emotional overload, heavy grief, and other sufferings that we best realize our need for the hope that He brings.  In these times we come to see that when we cannot, He can.  In our own sufferings and in the sufferings of the world, the hope of His glory can be all we have at times.  When we cling to this, we can rejoice in this hope.

It is through our experiences and the living out of our faith that we experience hope in our sufferings.  It is not, however, a direct line between the two.  Paul traces the path for us.  First, suffering produces perseverance.  Through remaining faithful to His promises, we learn to persevere in the face of trials.  We know the end game.  Second, perseverance builds character.  In the trial, we are refined.  Who and what we are is developed and cones to shine out.  It is the peace that passes understanding.  And lastly, character leads to hope.  Who we are as a Christian is shaped on our journey.  As we come through the trials and we realize that not only is God still there, but that He carried us through, we come to know His love in a deeper way.  Our hope and faith in Him grows.  As He pours out His love into us, may we rejoice in all that life brings!


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The Solution

Reading: John 21: 1-14

In the Gospel of John, Jesus has already appeared to the disciples two times, but they have not yet been empowered.  They are still in the “now what?” stage.  Jesus is indeed risen, but…  Fear of the authorities is maybe a little less now, but it is still real.  In the midst of all this waiting around behind locked doors, Peter announces that he is going fishing.  The combination of knowing Jesus is alive and being couped up for a while may explain his decision.  But for Peter, part of it may be the emotions he is personally dealing with.  Bold and fiery Peter swore allegiance to Jesus at all costs, even death, but had denied even knowing Jesus three times that last night.

So maybe Peter was seeking to return to something he knew, to his roots.  Up until meeting Jesus he had always been a fisherman.  We all find comfort in knowing what we are doing, in the familiar.  Out on the water with his friends, Peter probably found a measure of peace.  Doing something familiar probably took his mind off his guilt.

Sometimes we are not unlike Peter.  After a tough day a big bowl of ice cream or a bag of chips sure can help a lot.  For some, addictive or destructive habits can be where they turn.  We run the gamut with our coping mechanisms.  But our root cause and solution are the same: something has created tension or angst and we want to occupy ourselves somehow, so we reach out for what we know.

When Peter is in the boat and he comes to recognize it is Jesus on the shore, he immediately jumps into the water to get to Jesus quickly.  His fishing trip didn’t really fix anything.  Peter knows Jesus can.  In our times of trial may we too quickly look to Jesus.  May we too go to Him without hesitation.  Jesus is always the solution.  Always.


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Love

Reading: John 18:1 to 19:42

The Jewish religious authorities are wise.  They know their own laws inside out and use their own interpretation to build a case against Jesus.  It is a flimsy case at best, which Pilate sees right through.  They do not even state the laws Jesus ‘broke’ but instead remain vague.  Pilate is sharp enough to realize that Jesus has not really committed any crimes.  But he is also insecure and the Jewish leaders are well aware of this.  They understand the political game and have seen the consequences of being against Caesar.  So they play Jesus’ claim to be king against Pilate’s fear of Rome to force an execution.

Just as Caiaphas had earlier stated that it would be better for one man to die, Pilate maybe sees the current situation with Jesus this way too.  Better for one man to die rather than the Jews and possibly the whole city to be in an uproar, to draw attention from Rome.  Pilate’s guilt is easily set aside and Jesus helps by not defending Himself.  This is why He came; He will not interfere with God’s plans either.

On this day when we remember the trial and crucifixion, let us also remember the message of the cross.  Jesus, the perfect lamb, was willing to die for our sins.  Nothing says “I love you” more than this. God, through Jesus, is all about love, relationship, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and restoration.  This is the message we need to share with the world.

We must be careful to not be like the Jewish leaders, bending and picking and choosing the Law to meet our own needs.  The Bible is vast and contains a wide array of ideas.  We cannot pick out parts we like and ignore parts we do not like to manipulate others or to justify and rationalize ourselves.  It is a whole story – the story of God’s redeeming love.  It is a love letter from God to us all, inviting us into a deeply committed, loving relationship with Him.  This is good news to share.