pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: trial


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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.


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Oh What Love

Readings: Psalm 31: 14-15, Psalm 118:1, Isaiah 50:7, and Philippians 2:9

Today we celebrate both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday.  With palms we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.  It is an event filled with joy yet tinged with sadness as well.  This happy parade marks the beginning of Holy Week.  The events of this week will contain a good deal of despair but in the end hope is triumphant.  The passion of Jesus for humanity reveals the depth of His love for us.

Today’s Psalm readings remind us of the truth and steadfastness of God.  In Psalm 31 we are reminded to trust God because He WILL deliver us.  Yes, there will be trials, but He will see us through them.  Psalm 118 reminds us of the why: because God is good and because His love endures forever.  When we choose to fully trust our lives to God, we discover that He will deliver us each and every time because of the depth of His love for us.

That depth of love allowed His own Son to be tried, tortured, and crucified because God knew that death would not have the last word.  God knew that the grave could not contain His Son.  God knew that love is stronger than death.  So sin was  heaped upon Jesus on that cross.  He bore them all as the perfect sacrifice.  Oh what depth of love the Father has for you and me!  Oh what love.


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True Hope

Reading: Psalm 126

The psalm begins with the memory of captivity and exile and moves into a time to sow and then to wait for the harvest.  The darkest hour seems to have passed and new life and hope seem just around the corner.  To wait for the harvest takes time and patience and trust but also comes with expectancy and hope.  One day new life will spring up, hope will continue to grow, and then a joyous harvest will be reaped.

This cycle of life can represent our faith journey as well.  As we begin to move past a time in the desert, we begin to see signs of hope as well.  Out of the trial we begin to see how we were refined or strengthened by the trial.  From the work that God was doing in us or in our lives, we begin to see new life take shape.  It sprouts and there is an excitement and hope and promise.  Over time it grows and comes to be something that gives hope and light and love to others.  We are bearing fruit and planting seeds in others that will one day sprout in the lives of others.  As we use the gifts and experiences we had have to walk alongside others in times of trial, we can help them begin to see the hope we find in Christ as we journey together.

It is within the work of resurrection on the cross that we have our true hope.  It is because of God’s love expressed through Jesus Christ that we have this true hope.  The true hope of eternal life is the source of our strength and trust in Him.  This true hope is what shines within us and also shines out to bring hope and light and love to those in darkness.  May we ever share the good news within us with a world so in need.


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Mind on the Goal

Reading: Philippians 3: 13-14

Paul knew that forgetting was important.  He knew that if he were to continue to grow in his relationship with Christ, he must treat his failures like Christ treats our sin.  First, he must acknowledge that as we are human, we will sin and struggle with our sin.  Second, like Christ we must forget our stumbles and press on in our faith.  Mistakes so often teach us and we must be cognizant of what we can learn from our mistakes, but we cannot fall and remain down.  We must pick ourselves up, remember our guilt no more, and continue “on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called us heavenward in Jesus Christ.”

Perfection is something only Christ attained.  So we can expect to have stumbles, setbacks, and even the occasional fall.  The way in which we choose to handle these inevitable occurrences is essential to a successful journey of faith.  One option is to collapse, to become paralyzed, to remain stuck.  We may have brief times here because of the enormity or sheer emotional weight of the trial.  But we cannot choose to remain here.  Even though sometimes this feels like the easy choice, it is not the best choice because in essence we are saying God cannot rescue us.

In the end we must make the choice to reach out, to take hold of His hand, and to begin to walk again.  We must lean into God and allow Him to carry us for a  bit.  We must walk with Him and share all of what we are going through and ask for what we need.  Above all else God loves us and seeks good for our lives.  Our bottom line is that we know the goal is assured because of Christ’s work on the cross.  No matter what life brings, may we always live with our mind on the goal to which we too are called heavenward.


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Shaped to Share

Reading: John 12: 1-8

Mary and Martha’s brief season of pain ended when Jesus resurrected their brother.  In today’s story, they are hosting a meal to honor Jesus.  They had been followers since ling before the miracle that brought Lazarus back to life, but experiencing such a thing in person will forever change you.  Now they gather to offer back what they can.

Each sister has been blessed with certain gifts.  Martha’s gift is to cook and serve.  She seems to have become comfortable with this.  Mary’s gift is a little harder to define but perhaps we could define her gift as insight or discernment.  Like in the earlier story in the Bible, Mary chooses to simply be in Jesus’ presence.  But this time the Spirit moves inside of her and leads her to anoint Jesus’ feet with some very expensive perfume.  In a way it is acknowledgement that death will come to Jesus as she begins to prepare Him for burial.

Like Mary and Martha we are each gifted in unique ways to serve Jesus as well.  And like them, we too have impactful and life-changing experiences that shape us.  These events can often eventually become a start to our own personal areas of ministry as we are now intensely more aware of and sensitive to this experience.  Through this we are able to coach or mentor or walk alongside someone else experiencing something similar to what we experienced.  For example, a couple who unexpectedly lost a child may later be able to reach out to another couple now going through that same trial.

Mary was preparing others close to Jesus to begin to consider what His death would mean.  This came from her experience with losing Lazarus.  We too are shaped by our experiences so that we can share them with others.  In those trials we found that God remained close, carried us when needed, and guided us through the trial.  At times, we too will be lead or nudged by the Spirit to take action.  May we first be aware of the opportunities we have to walk alongside others, to offer them our love and support, and to draw them closer to God in their time of trial.


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Hope and Grace

Reading: Psalm 126: 1-4

God restores His people.  He brings them our of captivity and they can again dream.  He fills them with laughter and instills in them songs of joy.  Great joy fills the people as they realize all that God has done for them.

All of this joy and happiness is set against a long period of trial.  The people are finally returning to the land that God had promised them after a lengthy period in exile.  Their faith had sustained them in the long period of captivity and exile, but it was not a joyful time, not a time of happy laughter, not a time when they could dream of what could be.

There are times in our lives when we struggle, when joys seems far away, and when we cannot see hope on the horizon.  Like the people in captivity, we too must allow our faith to sustain us.  We may not be able to joyfully praise God, but we can continue to pray with a quiet confidence.  We can choose to lean on Him for strength we cannot seem to muster on our own but that we find when we rest in Him.

We must always hold onto hope.  We find hope inn His promises.  From the great song Amazing Grace, “The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures.  He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures.”  Like the Israelites, our journey out of captivity, out of our struggle, may be long.  But we too know that God loves us and seeks good for us.  In Him our hope rests secure.  May we rely on His amazing grace, a grace that is always present and a grace that always saves.


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Constant and Steadfast

Readings: Psalm 126: 4-6 and Isaiah 43: 16-21

Both passages speak to God’s love and provision that allows us to walk through difficult times, holding onto our faith.  Both texts acknowledge that at times we will face difficulties, hardships, challenges.  Both writings remind us that just as God has been there for His people in past trials, He too will be our rock and light in the trials we face.

In times of trial it does indeed seem dark.  We await some sign of hope or the dawn of change that signals a beginning to the end of our trial.  If it is a prolonged trial, we come to points of wanting to shout “Why?” to God.  It is in these moments that we need to recall God’s work in our lives.  It is at these times that we need to draw upon the strength found in passages such as today’s readings.  When we remind ourselves of God’s unfailing and steadfast love, the darkness lessens as hope begins to grow again.

Each trial we go through is an experience in faith.  As we reflect on how God was present to us each time faced a tough situation, we will see how we were never alone and we will see God’s hand always at work.  These reflections allow our faith and trust in God to grow.  They bring us reassurances that He will be there in the next trial and in the next and in the next…  For His constant presence and steadfast love, we say thanks be to God!


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Trust and See

A bloom appears in the desert.  Hope rises up our of the midst of despair.  New life stirs as the dust of a tragedy settles.  In all things God works for the good of those who love Him.

God never promised us that life would always be happy and easy.  He did promise us that life would be blessed.  He promised us that His mercies and grace would be new every morning.  He promised that His love would endure.  It is with these promises that we can walk through our times of despair, trial, and tragedy.

As we grow in our faith, God builds us up to be able to go through bad things and to still stay connected to Him.  Jesus is for us that living water that keeps us connected to God.  In our passage for today, Paul speaks of commending themselves in every way – even in the trials, beatings, imprisonments, and hunger.  In these types of things our faith will allow us to rely on God’s grace as well.  Paul ends this section of scripture with these words: “having nothing, yet possessing everything”.  At times we feel totally lost, yet still have our faith and that is everything.

In the good and bad times we rely on God.  He alone has the love, strength, and grace to see us through. These qualities of God are always present but we most need them in times of trial.  Trust in Him and cling to faith – there we will see that God is good.  He is good because His steadfast love endures forever!

Scripture reference: 2 Corinthians 5:20 to 6:10


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In Our Trials

After a couple of underachieving semesters at college, I found myself dismissed from school.  Poor decisions on my part left me with a choice to make.  I could sit in my pity pot and cast blame all around me or I could move forward.  My choice was to attend community college and reapply to the university.  It was both a humbling and necessary experience in my life.

In Isaiah 43 God tells us, “Do not fear, I have redeemed you… you are mine.”  The chapter goes on to tell us that as the waters rise to overtake us and as the fires try to consume us, do not fear because God is with us.  In our struggles and in our times when we have to experience something unpleasant, we must remember that God call us by name, that He has already redeemed us, and that He is always with us.

Perhaps your trial is yet to come or perhaps there are another trial or two yet to come in your life.  Maybe your trial was not with college but was found in words such as “I want a divorce” or “We did eveything we could, but…” or in something equally traumatic.  There are and will be points in our lives when we all will have a choice to make.  Will we allow the event or the circumstances to define us or will we call on our heavenly Father and place our trust in Him?

In our trials, we must remember to claim our identity as a beloved child of God.  As the water rises or as the fire laps at us, we must remember that God does not want us to fear but to trust in Him instead.  The trials are real and they will come, but if we choose God, the fires will only refine us; they do not define us.  In our trials, may we cast all of our fears on Him and lean into God’s loving and protecting arms.

Scripture reference: Isaiah 43: 1-7