For the Sake of His Name

I’ve been doing a study recently on suffering and trials and why God allows them into our lives.  Today I came to a Biblical example of these things: the Apostle Paul.  2 Timothy 3:11-12 says that he endured persecutions and afflictions at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra.  We know that he battled a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12), and a couple of times he actually enumerated his physical sufferings for Christ.

1 Corinthians 4:9-10 tells us that Paul suffered

• Hunger and thirst
• Nakedness
• Beating (“buffeted”)
• No home (I can identify with that one!)
• Hard work
• Reviling
• Persecution
• Defamation
• Made as “the filth of the world and the offscouring of all things.”

2 Corinthians 11:23-27 gives us an even more in depth look into Paul's sufferings:

• In Labors
• Stripes (beatings) above measure
• Imprisoned frequently
• Close to death often
• Beaten five times with 39 stripes
• Three times beaten with rods
• Three times shipwrecked
• One time stoned
• Spent a day and a night in the sea
• Frequent journeys (deputation anyone?)
• In various perils – from water, robbers, his own countrymen, the heathen, in the city, in the wilderness, from false brethren.
• Weary
• In Pain
• Sleeplessness (“watchings”) often
• Hungry and thirsty
• Fasting often
• Cold and nakedness

Yet this same Paul declared that he suffered theses things because he was appointed as a preacher, teacher, and apostle to the the Gentiles, “nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persudaed that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” (2 Tim. 1:11-12). 

This same Paul said that he said that he suffers trouble as an evildoer, but will “endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Jesus Christ with eternal glory.” (2 Tim. 2:9-10).

This same Paul declared boldly in 2 Corinthians 12:9-11 that he will gladly bear these infirmities and trials, even glorying in them, so that the power of Christ can rest upon him.  He uses these words, “I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

This same Paul referred to his afflictions as “light” in 2 Corinthians 4:17, and taught us that suffering is but for a moment, and is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

This same Paul told the Roman believers that he has added everything up in his account book (“reckon”) and can see that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18).

Sometimes I feel crushed under the weight of my trials and tribulations.  It seems as if there is no end in sight, no light at the end of the tunnel, no break in the pain.  And I have not suffered anything close to what Paul endured, and he called it all “light”. 

If I could see with eternal eyes, I would realize like Paul that what feels bulky, and heavy, and crushing to me now will be like a drop in the bucket compared to the weight of glory that it will be some day.  I would be able to suffer and endure more easily because I would realize that this affliction is just for a moment, and it cannot compare to the glory which is coming.  I would be able to declare truthfully that I rejoice when suffering comes, because I know that the weakness I am enduring is putting the strength of Jesus on display. 

Lord, help me to see with eternal vision today.

A Day in the Life of Jesus

Recently I have been reading through the Gospels, particularly to watch and see the suffering and trials that Jesus endured while on earth in a human body.  The Scripture tells us that He was tempted in all points like we are, but I know sometimes I feel like I am the only one going through _______________.  Sometimes I even wonder if the Lord knows how I feel or what I am struggling with.

In Matthew 14, we get a glimpse into the daily schedule in Jesus’ public ministry.  It makes me weary just thinking of it, and it helps me know that He understands when I feel like life is swirling out of control and I am weary to the bone.

This chapter begins with Jesus learning that His cousin, and His ministry partner, John the Baptist, has been executed in prison.  Jesus immediately departs for a “desert place”.  I can imagine He wanted to be alone.  To mourn.  To process what had just happened.  Sometimes I feel like I am drowning in everything going on around me, and I can’t quite get a grasp on it because more and more keeps flying my way.  I need to take a break and have some silence.

However, Jesus doesn’t get the silence or the quiet time to pray or talk to God.  The multitudes of people follow Him, and He spends the entire day healing them and teaching them.  When evening comes, His disciples implore Him to send the people away so they can buy food.  But Jesus takes His ministry a step further and feeds the people.  He expends yet more energy to perform a miracle, provide the meal, and clean up the leftovers. 

Jesus instructs His disciples to get in a boat and go while He sends the people away.  Have you ever seen a stadium after the crowd has disappeared?  What a mess is left behind!  Or entertained another family for dinner, and after they go you don’t have energy to wash the dishes?  But I don’t imagine Jesus left the hillside a mess.

Finally, Jesus will get His quiet prayer time.  I sometimes get to the end of my days with five little people and realize I didn’t have time to pray or study my Bible that day.  I’ve been trying to make place for it all day long, but it constantly gets crowded out by the needs of others around me.

Jesus gets to His quiet place, and then He sees that the disciples are struggling in the middle of a great storm.  So He goes to their aid.  My Bible says it was the fourth watch of the night, which I understand to be 3-6 a.m.  As a mom, sometimes I cannot wait for bedtime.  I finally close my eyes in exhaustion, and the baby cries in the night.  Even far into the night Jesus hasn’t had much time to Himself or to rest or to “recharge His batteries.” 

The Lord comes to His disciples walking on the water to still their storm, but they scream in terror and assume He is an evil spirit.  No faith to believe Him or to trust that He would come to their aid.  They panic.  Were they even praying for His help?  Were they looking for His rescuing hand?

Peter musters the faith to walk on the water to go to Jesus.  But in his distraction he begins to sink, and Jesus must perform yet another task – rescuing Peter from drowning, and then stilling the storm.

The weary men finally arrive at the other side of the sea.  But the sleepy town is waking up in the wee hours of the morning, and they hear that Jesus has come.  So they bring to Jesus all the diseased people to be healed.  And so begins a new day in the ministry of Jesus.

I am not putting myself on the same level as Jesus, but I am realizing in new ways that He has experienced the same things I am experiencing.  He has walked in my shoes.  And in dependence on the Holy Spirit, He was victorious and had a successful ministry.  In His strength, I can minister to the needs of my family and others around me today, though I be weary, and though I didn’t get much time to pray, and though the demands never seem to cease.  Even though the baby had me up half the night and I never got to prepare mentally for a new day.  Jesus is there.  Am I like the disciples, of little faith,  not really expecting Him to come to my aid at all?  Or do I have faith to walk this road with Him by my side, knowing He has already traveled the road before and knows its final end?

I Reckon

I have been studying through Romans 8 with the Doorposts blog “Busy Mamas Bible Study.”  This chapter is so rich that we can barely scratch the surface in a 30-day study.  I am currently digging into verse 18:

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

As part of the lesson, we read Matthew Henry’s commentary on Romans 8:17-25.  (I find it on the Blue Letter Bible app, or BlueLetterBible.com for free).  I love his description of “I reckon.”

“I reckon, as an arithmetician that is balancing an account.  He first sums up what is disbursed for Christ in the sufferings of this present time, and finds they come to very little; he then sums up what is secured to us by Christ in the glory that shall be revealed, and this he finds to be an infinite sum, transcending all conception, the disbursement abundantly made up and the losses infinitely countervailed.  And who would be afraid then to suffer for Christ, who as he is before-hand with us in suffering, so he will not be behind-hand with us in recompense?”

A couple of other thoughts on this verse:

1. The word for "suffering" is translated as "affections" in Gal.5:24 - crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts. I was digging into the relationship between suffering and "affliction" and trying to understand why it was translated that way. I think the base word is really a strong feeling.

Think of the strong feeling - the aversion, the weight, the "suffering" - that we feel when we are going through a trial or difficult circumstances. Its a strong feeling. A passion. Christ's suffering on Calvary is sometimes referred to as passion week or the Passion of Christ.

But our affections for the world, which we are to "crucify" in Gal.5:24 are also strong feelings - strong attachments to the world. And if we keep those fleshly affections, they ultimately bring suffering because of the consequences of sin.

2. As I was meditating on glory I was struck with the fact that the Hebrew (OT) word for glory is kavod or "weight." To ascribe glory to something was to give it due importance because it was weighty.  It also has a reference to the fact that in that day, payment was made in gold (so a heavy amount of gold was something of great value).

When I skimmed through the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge verses for "glory" (in the NT) I came away with the constant comparison that our suffering here is light and our glory (weight) in heaven will be "heavy" - great, important. Maybe it's insignificant, but I never thought of the "heaviness" of the glory compared to the lightness of the suffering. 

This falls right in with the meaning of “reckon” also.  As an accounting term, it was to weigh things in the balance.  As Matthew Henry described, when we weigh the minute suffering here on earth with our heavenly inheritance, the latter far outweighs (or counter-balances) the light suffering.