There is a place in the faith, where we go through especially difficult situations and yet shockingly we are sincere believers. There is this accompanying bewilderment - why if I have been faithful to You O God, then why me? Job asked the question - why me? We want to know the reason for our suffering. Did God suddenly become an unloving God? The saviour who is sacrificed did He forget His mercy and goodness?
To add to the burden, no one wants to be around a sinking ship. When you are in deep trouble sometimes the whole world senses it - believers and unbelievers alike and they leave you alone. That makes things more difficult. We feel forgotten by everyone, there is no friend which we can count on. We are in the place of deep darkness and searing pain and the shroud of loneliness like thick blackness encompasses us all around. That black solid loneliness can be a greater burden many times than the circumstance. "Why have you forgotten me O God?" We ask with the psalmist. I imagine Joseph in that place in the prison of Egypt.
The bible has a phrase in the new testament - it is "holding to the mystery of the faith". This is a mind boggling phrase if you think about it. A mystery is by definition amorphous. It cannot be held on to. But yet there is a holding element of faith that we are expected to maintain. How to hold on to something that you cannot even define? A mystery. How does one hold on to that? Perhaps what the scripture means is that this is something you don't understand. That the life and walk of faith, trying to figure out God's will can seem like trying to chase the wind. There is a mystery that beckons discovery and pursuit. Without an element of mystery in life, there can be no discovery or pursuit.
But yet there is mystery that is undiscoverable no matter how hard you try, this mystery remains a mystery. Like why did Paul have that thorn to struggle with? Maybe you can't for the life of you figure out why you are in this set of circumstances. There is bewilderment. There it is - the mystery element of the faith in which must we live out. But yet we are supposed to hold on! Hold on to what? Holding on to God's promises and His revealed character. He is a just judge and will make right whatever injustice we experience. If not in this life, then the next. The mystery element has to be left to God, who will one day make that plain reveal its purpose, perhaps on earth, if not in heaven.
My next thought is that whilst in deep trials, the sincere believer ought to trust that God has a purpose for that suffering and that in the end somehow, God will bring it about for our good, even though we can scarcely see any good come out of that very situation, And this very thought - the thought that God can redeem and make good may be the furthest thing from our heart and mind when you are in the midst of all trouble and in deep pain. It is might be all but impossible to do this. Except by God's own grace and mercy which we might not even feel in such a situation which keeps the believer and prompts and allows and empowers the believer to do this. But God can cause us by His unseen hand to believe still that there can be good in it, and that He does have a purpose perhaps on earth or perhaps in heaven, which might be veiled and kept secret for all eternity, for our good.
Sunday, November 30, 2014
Saturday, November 29, 2014
A little yeast and the God-focused-life
A little yeast causes the whole dough to rise.
Little sins tolerated is a whole life corrupted.
Let's examine how just a little sin works through our life. How does it cause the whole lump to be affected? After all a little sin can't kill, or can it?
Sin impairs our enjoyment of life. Our minds and spirits are made to bear the additional burden of sin and guilt nagging and eating away at our consciousness. We are not free to focus on work and enjoy our work and our lives we cannot pour ourselves fully into our work because sin holds us back. We cherish and enjoy being spread out and dissipated to entertain the nagging specter of guilt rather than being concentrated and focused.
Sin messes up priorities - we prioritize according to the defense or feeding of our sin. It steals away our wholehearted focus which should rightly belong to God. So sin impairs the judgement. Our minds are no longer clear and unobstructed to be impartial because now our hearts are inclined a particular way.
Ultimately a life which is 100 percent God focused and God devoted is light and free. It is strong and light and durable like titanium. It indeed is a joyful and happy life. It is not burdened down with care or overwhelmed easily by circumstances or opposition. Strong with Gods spirit, light - in that it is not burdened by guilt or sin it is our best effort at worship in everything we do, not weighed down with regret.
A God focused life is poured out in the service of God and others. It is a useful and profitable life of service to others. It is not poured out in service of self or corrupted by greed or by ambition it is our best foot forward in the pure presence of God and earns His approval.
It is light because humility causes us to take ourselves lightly and asks the master 'what shall I do now O lord?' at every turn.
Who would not want a life like that?
Love and Hate
Love annihilates itself for the benefit of others.
Hatred annihilates others for the benefit of self.
Friday, November 28, 2014
The wounds of Joseph.
Sometimes when we've been through too much we feel like there is so much anger inside that you have to take it out on something. It doesn't matter who or what. Anything which presents itself at convenience can be made into a target, fair play and a potential site to offload all the explosives of injustice and trauma that we've accumulated over the years in rage.
Joseph was in that place. When presented with the opportunity, he wanted to make it hard on his brothers and test to see whether all those years had really changed their hard and evil hearts. Was there any mercy and kindness in them at all?
Joseph was out of control in anger at the injustice all the bitter suffering which went to his head. The bible presents the saints in all their human element. No warts are glossed over. The injustice was real and epic in depth - they had sold his 13 years of his life away on a whim. So when the situation presented itself, he took the opportunity to lash out. Ultimately it was Jacob whom was hurt and traumatised at having to release Benjamin, the father whom he loved became the unintended casualty. Ultimately he resolves to forgive on evidence of Judah's intercession and love for his father Jacob and his brother, Benjamin, and mercy and healing can begin in Jacob's house.
Anger many times points to deeper hurts and other deep issues of injustice under the surface of our seemingly normal lives. It is the insecure and afraid and vulnerable who feel anger and hatred the most. The powerful and healthy have not so much experience of stinging anger of injustice than the pauper and the weak and defenceless. Joseph was vulnerable when he was hurt - a mere youth defenceless against 9 older brothers some of whom were young men when he was but a teenager at 17. Is it any wonder that he bound Simeon, meaning 'hearing' when only one brother heeded or heard his cry for mercy in the waterless pit? The hearing one heard no cry for mercy but hardened his heart and the oldest, Judah who should have stood up for the little brother Joseph, kept silent. Reuben is the one who saves Joseph's life the first time, but later it is Judah, the oldest who stands up for Benjamin the youngest of the lot.
Joseph was in that place. When presented with the opportunity, he wanted to make it hard on his brothers and test to see whether all those years had really changed their hard and evil hearts. Was there any mercy and kindness in them at all?
Joseph was out of control in anger at the injustice all the bitter suffering which went to his head. The bible presents the saints in all their human element. No warts are glossed over. The injustice was real and epic in depth - they had sold his 13 years of his life away on a whim. So when the situation presented itself, he took the opportunity to lash out. Ultimately it was Jacob whom was hurt and traumatised at having to release Benjamin, the father whom he loved became the unintended casualty. Ultimately he resolves to forgive on evidence of Judah's intercession and love for his father Jacob and his brother, Benjamin, and mercy and healing can begin in Jacob's house.
Anger many times points to deeper hurts and other deep issues of injustice under the surface of our seemingly normal lives. It is the insecure and afraid and vulnerable who feel anger and hatred the most. The powerful and healthy have not so much experience of stinging anger of injustice than the pauper and the weak and defenceless. Joseph was vulnerable when he was hurt - a mere youth defenceless against 9 older brothers some of whom were young men when he was but a teenager at 17. Is it any wonder that he bound Simeon, meaning 'hearing' when only one brother heeded or heard his cry for mercy in the waterless pit? The hearing one heard no cry for mercy but hardened his heart and the oldest, Judah who should have stood up for the little brother Joseph, kept silent. Reuben is the one who saves Joseph's life the first time, but later it is Judah, the oldest who stands up for Benjamin the youngest of the lot.
Joseph had 9 people to forgive 9 major wounds which needed healing and mercy to heal deeply. Most of us might not have so many or as deep wounds to heal and that is why this story is still so powerful in its applications for our healing.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
The man with the limp - how do we follow God in the face of tragedy?
Jacob was not just a physical cripple but also an emotional cripple.
Physically every step he took would have been filled with pain, a reminder that He needs God for every step He takes.
Arguably the loss of his favourite son thinking him to be dead would be the equivalent of crippling the soul. Abraham had to give his son as a living sacrifice to God to offer him up to die, but Jacob lost his son to what he would interpret as a random accident.
How do you go on living when your very heart has been taken out of you?
With the same realisation that he needed God for every step of the way. He lived most of his old age worshipping the God who he thought allowed the death of his son.
It is a very odd thing that God should wound his most faithful followers. It seems almost contradictory to a good God and father why would a father do such damage to the lives of those who love Him most? Job's case is the worst, Abraham's case, Daniel's case, Jesus own case and the apostles also conform to the same pattern. The path that leads to the closest following of God's footsteps are also the steps marked by pronounced suffering. All these men when asked - why do you still follow God when He allows and has marked such tragedy in your path? Would doubtless answer - I follow God because He is God! Who else is worth following? Who else has the words of eternal life and who else is the messiah, the saviour? We follow God not for what we can get out of Him, no, we follow Him because He is worth following.
The following reduces us, it does not increase our greatness. It humbles us to nothing, that all we hold on to is the wonder of that intimate walk, that face to face talk with the Glory of God which sees us through all forms of adverse suffering, even apostolic suffering.
Physically every step he took would have been filled with pain, a reminder that He needs God for every step He takes.
Arguably the loss of his favourite son thinking him to be dead would be the equivalent of crippling the soul. Abraham had to give his son as a living sacrifice to God to offer him up to die, but Jacob lost his son to what he would interpret as a random accident.
How do you go on living when your very heart has been taken out of you?
With the same realisation that he needed God for every step of the way. He lived most of his old age worshipping the God who he thought allowed the death of his son.
It is a very odd thing that God should wound his most faithful followers. It seems almost contradictory to a good God and father why would a father do such damage to the lives of those who love Him most? Job's case is the worst, Abraham's case, Daniel's case, Jesus own case and the apostles also conform to the same pattern. The path that leads to the closest following of God's footsteps are also the steps marked by pronounced suffering. All these men when asked - why do you still follow God when He allows and has marked such tragedy in your path? Would doubtless answer - I follow God because He is God! Who else is worth following? Who else has the words of eternal life and who else is the messiah, the saviour? We follow God not for what we can get out of Him, no, we follow Him because He is worth following.
The following reduces us, it does not increase our greatness. It humbles us to nothing, that all we hold on to is the wonder of that intimate walk, that face to face talk with the Glory of God which sees us through all forms of adverse suffering, even apostolic suffering.
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