Suffering Archives - regeneratis

Rocky Trails & Life: MT e58

Several years ago, while in Tennessee, Tina and I were hiking on a trail. The trail was a 5-mile loop and the sign at the trail head said that it would take 2.5 hours to hike.

I took mental note of that sign and thought to myself, 2.5 hours? At an average pace it would take less than 2 hours to walk 5 miles.

It was not long before I realized why it was going to take 2.5 hours. The trail was loaded with rocks; I mean, rocks, not limestone.

There were trip hazards everywhere. A root would make an appearance here and there. At one point there was a sink hole that was at least 50 feet deep and big enough to fit a smart car.

The entire time we walked, we had our heads down. We did not want to trip or fall into a 50-foot hole.

It was a beautiful day and the temperature was perfect; the sun was bright. But I remember saying to Tina, “I am enjoying our hike, but it would be nice if we could look up and around and see some beauty.”

How much that hike resembles life. If you are like me, too often I get so focused on concerns and trials in my own life that I fail to look up and look around me.

I can look around and see the beauty in the struggle. Maybe I need to slow down and little, come up alongside someone else who, like me, is also experiencing trials.

Paul in 2 Corinthians (1:3-4) speaks about this:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

A few sentences later Paul defines the weight his burden as more than he could bear. Yet he still was able to give us an example of looking around.

He was not just looking at the ground, head down, going through his circumstances. Rather, while he was working through his trials, he was helping others deal with their issues.

What a beautiful example for us to follow!

S.D.G.

Good Foundations & Turbulent Times: MT e56

What did Jesus think about how important His teachings were?

He who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The comparison here is your life is a house. Jesus words are a solid foundation on which to build your house.

Why is this important? “When the rains come ( and they will ) and the streams rise ( and they do ) and the winds blow and beat on the house, (It happens ) it did not fall because its foundation was on a rock.

Good foundations withstand turbulent times.

On Monday, I had referenced some foundation work which needed to be done on my office. Have no doubt, the problem could have been ignored.

Rather than spending the time to fix the foundation issue I could have gone to play disc golf, watched some college football or anything other than fix the problem. I could have kicked that can down the road for weeks or even months.

The result of indefinite delaying the fixing this problem would have been disastrous. It would eventually be the end of this building. That is the importance of a foundation.

Knowing about the importance of foundations is not enough

Likewise, hearing Jesus’ teachings is not enough.

He who HEARS & DOES THEM is like a wise person . . . building on a solid foundation.

Building your life on the foundation of Christ is It is being righteous in your thought life, being righteous in how you handle anger, being righteous in self-control. This is a solid foundation in Christ. Even more it is honoring God, the Creator, with your life.

Jesus is a Solid Foundation

S.D.G.

More Than You Can Handle: MT episode 27

There is an old saying that I hear frequently that goes, “God will not give you more than you can handle.” I have heard it said by many believers and at some point in life, I most likely have repeated this.

Scripture does say God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, but that is different.

The phrase, “God will not give you more than you can handle,” cannot be found in Scripture. What can be found in Scripture is “God will give more than you can handle.”

2 Corinthians 1 as Paul was writing a church about some trials and suffering he had to endure he said this: “We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely on God and not ourselves.”

There was so much for Paul to endure, that it was beyond his strength. Our sovereign God had permitted them to endure more than they could handle. Why? So Paul would know only God can get him through this. He could not do it.

There have been moments in my life where I had to tap out. I did not have the strength to make it and God absolutely provided the delivery.

In a world where do-it-yourself is heartily praised, we must, as believer, remember that it is “God who works in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13)

Regardless of how much we grow in faith or how long we have been a believer, we rely on Him always.

S.D.G.

Tapestries & Suffering: MT episode #19

Have you ever looked at the other side of something embroidered or a tapestry? I have a little piece here from our home. You can look at one side and see this beautiful image. Yet flip it over, and there is an ugly collection of criss crossed threading that seems to make no sense at all.

You can make out like a little thing here and there but overall, about 95% of it is just a mess.

It is not strange how the two sides can be so different? The back side an utter mess and the visible side, an artful image.

This is a great visual explanation for suffering.

Sunday, we began a study on the book of Ruth and considered those opening sentences in light of the sovereignty of God. God IS good and God IS sovereign AND importantly, for the believer, all things work to the glory of God.

When we are suffering it can appear a lot like this back side. There is just a huge collection of threads in our life that seem to be going nowhere in particular. Things seem to be a mess and disjointed and we can’t find a purpose in any of it.

There is a side that so often we do not see until the work is complete. And it becomes the image that the creator was desiring to make. This is a beautiful thing to consider.

S.D.G.

Wrestling with God & Sanctification

In Genesis 32, Jacob has a very interesting encounter that could even be labeled mysterious. Jacob, all alone, is met by a man and they began to wrestle. It says that they wrestled all night until the breaking of the new day.

I wrestled in high school, and I recall the first day of wrestling practice. The coach paired each boy with someone close to the same size and each of us was given a small area and were told at the sound of the whistle we were to wrestle.

What I recall distinctly is how quickly fatigue set in. We were to wrestle for three minutes, but after like 50 seconds, it felt like it had been an hour. We were winded and tired and weak. I can’t imagine Jacob wrestling ALL night long. Jacob must have been a man of incredible strength.

This is a passage in which MUCH time could be spent. Some day these deeper truths will be addressed but for the couple minutes we have together today the focus will narrow on sanctification (the process through which we become holy) and suffering.

In this passage it states that Jacob was wrestling with God. This fact is confirmed in Hosea 12. This presents a problem because God tells Moses that earthly man cannot see God and live. Because of the wording in this passage, it appears that this is a Christophany, the appearance of Christ in the O.T.

Three things happened to Jacob in that wrestling match:

His name was changed to Israel (He strives with God)
He obtained a limp because in this wrestling match Jacob’s hip was touched by his opponent and was put out of joint. Jacob limped away from the match.
Because of this limp, he was forever changed. All Jacob’s natural powers were crippled, and every future step would be a reminder of God’s divine grace.

Here is a lesson for you and me. Sometimes our growth in holiness (sanctification) comes from something which is causing suffering. In this day, we are so quick to want to escape pain. We get a slight headache, and we immediately want ibuprofen. There is no sin in taking ibuprofen – this is only an example of what we do in other areas of life in that we want to end suffering immediately.

It is quite possible the suffering we want to end is being used by God to bring about more holiness in us and more dependence upon Him.

I have wrestled with God (figuratively speaking) for years, trying to get my own way. Desiring that suffering needs to end or that area of suffering is unjust. All the while missing that maybe God is working through suffering to produce change and holiness.

S.D.G.