Tag: hard circumstances

Where Is God in My Suffering? (Psalm 22:23-31)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Crucifixion, by Georges Rouault, 1937

“Praise him, you servants of the Lord!
    Honor him, you descendants of Jacob!
    Worship him, you people of Israel!
He does not neglect the poor or ignore their suffering;
    he does not turn away from them,
    but answers when they call for help.”

In the full assembly I will praise you for what you have done;
    in the presence of those who worship you
    I will offer the sacrifices I promised.
The poor will eat as much as they want;
    those who come to the Lord will praise him.
May they prosper forever!

All nations will remember the Lord.
    From every part of the world they will turn to him;
    all races will worship him.
The Lord is king,
    and he rules the nations.

All proud people will bow down to him;
    all mortals will bow down before him.
Future generations will serve him;
    they will speak of the Lord to the coming generation.
People not yet born will be told:
    “The Lord saved his people.” (Good News Translation)

I find that a great deal of truth and reality in this world is something of a mystery and a paradox. Christianity, especially, is a religion of paradox, in my opinion. For example, God is Three – Father, Son, and Spirit – but God is One. Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine, at the same time, all the time. And when it comes to the spiritual life, suffering exists, and God is sovereign and in control of all things.

This then, is what prompts many people to question if there is really a God – since so much suffering exists throughout the world. Yet, it’s necessary to maintain the tension that hard circumstances, adversity, and difficulty in the form of awful suffering, and the preeminence of the Lord God almighty, both exist without taking anything away from either of them.

The severity of suffering, nor the supreme majesty of God, need to be watered down in any way in order to try and make sense of our existential situations.

“Suffering” is a word we would like to avoid. Even saying or reading the word might make some folks cringe. Suffering? No thanks. I think I’ll pass on that. Yet, something inside of us instinctively knows we cannot get around it. Everyone suffers in some way. It is endemic to the human condition that at times we will suffer physically, financially, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. 

That’s why I believe there is so much talk within some Christian circles about miracles. It’s more than understandable:

  • a chronic pain sufferer wants relief, so she prays for a miracle of health
  • a small business owner is bleeding financially, and looks to God for an immediate miracle of wealthy clients
  • a beloved senior saint knows she is afflicted with Alzheimer’s, so she prays for the miracle of deliverance, even to be taken home to be with the Lord
  • a young adult finds himself in the throes of depression and has tried everything to cope and get out of it, so he petitions God for a miracle out of the deep black hole
  • a believer in Jesus keeps experiencing a besetting sin and cannot get over it, so she looks to God for the miracle of not struggling any more with it

These scenarios and a thousand other maladies afflict people everywhere. There are a multitude of stories out there. Folks who have experienced a miracle tell of their wonderful deliverance. But what about the rest? Those without the miracle? Do they have a lack of faith? Has God forgotten them?

Oh, my, no! God sees, and God knows. God is acquainted with suffering. Jesus knows it first-hand. Remember that it was Jesus who said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1; Mark 15:34; Matthew 27:46)

Even Jesus cried out in his suffering. But there was no deliverance coming for him.  There was, however, deliverance coming for us.

Sometimes the greatest miracle and deliverance of all is to be freed from the need for a miracle. The reason God doesn’t just offer immediate relief from everyone’s suffering and bring a divine miracle is that the Lord is doing something else: Walking with us through our suffering. God oftentimes has plans and purposes for us that are well beyond our understanding. 

We simply are not privy to everything in God’s mind.

We may not get the miracle we desire. Yet, what we will get without fail, is God’s provision and steadfast love all the way through the suffering.

Where is God in your suffering? Right beside you. Jesus is suffering with you. You are not crying alone; Christ weeps with you.

Let, then, those who suffer, eat and be full. Let them be satisfied with the portion God has given them. And, what’s more, let them offer praise to the God who is squarely beside them in every affliction and each trouble.

God Almighty, you are the One who knows suffering and affliction better than anyone. I admit I don’t often understand what in the world you are doing or not doing in my life and in the lives of those I love. Yet, I admit that I have found in you the comfort, encouragement, and strength to live another day in my trouble. For this, I praise you, in the Name of Jesus Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Temptation of Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Temptation of Jesus by Gustave Doré (1832-1883)

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.
And they will hold you up with their hands
    so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will kneel down and worship me.”

“Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God
    and serve only him.’”

Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus. (New Living Translation)

Get Thee Behind Me Satan, by Ilya Repin, 1895

In our most vulnerable moments, there are dark forces that attempt to swoop in and offer demonic delights for us to consider. This is what we call “temptation.” Indeed, it can be quite alluring to entertain ways of getting what we need, and want, through dubious avenues and shadowy back alleys, other than the light of God.

In the desert, the place of preparation for ministry, Jesus fasted and prayed forty days and nights. If ever there was a time when Jesus would be vulnerable to alternative religion, the devil mused, wringing his demonic hands together with wicked delight, it would be out in the desert by himself.

So, Satan tempted Jesus with three whoppers he thought would get to Jesus, for sure. Having tempted Jesus with food and a way to fame, and having failed both times, Satan gave his final temptation, and his best effort at getting Jesus to take a different path.

To us this temptation to bow down and worship Satan seems like a no-brainer. Well, of course, no one would do such a thing as this, especially Jesus. And he did not. But it was still quite tempting, and this why: Jesus knew very well what was ahead of him.

He had just spent forty days in an intense orientation for an upcoming three years of hard ministry with an end that he knew would be characterized by torture and a horrendous death. If there was a way to get around all that pain and suffering, maybe Jesus would take it. 

Satan presented to Jesus an alternative way, a different path to achieve his purpose for being on this earth. Jesus could have it all without the three years, without the hard slugging to communicate the kingdom of God has come. Most of all, Jesus could circumvent the cross and establish his rule over all the earth – all pain free! The temptation, yes, was very tempting. Become King Jesus now with no suffering.

This has always been one of our great temptations, as well: Take the easy path. Get what you want, what you deserve, now, with no hardship. 

The values of God’s kingdom include trust, patience, and perseverance. Temptation insists we need none of those hard things to be successful.

Satan is the original slickster, marketing his quick and easy wares for people to buy into the notion that life can lived without pain and hardship, and with wild success, right now! The scary thing about it is, Satan can deliver… but it will cost us our very lives. Slavery to sin is the price we pay for hitching our hopes to the quick and easy.

The Christian season of Lent is a time for the slow, patient, deliberate development of the soul in attachment with the Lord Jesus. Engaging in spiritual disciplines is hard. It is difficult to fast and pray. Growing in Christ is slow and takes a great deal of learned perseverance.

Far too many of us are tempted to circumvent the hard work of discipleship and simply have some spiritual professionals distill everything we need into one hour on Sunday morning, or in a nice neat 5-minute devotional.

For yet another easy alternative, it could be that we opt to fabricate our own religious practices and beliefs, picking and choosing what fits our lifestyle, as if convenience and comfort are the summum bonum of life, instead of worship.

Christ was able to face down temptation because the desert strengthened him. Yes, he was vulnerable. But he was not weak. If we want to handle temptation, it will take the hard slog of Lent to help us. It will require the desert to spiritually form us and prepare us for godly ministry that puts the devil in his place.

Lord Jesus, you are the king of all creation. Just as you chose the hard path of God’s kingdom, so help me to persevere with faith and patience. May my life reflect your words and ways, in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

How Do You Interpret Suffering? (Job 5:8-27)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
“Job,” by French painter Léon Bonnat, 1880

“But if I were you, I would appeal to God;
    I would lay my cause before him.
He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed,
    miracles that cannot be counted.
He provides rain for the earth;
    he sends water on the countryside.
The lowly he sets on high,
    and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
He thwarts the plans of the crafty,
    so that their hands achieve no success.
He catches the wise in their craftiness,
    and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
Darkness comes upon them in the daytime;
    at noon they grope as in the night.
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth;
    he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
So the poor have hope,
    and injustice shuts its mouth.

“Blessed is the one whom God corrects;
    so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For he wounds, but he also binds up;
    he injures, but his hands also heal.
From six calamities he will rescue you;
    in seven no harm will touch you.
In famine he will deliver you from death,
    and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
You will be protected from the lash of the tongue,
    and need not fear when destruction comes.
You will laugh at destruction and famine,
    and need not fear the wild animals.
For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
    and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure;
    you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing.
You will know that your children will be many,
    and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
You will come to the grave in full vigor,
    like sheaves gathered in season.

“We have examined this, and it is true.
    So hear it and apply it to yourself.” (New International Version)

“The Vision of Eliphaz,” by John Linnell (1792-1882)

I personally find it rather annoying whenever someone gives me unsolicited advice. It is especially loathsome when it comes with a lot of useless verbiage which is offered as gospel truth.

Eliphaz was a “friend” of Job – which brings to mind the old adage, “With a friend like that, you don’t need any enemies!” Eliphaz was also full of himself, believing that he had all the answers to Job’s terrible suffering.

The unhelpful speech of Eliphaz became harmful words that cut into Job’s spirit. You see, Job knew with a settled confidence that his personal integrity was intact. Yet, his trouble abounded. We need not, like Eliphaz, rush to the conclusion that something is wrong with the suffering person. It may be the Spirit of God thrusting us into a desert experience to test and approve our faith.

Eliphaz offered one of those tired age-old arguments that bad things only happen to bad people. He came at Job with the inexperience and absurdity of making misguided assumptions. He rhetorically asked if there were ever innocent people who were trashed with trouble, or upright folks who ever got cut off from God? 

The concluding judgment of Eliphaz was bound to be off the mark – believing that some sort of secret sin must surely be the culprit behind Job’s awful misfortune. Certainly, Eliphaz thinks, Job cannot possibly go through such terrible suffering without having done something to anger God.

Times change, but the basic nature of people, not so much. In today’s church and world, the same notions still endure. If I had a quarter for every time I heard crazy comments, like the following, I would be a rich man: 

  • “He’s poor because he is lazy and doesn’t want to work.”
  • “She keeps having chronic health issues. God is punishing her.”
  • “The pandemic is God’s judgment on us for not having the Ten Commandments in our courthouses.”
  • “If you just confess your sin and have faith, you’ll be healed.”
  • “They’re in big trouble. They obviously did something evil.”

On and on the wrong-headed statements continue, ad nauseum.

The Apostle Peter understood how to view trouble in a healthy way. He said we all suffer – both the good person and the wicked. It’s just a matter of whether we will suffer for doing the good and right thing, or suffer because of saying shallow, illogical, and stupid comments that offend God and hurt others. (1 Peter 3:17-18)

Even Christ suffered. And it wasn’t because of his own sin. It was because of ours. Jesus suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. 

Since Jesus suffered, the follower of Jesus will suffer. There is a big picture only God sees. Whenever we suffer, there is something going on behind the spiritual scene. We must allow God to do divine work, and then, trust that the Lord bends all human suffering for good and redemptive purposes.

“Where there is no love, pour love in, and you will draw love out.”

St. John of the Cross

So, let’s change the rhetoric. Instead of jumping to judgment, reflexively hop to grace with comments like these:

  • “He has poverty of spirit. He’s blessed and will inherit the kingdom of God.”
  • “She’s in chronic pain. God has allowed her the privilege of suffering in solidarity with her Lord.”
  • “We’re in a pandemic. Here’s a chance for us to live out the Ten Commandments.”
  • “If we confess the world’s sins of pride, hate, and injustice, perhaps God’s mercy will deliver us.”
  • “We’re in a big pickle. No better time than now to grow in grace.”

Where is God? Beside you, quietly and confidently holding you up in your suffering. For me, that’s one of the best ways to interpret hard suffering.

Lord God, I entrust myself to you because you know what you are doing. Thank you for the trials of life which humbles my heart to pray. Do your work in me so that my faith is fortified for a lifetime of service in the church and the world, through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

A Divine Appointment (2 Kings 8:1-6)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
The prophet Elisha and the Shunammite woman, by Pieter Lastman, 1620

Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had brought back to life: “You and your household must go away and live wherever you can, because the Lord has called for a famine. It is coming to the land and will last seven years.”

So the woman went and did what the man of God asked. She and her household moved away, living in Philistia seven years. When seven years had passed, the woman returned from Philistia. She went to appeal to the king for her house and her farmland. The king was speaking to Gehazi, the man of God’s servant, asking him, “Tell me about all the great things Elisha has done.” So Gehazi was telling the king how Elisha had brought the dead to life. At that very moment, the woman whose son he had brought back to life began to appeal to the king for her house and her farmland.

Gehazi said, “Your Majesty, this is the woman herself! And this is her son, the one Elisha brought to life!”

The king questioned the woman, and she told him her story. Then the king appointed an official to help her, saying, “Return everything that belongs to her, as well as everything that the farmland has produced, starting from the day she left the country until right now.” (Common English Bible)

People of faith typically don’t see divine appointments coming at all; they often show up in the middle of hard mundane days.

The prophecies and actions of the prophet Elisha are covered in the book of 2 Kings with a series of ten incredible narratives (chapters 2-9). Each of them are designed to demonstrate the power of God over (and sometimes against) the power of the king.

This was important because the royal decisions and actions of most of the Israelite kings were quite disconnected from God’s law and justice. Most kings did whatever they wanted, sometimes to the point of completely leading the people away from the worship of Yahweh and toward the worship of other gods.

Today’s Old Testament lesson concerns the ninth story in this series of narratives. A widow, whose son Elisha had restored to life in the second narrative (2 Kings 4:8-37) left for the land of the Philistines when there was a severe famine. Although the woman was simply listening to the prophet and doing what he said, squatters took advantage of the situation and took over her house and property while she was away.

In a clear demonstration of what a “divine appointment” looks like in Holy Scripture, Elisha’s servant and the king were talking together about this very woman and the miracle that took place with her son. The prophet had essentially raised her dead child to life. Then, lo and behold, the woman walked into the conversation to appeal the injustice that had happened to her and her family.

Even the worst of kings would discern the right thing to do in such a situation. After questioning the woman, the king ensured that she would get everything restored to her. Through it all, we are meant to see the power and sovereignty of God over the human authority of political kings.

I hope that you, at some point in your life, have experienced a meeting with another person that you can see was unmistakably arranged by God. And a great need you had was met because of this encounter. The Lord blessed you through it in a way that you didn’t see coming at all.

The fact of the matter is that God is sovereign, all-knowing, and all-powerful, along with being infinitely gracious, good, just, right, and loving. Therefore, God sets about to bless both us and other people. And when God determines to do something, nothing and no one in heaven or on earth can stop it.

Wherever you presently are, and whatever it is you are doing now in your life, is really no accident. And if your life situation is awful and far from any sort of idyllic scene of blessing, then please know that this is a circumstance that is ripe for a divine appointment.

For how could we ever know God as the Great Deliverer unless we were between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to turn? How could we ever experience God as the Divine Healer unless we were broken and/or brokenhearted?

How could we ever realize God as Provider unless we were out of resources and down to our last penny? Or God as Helper unless we were desperate and unable to move? Or God as the One who restores unless we had lost everything?

Just as there cannot be resurrection and new life without a crucifixion and an old life, so our lives will inevitably take a trajectory of suffering and hardship before glory and blessing. In order to allow the good to completely fill us, we must be totally emptied of everything else.

Maybe you will never experience something quite as dramatic as the woman did with gaining her son back to life, and her property restored after a terrible famine, but know this: The great Lord and God of all, the Sovereign of the universe, has your back through all that you’re going through on this earth.

I often get asked by patients and parishioners alike, “Where is God?” It feels to them that God is absent, silent, and far from understanding what they’re going through in the midst of their very challenging adversity.

Really, however, it’s actually an easy question for me to answer: Jesus is our Immanuel, God with us. The Spirit of God is right beside you, walking with you, even holding you up at times, through all the crud and crap of this old fallen sinful world of ours. Seeing only one set of footsteps in the sand, it turns out God is the One that carries the weak and weary in their trouble. The Lord is anything but absent.

If God has authority over earthly rulers, then the Lord most certainly has power to handle your life.

O God, why have you abandoned me? Though you have hidden your face from me, still from this dread and empty place, I cry to you, who have promised me that underneath are your everlasting arms. God, you are my help and comfort; you shelter and surround me in love so tender that I may know your presence with me, now and always. Amen.