Getting a Grip When it all hurts Part 1 040114
1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Wonderful words of encouragement and admonition. But what do you do with it when it all hurts, when there is no sense of hope although you know there is a reason to? What do you do when you read this and walk away empty and hollow?
First you realize that Satan will do all he can to create that hollowness and deepen it. Whether through the world or the flesh he will use every means he can to deepen your despair. We're not cut out to fight him ourselves but we must call upon - cry out for God to save us from this sense of hopeless sinking. We must let God fight that battle for us and that is not easy.
Satan will do everything in his power to cast you down and to crush you. One of his ploys is to isolate you from the Body. We all know that in times of trouble people seem to withdraw, run, move away not wanting to be too close to the one in distress. Now we can't blame them and we also know that we withdraw as well. We, for whatever reason (shame, embarrassment even fear) want to hide away and curl up in a ball and disappear.
Satan wants us to be isolated - he doesn't hunt the herd but rather the solitary and wounded. So when you are wounded and in despair it is making the situation worse if you curl in a ball in a corner.
Satan also wants to chase us into greater distress. That's why he is roaring. He wants us to run from him to where the rest of the pride is. The pride is in the deep grass waiting for us to run into the middle of them so they may take us down. We must not run. We must slowly move in a safe direction and the only one who can show us that safe direction is God.
Satan also wants to get us to murmur - to complain about God as the Israelites did in the wilderness. He wants us to complain about God and His treatment of us. He wants us to deny God's goodness, His lovingkindness, His whole character. He wants us to accuse God of wrong doing, of meanness, of hard heartedness or the typical - He's not fair.
All this and more Satan desires to do. It is very very hard to stand in the face of a roaring lion but by the grace and power of God, we must. Like Daniel we must stand among the hungry beasts and trust in God. We must by the grace and mercy of God resist running - resist isolation - resist shame - resist murmuring.
None of us are the only believers who suffer. Some suffer more and some less but suffering is suffering and when we are suffering ours is the only one we feel. But Peter seems to indicate that knowing that we are not the only ones who suffer will be of benefit to us. That's a hard thing but a true thing. God is at work in the lives of countless believers and we should praise Him for that fact. The starving, the oppressed, the persecuted are all trusting Him for so much more than the rest of us and they are holding fast - they've got a grip - faith.
Faith - faith that He can relieve us of our suffering. Faith that it is meant for His glory. Faith that it is meant for our good. Faith that even if it kills us, as it does many, we will then be with Him, at peace and forever without suffering.
Heaven is not a consolation prize for those whose suffering kills them. Heaven is the glorious reward that awaits those who are His and barring His coming prior to, death is the ony way to heaven.
I'll write more on this passage as I am able - but have faith my friends God is with you and for you - He wants to display His glory through, in and by your circumstances. It is hard - at times is seems hopeless but I have to ask myself: For what am I really hoping, treasuer here or treasure there? The comfort of the world or the comfort of His grace. It is a real battle - get a grip on His truth and providence and do not let go.
Showing posts with label suffer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label suffer. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Getting a Grip When it all hurts Part 2
Getting a Grip When it all hurts Part 2
1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
And what are we to do when it all hurts? Peter admonishes us to humble ourselves. Well friends when you've feeling humiliation you can't risk confusing that with humbling.
Humiliation is quite simply of the world, the flesh and the devil. Humiliation uses the world's standards to judge. Humiliation springs from deep in the murky recesses of our not yet completely pure hearts. Humiliation is an affliction from Satan fed by the world and enhanced by the flesh. Humiliation is sin - insidious sin that Satan wants to inject into our lives to blind us to God's grace and mercy and to keep us from humbling ourselves under God's mighty hand. Now - even that's a toughie.
1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, [7] casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. [8] Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. [9] Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. [10] And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. [11] To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
And what are we to do when it all hurts? Peter admonishes us to humble ourselves. Well friends when you've feeling humiliation you can't risk confusing that with humbling.
Humiliation is quite simply of the world, the flesh and the devil. Humiliation uses the world's standards to judge. Humiliation springs from deep in the murky recesses of our not yet completely pure hearts. Humiliation is an affliction from Satan fed by the world and enhanced by the flesh. Humiliation is sin - insidious sin that Satan wants to inject into our lives to blind us to God's grace and mercy and to keep us from humbling ourselves under God's mighty hand. Now - even that's a toughie.
Humbling ourselves - why did Peter have to say it that way? Have you ever tried to humble yourself? It is not easy and lasts but a moment. I find that when I kneel before God to humble myself all my flesh jumps to the front with all these great ideas about what I can to to relief the suffering. If not that then my mind runs to all the ways God ought to fix the situation. Humbling yourself is really really hard.
And yet, under Gods mighty hand, we are told to do just that. I don' t know about you but I think Peter knew well that humbling one's self was something one has to do over and over and over and over and ---well you get my point.
Humbling one's self is not some complex process - it's a hard one but not complex. You simply (as a friend of mine told me) sit quietly and ask God to do the work. As He works and the flesh rebels - stay calm - keep asking - repent of sins that aise in your mind - rebuke those self-driven thoughts - reject all those great ideas of yours. My friend would simply go into the woods near his house, sit on a log and pray, "Lord, it's Travis," and then sit quietly waiting for his mind and heart to slow down and then he would begin to talk.
The, God's mighty hand, part of the passage gives me pause. Does it mean that God is pressing me down with His hand or does it mean that His mighty hand is covering me, protecting me? I would go with the latter although my flesh votes for the former. In suffering it is hard to sense God's hand protecting you and easy to think that He is crushing you. But does God really crush His people. Even Job in all his sufferiing was not crushed and God's mighty hand was protecting him (see Job 1 and 2). In all Job suffered God would allow Satan to only go so far and no further.
So it is, I believe, with us. His mighty hand covers us -protecting us from anything that would crush and drive us from Him.
But we have to humble ourselves and I believe that means that we do what we can do and leave the rest to Him. I've said many times, "When you have done all you can the rest is for God to do." Of course we have to have a good definition of "all we can."
Now having said that I have to say that what we do - what we can do must be what he would have us do. This quite simply demands three things of us. First we must pray and I mean PRAY - It's not easy to pray when we are suffering but we have to - I've had to - fight through all the distractions to just pray. But we must - well - demand that He do what only He can as we go about what we can do. We need Him to both lead us and stop us. We need to do what is in His will and not do that which is not - and this takes prayer!
Second, to humble ourselves under His hand, we must be in His word. Here we will find everything we need to fill ourselves with a greater understanding of His will and His ways. This is critical! We must fill our minds with His truth - NOT just the usual happy verses but with the whole of His word. We need to read the prophets to see any wayward way in ourselves. We need to read the first five books to see His hand in the lives of real people who really suffered. We need to read the Psalms and poetry to have our minds and hearts schooled in prayer and filled with hope. We need to be reading the Gospels where we see God in the midst of real people as a real man. We need the Epistles so that we understand, appreciate and live out the faith that saves us.
Third, to humble ourselve s we need the Body of Christ. Yeah, I know, the first thing we think about is being embarrassed, being a burden, being a pain, being, "That guy." But it is through the Body of Christ that God works in the lives of His people and so we must partake of God's provision. All too often when we are suffering we want to lie and act as if everything was OK when it is anything but. When we do this we lie - it's just that simple. And that lie will crush us and keep us from God's providence through His Body.
Humility and humiliation - the first is a mercy the second a sin. The first is of God, the second is of the world, the flesh and the devil. The first will help you the second will harm you. The first is life the second is death. Finally the first will relieve the second.
Just a little while ago I was talking ith a guy I know from Caribou and we were sharing what ws going on in our lives. I shared mine and Patti's situation and our concerns. As we continued talking he said, "Wait a minute." Then he took $5 form his walllet and said, "The least I can do is buy you a cup of coffee." Humiliating? It should have been and almost was but God comforted my heart and I accepted the money. Am I struggling with this even? You bet I am. It was embarassing and humiliating and --but it really was God's mercy and grace in a moment of time that I should cherish and take great comfort in - even if it is hard.
Humble yourself -- please.
And yet, under Gods mighty hand, we are told to do just that. I don' t know about you but I think Peter knew well that humbling one's self was something one has to do over and over and over and over and ---well you get my point.
Humbling one's self is not some complex process - it's a hard one but not complex. You simply (as a friend of mine told me) sit quietly and ask God to do the work. As He works and the flesh rebels - stay calm - keep asking - repent of sins that aise in your mind - rebuke those self-driven thoughts - reject all those great ideas of yours. My friend would simply go into the woods near his house, sit on a log and pray, "Lord, it's Travis," and then sit quietly waiting for his mind and heart to slow down and then he would begin to talk.
The, God's mighty hand, part of the passage gives me pause. Does it mean that God is pressing me down with His hand or does it mean that His mighty hand is covering me, protecting me? I would go with the latter although my flesh votes for the former. In suffering it is hard to sense God's hand protecting you and easy to think that He is crushing you. But does God really crush His people. Even Job in all his sufferiing was not crushed and God's mighty hand was protecting him (see Job 1 and 2). In all Job suffered God would allow Satan to only go so far and no further.
So it is, I believe, with us. His mighty hand covers us -protecting us from anything that would crush and drive us from Him.
But we have to humble ourselves and I believe that means that we do what we can do and leave the rest to Him. I've said many times, "When you have done all you can the rest is for God to do." Of course we have to have a good definition of "all we can."
Now having said that I have to say that what we do - what we can do must be what he would have us do. This quite simply demands three things of us. First we must pray and I mean PRAY - It's not easy to pray when we are suffering but we have to - I've had to - fight through all the distractions to just pray. But we must - well - demand that He do what only He can as we go about what we can do. We need Him to both lead us and stop us. We need to do what is in His will and not do that which is not - and this takes prayer!
Second, to humble ourselves under His hand, we must be in His word. Here we will find everything we need to fill ourselves with a greater understanding of His will and His ways. This is critical! We must fill our minds with His truth - NOT just the usual happy verses but with the whole of His word. We need to read the prophets to see any wayward way in ourselves. We need to read the first five books to see His hand in the lives of real people who really suffered. We need to read the Psalms and poetry to have our minds and hearts schooled in prayer and filled with hope. We need to be reading the Gospels where we see God in the midst of real people as a real man. We need the Epistles so that we understand, appreciate and live out the faith that saves us.
Third, to humble ourselve s we need the Body of Christ. Yeah, I know, the first thing we think about is being embarrassed, being a burden, being a pain, being, "That guy." But it is through the Body of Christ that God works in the lives of His people and so we must partake of God's provision. All too often when we are suffering we want to lie and act as if everything was OK when it is anything but. When we do this we lie - it's just that simple. And that lie will crush us and keep us from God's providence through His Body.
Humility and humiliation - the first is a mercy the second a sin. The first is of God, the second is of the world, the flesh and the devil. The first will help you the second will harm you. The first is life the second is death. Finally the first will relieve the second.
Just a little while ago I was talking ith a guy I know from Caribou and we were sharing what ws going on in our lives. I shared mine and Patti's situation and our concerns. As we continued talking he said, "Wait a minute." Then he took $5 form his walllet and said, "The least I can do is buy you a cup of coffee." Humiliating? It should have been and almost was but God comforted my heart and I accepted the money. Am I struggling with this even? You bet I am. It was embarassing and humiliating and --but it really was God's mercy and grace in a moment of time that I should cherish and take great comfort in - even if it is hard.
Humble yourself -- please.
Monday, August 26, 2013
Finger Thinking 082513
Mat 6:10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Thomas Case wrote:
"By suffering God's will we learn to do God's will: God hath no obedience children as those whom he nurtures in the school of affliction. At length brings his scholars to subscribe, what God will, when God will, how God will."
Our striving after godliness is no mere walk. It is a constant struggle to overcome the flesh (self). Being wholly unable to make any progress on our own, our loving Father often uses the rod of corrections to teach us obedience. And indeed, for the redeemed, all affliction carries with it a critical lesson /God desires us to learn.
No, it is never pleasant and it gives provocation to our flesh (self) but we must remain under it as the lesson He has for us unfold. Whatever the lesson, we must learn it. It is His will for us. Learn it not the first time and His love demands we learn it under a new affliction. His holiness and indeed His love demands He teach us in whatever way He must that we may be conformed to the likeness of His Son.
We fight it to our own hurt. We crave deliverance to our own detriment. When we resist His instruction through His Word and Spirit. When we ignore the ordinary means He uses to teach us and mold us He must use those methods which we call affliction and suffering to quiet the flesh (self) - to overcome the abiding principle of evil we carry within our selves.
We have a choice. We can humbly submit to Him in the exercise of those duties He calls us to or we expect the rod of correction to drive us to them. In His mercy and grace we have the choice. In our fallen struggle we must fight for the right choices. If we do not, if we reject or ignore His common means for our instruction He has no choice but to correct us by what ever means for what ever duration towards His end for us.
There in lies a lesson.
Thomas Case wrote:
"By suffering God's will we learn to do God's will: God hath no obedience children as those whom he nurtures in the school of affliction. At length brings his scholars to subscribe, what God will, when God will, how God will."
Our striving after godliness is no mere walk. It is a constant struggle to overcome the flesh (self). Being wholly unable to make any progress on our own, our loving Father often uses the rod of corrections to teach us obedience. And indeed, for the redeemed, all affliction carries with it a critical lesson /God desires us to learn.
No, it is never pleasant and it gives provocation to our flesh (self) but we must remain under it as the lesson He has for us unfold. Whatever the lesson, we must learn it. It is His will for us. Learn it not the first time and His love demands we learn it under a new affliction. His holiness and indeed His love demands He teach us in whatever way He must that we may be conformed to the likeness of His Son.
We fight it to our own hurt. We crave deliverance to our own detriment. When we resist His instruction through His Word and Spirit. When we ignore the ordinary means He uses to teach us and mold us He must use those methods which we call affliction and suffering to quiet the flesh (self) - to overcome the abiding principle of evil we carry within our selves.
We have a choice. We can humbly submit to Him in the exercise of those duties He calls us to or we expect the rod of correction to drive us to them. In His mercy and grace we have the choice. In our fallen struggle we must fight for the right choices. If we do not, if we reject or ignore His common means for our instruction He has no choice but to correct us by what ever means for what ever duration towards His end for us.
There in lies a lesson.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)