2 Corinthians 1:3-4

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ESV
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, [4] who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

I have always loved this verse.  It has never ceased to be a source of encouragement and blessing to me as I deal with the day to day issues that surround the melancholy from which I suffer.  But ya know, though it is a great passage it has to be understood within the individual context of our  circumstances for its value to be truly appreciated.

The first thing we need to reflect upon is exactly how God is merciful to us in our affliction.  Of course, the big thing is that it could always be worse than it is or it could be a different and more crippling affliction.  We never understand this until we actually consider the possibility of a greater and more difficult affliction.  I really believe that each persons afflicton is tailor made for their maturity, ability and need.  There are no purposeless afflictions.  Nor are they arbitrary or random.  They are individual and specific to each of us.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Though our " temptation" or more accurately "trial" can be listed in a plethora of trials available, OUR trial is specific to US.  As there are no cooky - cutter blessing and no recipes for endurance, there are no cooky - cutter afflictions.  Each and every affliction is specific to the individual facing it.  Each affliction is "special."

Trials are common to all men but our trial is our trial.  It is packed in with all our "baggage" which gives it that unique flavor.  Because of this a lot of the "encouragement" we're offered sounds terribly hollow.  People lovingly seek to encourage us and it is a kindness but we always have the , "Yes, BUT....." in the back of our minds.  It is, I believe, true that,  " Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, nobody knows but Jesus."  They may have had a similar experience but MY trouble is MY trouble.  Yes?????

We need to own our trials and know them as well as possible.  They need to be prayerfully examined and not just accepted on face value.  As we examine them we will see the dynamic of the trial...the components and secondary causes and we can then pray with greater wisdom and insight concerning them.  Trust me, ignorant prayers, though acceptable, are not nearly as useful as prayer born out of deep and meaningful reflection.  Especially concerning the trials and afflictions we face.

We do so need wisdom in affliction and we are promised that His wisdom is available for the asking.  BUT when we ask we need to purpose to use it!  It does us no good to ask and receive if we do not plan to do the wisdom work. That means we have to sit down, perhaps with pen and paper, and really consider our affliction within the context of our redemption and our abiding sin.  I fear that this is the only way we can gain a solid and meaningful understanding and  appreciation of the circumstances we find ourselves in.  It ain't magical folks, it all takes our cooperator with the work of the Holy Spirit.  This isn't about "works" but it is about "work."
I'm not done with this passage but will end this at this point to allow you time to prayerfully consider what has been offered here.  I pray that you will grow in knowledge, understanding and appreciation of all God has done, is doing and will do in your life that it will glorify His name and bring peace to your soul.

Michael

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As we cast our eye over it, we observe that what Elijah needed to be taught was (1) dependence on God; (2) fellowship with man in his sufferings; (3) confidence in God’s plans ; and (4) a sense of their essential and broad mercifulness.       Warfield, B. B. (2013-11-13). Faith & Life (Kindle Locations 66-67). GLH Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Warfield beautifully explains the curriculum of God’s school as it can be applied to Elijah and to ourselves.  Though I encourage to get and read the book Faith and Life by Warfield I’d like to sent some time reflecting of the four things God was teaching Elijah as they might be applied to our lives.

Keep in mind that Warfield has explained the as far as we can tell from the record, Elijah was in a grueling course of “on the job training,”  He was learning as he went and the key thing to remember is the he “went.”  That is fundamental if not essential for all of us to understand.  “Following,” is the key to discipleship.  Not observing the Master, not evaluating the Master but following the Master is the key.  We will be taught when we need to be and as we need to be.  That is the promise we find again and again in the lives of God’s people in the Word.

The fist lesson, and the lesson that if not learned nullifies all the others is, I think, two fold.  First we must learn that God is dependable and second we much learn to depend upon Him.  Neither lesson is easy to truly learn.

Certainly we can see in the evidence of the Word that God has demonstrated His dependability.  But for many of us it is a dependability that is abstract.  We see that He is dependable in the lives of others but that’s no guarantee we will really see Him as dependable in our own lives.  It a tough thing to go from seeing God’s faithfulness to Israel to seeing His faithfulness to us - to ME.

One reason I think we struggle so much with that old, “I know He is faithful, but...” is that we are so very used to considering faithfulness in terms f big things that we miss the commonness of His faithfulness.  He is “commonly” faithful is so may mundane way that are so easy for us to ignore. It is in the really tough times when we discover both His faithfulness and our tottering dependence upon Him.

“God is dependable and I depend upon Him,’ is a great statement but really, ask yourself, how TRUE is that statement in your mind and heart?  Do you really believe that He is dependable?  Are you willing to surrender your plans, ideas, schemes, etc., and yield to His providence in all things?

I know I thought I was but I learned real quick how flighty my faith - my dependence - my trust in Him was.  The past year and a half have taught me just how unreasonable, prideful and self-absorbed my dependence upon Him was (and still is to some extent).  Nothing in the past year and a half has gone according to our plan and yet as we look back we can see that it certainly has gone according to someone’s plan - we of course assume it was His plan.

We have learned to calmly suffer chaos and confusion because we have see Him provide and direct in the midst of the chaos.  He didn’t make the chaos go away He simply acted within it to bring about blessings and peace.

So how do we grow in our dependence upon Him - upon the conviction that he is dependable?

Ahhh, well that’s for the future - we’ll get to it next.

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Uses of Afflictoin 09

FINI

"Oh how unskillfull and unwise am I to manage a suffering condition, to discern God's ends, to find out what God would have me to do, to moderate the vileness of my own passions, to apply the counsels and comforts of the Word for their proper ends and use."
Thomas Case, A Treatise on Afflcitions

God never allows affliction into the lives of His people for no good purpose.  As we have briefly seen there are uses for aflictions and they are indeed mercies.

However as Thomas Case wrote (above) we are unskillful and unwise in managing a "suffering condition."  But perhaps this is the greatest usage of afflictions, to provide us with the opportunity to gain the skill and wisdom we lack.

The Word and the Spirit are suffcient for us to begin (and continue) to develop the requisite skills and wisdom to make blessings our of buffetings.  If we will ony make use of these graces we will find that no matter how dark and difficult the affliction we can and will learn to bear up under it.  But we must make use of God's providence!

Sin, of course, is at the root of all affliction.  The corruption of the whole creation is both the catalyst and continuance of all we suffer.  Perhaps we fail to understand this or resist accepting this.  Were the whole of creation not so corrupted, well, we'd still be in the garden wouldn't we?  But we are not and so we MUST learn, we must seek the skill and wisdom we need.

It is an oft repeated, much misused and wonderful admonishment to us to, "Trust in the Lord with all your might and lean not on your own understanding.  In ALL your ways acknoledge Him and He will make your paths straight."  Note it is straight paths we are promised not smooth and easy ones.  Why, oh why will we not yield to His will in all conditions and circumstances and trust His love and power?

We love our ease and comforts too much and have been infected with a view of our faith that is diluted with falsehood and evil.  We are PROMISED tribulation, persecution, hatred, etc. in this world.  Why do we fight against what the Lord has made clear?

We are promised His presence and His provision to live for Him in this world but it is prayer to change our hearts not prayer to change our world that is needed.  Oh we can pray for an change of condition and circumstance but I think that if our focus is on that we have missed the whole point and our afflcitions do not accomplish what He intendes.

We sing;
Have Thy own way Lord.
Have Thy own way.
Hold or my being
absolute sway.

But do we simply mouth the words instead of singing the prayer?

We sing;
Create in me a clean heart
Oh Lord
and renew a right spirit within me

But we are unwilling to allow Him to do so if it causes us any dis-ease or loss of comfort.

Affliction are, whether we will or can see it, mercies, indeed blessings for in them we are made more like our Master for we merrely share in the afflcitions He suffered for us.

Are we willing for God to bring and use afflictions to conform us to our Master's likeness?

Uses of Affliction 08

Uses of Affliction 08

7.  The exercise of grace in the children of God

Grace must apply to something.  Grace is given for a purpose.  We could write long on the purpose of grace but others are better suited to undertake such a profound work.  For us, here, grace is given that we may be free but freedon is not free.

The freedom God calls us to cost Him much and once He calls us into it, it will cost us all.  All our self-love, all our selfish fears, all our selfish demands, all our self-focused worship, all our self-directed service.  What the application and exercize of grace costs us is our sin.  It relentlessly digs and digs to remove the root of our sin.  This is a work of grace, a free gift and yet a costly one.


Are we willing to see and accept that afflcitions - all afflictions are indeed intended to exercize grace in our lives?  Are we willing to accept that no matter how dark and difficult the affliction it is God is working for our good and His glory?

There is no requirement for God to work thusly in our lives except for His character, His love for us.  So we must pray to understand that even afflictions are gracious and wonderful acts of God in our lives.

No, they are not pleasant but they are necessary for our sanctification.

I read a great deal in the Puritains and they all speak of sharing in the suffering of Christ (as do the Epistles).  Why are we so very resistant to this?  Where have we gotten the idea that being His menas a trouble free life when He promised us tribulations.  And where do we ever get the idea that a trouble free life means that we must be doing something pleasing to Him when a trouble free life more often indicated an apathetic existance.

Afflcitons drive us to Him and when we are His afflictions serve to keep us close.  Rare is the believer who stays near (or even is near) to Him when in comfort or at ease.  Comfort and ease have been mistaken as relating to our blessedness when indeed they are traps of apathy and faithlessness.

Paul tells us that God is a God of comfort in all our afflcitions.  One might assume (cautiously) that being afflicted is the norm for the believer.  And indeed, if we are truly aliens and strangers here afflictions are the norm.  This is not home - this life is not the point - and God'ss gracious afflcitions keep us mindful of that.

Let us keep in mind the "uses" of afflciton and embrace them with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Uses of Afflictions
The trial of one's state, whether one is in the state of grace of not.
Excitation to duty, weaning one from this world, and prompting him to look after the happiness of the other world.
Conviction of sin.
Correction and punishment for sin.
Preventing sin.
Discovery of latent corruption whether in saints of sinners.
The exercize of grace in the chidren of God

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Uses of Affliction 07

6.  Discovery of latent corruption whether in saints of sinners.

Oh yes!  Murmur - murmur - murmur - - -

Peek-a-boo sins are tough ones.  They lie quietly in the shadows just waiting for their trigger.

Take our afflcition.  We never susupected we were lukewarn and lazy - but we were.  We never thought of ourselves as materialistic - but we were.  We would have been aghast had anyone told us we were prideful - until pride raised its ugly head.  We would never have thught our trust in God was alloyed with a trust in stuff and people - but it was.  We never would have seen how our wills were still competing with His - but they were.  (OK -you can change and the "weres to "ares" for the sake of full disclosure).

Our latent sin is exposed by our affliction.  We are convicted of that sin.  We repent.  We are restored and continue in our growth.

We struggle and will struggle with latent sin until He comes.  And strugggle we must if indeed our goal is to be conformed as God wishes us to be conformed to His likeness, to be holy as He is holy.

Afflistions will turn up the heat to bring those latent sins to the surface and this is a great mercy.  God could leave us to hopelessly struggle but His grace and mercy provide for our need in this and His Holy Spirit will battle for, with and even agwinst us (our flesh) to root out such sinfulness and cleanse our hearts.

Please, please consider the wonder of a sin hating God who will do all in His great power to relieve us of this toxic remainder.  He is willing to do whatever He must to expose and then address that sin that lurks beneath our awareness.  Though sometimes hard and unpleasant the result is merciful and magnificent.

I will tell you that most likely what the affliction will expose is the depth of our self-love.  It is not behaviors that afflcitions expose here but those deep and abiding roots of pride and self-ness that result in the sinful behaviors and attitiudes.  It is the ehart that God wishes to heal and relieve.

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Uses of Afflcition 03

2.  Excitation to duty, weaning one from this world, and prompting him to look after the happiness of the other world.

There is one wonderful scipture that encourages us in this:

1 John 2:15-17 NASB
Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [17] The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.

We recently experienced some bad weather here and many people lost power.  Nothing big but a good reminder of how attached we become to the comforts of this world and to the minimization of our looking to the comforts of the next.  Afflictions, whatever their nature, are one way God not only gets our attention but moves us to action be it service, simplicity or paying more attention to the promises of the next world.

We need to be moved to duty.  It's too easy to become complacent and lazy even in our duties.  We get into a very comfortable rut and we just run along it day in and day out until we have become numb to what we ought to be about.  Even in our duties we can become comfortable to our hurt.

Prayer can become perfuntory, Bible Study can become bland and worship can become worthless in the comfortable ease of the day to day.  But God won't have that.  He will and does bring afflictions that reveal the weakness and wantonness of our service.  When God seems to withdraw we tend to draw closer.

This is a sad commentary on many of us - many many of us - so many of us that it seems to be the norm.  And so God will bring a crook to our lot so we will see our error and repent.

Affilctions also wean us from the world.  I made the comment while our power was on and our internet was off that there didn't seem much point to having power if we didn;t have the net.  This is an example of how comfortable we can get with all the geegaws and gadgets we have and how we begin to rely upon them for way too much.

The loss or thereatened loss of material blessings can really demonstrate for us our dependence upon them to a neglect of depending upon God.  And NO cheating - don;t try to tell me you depend upon God for your web connection - that's a stretch.

How many "things" do you really depend upon that get in the way of your dependence upon God.  What would hurt the worst to lose?  What can you not see yourself giving up?  If you have "bad hair" days - days that are just ruined over the trivial material things then you may look for an affliction to wean you away from it.

Can you see how use 1 ties into use 2?  Afflictions lead us to examine our faith and that examination has much to do with our attachment to this world and the "things" of it.  Not only that but the "things" of this world have much to do with, "the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life."  Which in turn has much to do with how much our hearts are set on the next world as opposed to being stuck on this one.

James writes:

James 1:2 NASB
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,

And if we a serious about our faith we will wlecome these trials as God's gracious providence.  Even with only uses 1 and 2 we can see how afflictions are, what I call, "left-handed blessings."  They don't look like blessings, they don't feel like blessings, and they do not even small like blessings - but if they drive or move us to seriously examines, our service, our attachment to this world and our longing for the next they are indeed blessings.

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Heart Keepers 03

3.  Earnest supplication and instant prayers for purifying and rectifying grace when sin has defiled and disordered the heart.

Two things here are worthy of notice.  The first is "earnest supplication."  When we go to God in prayer we need to go with a full acknowledgement of the curruption that yet abides in our hearts.  Our prayers must reflect the fact that we are still battling self-love and the fear of man and that even our best prayers are susupect.

Especially when under trials or afflictions our prayers can be mercenary to say the least.  We want relief for our pain and struggle so badly that we will often find ourselves bartering with God for His provision.  We are so focused on the immediate need that we can often hinder our own prayers by not praying fully and wholly.

Fully and wholly?  There is so much to pray for, so many needs of the Kingdom and its citizens - so many brothers and sisters in distress.  There is the church to pray for, those whose needs we know to pray for and in our distress and concern for our situation it is easy - all too easy - to just pray for ourselves without regard to the broader picture.

We can also find ourselves praying, "If" prayers.  You know, "God if You will just X I will Y."  This is bartering with God, trying to strike a deal.  This hinders the effectiveness of our prayers by it's assumption that God "barters" His blessings and provision.  This sullies and minimizes our prayers making them shallow and , well, wrong.

Secondly we need to be sensitive to the needs for "instant prayers," or timely prayers.  These are prayers in and of the moment especially when it comes to heart sins.  I know I have gone to God with my needs and failing to recognize the heart sins yet needing to be dealt with I have prayed ill and been sticken because of my shallowness and self-love.

Sin defiles and disorders our hearts to a greater extent than we see, so our prayers must seek His cleansing and ordering of our hearts.  I would suggest that this needs to be the first part of our prayers.  Praying about praying may sound strange but if our hearts are not in the right frame we will pray amiss.

Praying for purifying and rectifying grace may well need to precede any if not all our prayers.  If you have ever (and I assume you have) been under affliction and in pain you know how the corruptions of the heart can twist your thinking and affect your praying.  Taking time to pray about praying is one good way to discover and root out this sins that would hinder and hamper your prayers.

When you find that your heart is not right, when it is struggling with heart sins, there are always the Psalms that you can pray.  The writers of the Psalms experienced the difficuties of life much as we do.  They felt abandonded by God as we do. They felt overwhelmed by affliction as we do.  They felt all was hopeless as we do.  And yet they always return to trusting the Lord even when the motivation is that there is no one else to turn to (which asctually there isn't).   They struggled with the same ehart sins we struggle with and their guidance in our rpayers can be a great blessing and instruction.

Heat sins will always be a struggle for God's people here.  However we can not allow their commonness to go unaddressed.  Keeping the heart is nowhere more critical than in the areqa of prayer.  Prayer is fundamental to our relationship with God and we need for that relationship to be open and whole from our side as it is from His.  Heart sins, an unkept heart, will hinder and disorder our prayers which in turn will hinder and disorder our walk and witness.

Psalm 94:12. 091213

Psalm 94:12 ESV
Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law,

Consider:

"A man by trouble comes to know his own heart, which in prosperity he is a stranger to.  He sees the weakness of his grace and the strength on his corruption; how nothing is weak but grace, nothing strong but sin; and this lays him in the dust"

Thomas Case, A Treatise on Afflictions

Do we really look deeply at His purposes in our afflictions or do we merely look at the affliction and seek its relief?  Do we allow the heat of the furnace to burn away all the fleshy concerns and fears that we might see the root, our sinfulness and its true power and place in our hearts?

Heart-breaking-ly it seems most common for us to seek relief without examination much like going to a doctor seeking some easy diagnosis and quick cure when we, in reality, suffer a terrible malady.  Would we really want to be told we have the flu when a cancer was eating away at us?  It seem, when it comes to our life in Him, we would.

God's hand can lay heavy upon the shoulders of His children.  But like a father who firmly grips his child as the come to a street crossing, He does it for our good and betterment.  It is not pleasant but when we do not allow the Master Physician the Great Father to show us the truth we merely delay the cure having to suffer the dis-ease again.

What affliction has God laid on you?  Be mindful that the affliction is secondary to what God desires to do in your life and heart.  Perhaps He desires a change of habit or behavior but I encourage you to look deeper, to your heart, and seek the root sin that gives bloom to the obvious one.

There is lies the lesson.

M

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The secret to the successful Christian life is a very very well kept secret.  It is buried in mound of flesh and tons of skewed and twisted teaching.  That's why it's a secret.

We try so very hard to come up with the scheme that will allow us to win God's favor and in doing so we nullify the cross and make mockery of the resurrection.  We challenge the sovereignty of God and refuse His right to have dominance over all of our lives.

We don't really like God much.  We want to just live our lives in comfort and ease singing silly songs about Jesus and playing the game the world offers us.  We are weak, sultry, rebellious and stupid - and that's just believers.

There is NO secret to living the successful Christian life.  It's written on every page of scripture.  We also find the why of our pathetic attempts to live for ourselves while giving lip-service to Him.

OK - hard stuff - and maybe just maybe it's just me.  If that is so than Praise God the rest of you are doing so well.  Maybe I'm just one among a few who while trusting in His death and resurrection for my salvation have little interest or appreciation of His desire to conform me into the likeness of His Son.

Of course there is only one way to be conformed to Christ and that is to share in His sufferings.  He suffered every day in every way and more so than we can ever - ever - comprehend.  He suffered and calls us to suffer with Him.

But we don't want to suffer, we just want to be saved.  We want a nice cozy road to heaven.  We want to just kind of slide right through the gates.  but tht is not His plan for any of us.

For some the suffering is great for others the suffereing is common.  Those who suffer greatly know Him greatly.  Those who suffer "commonly" tend to have a lack of appreciation of the suffering they do experience.  They are able to ignore the meaning and purpose of their suffering.  It is a light and yet constant suffering that they are able to mediate, medicate and/or minimize and so they miss the blessing and honor for the sake of comfort and acceptance.

In my trial(s) I find that in moments of sweet communion I can accept and appreciate what God is doing in my life.  But before me I experience a deep sense of shame and failure and that gives rise to resentment of the trial(s).

God's desires to conform us to the likeness of His Son is a key issue in our lives.  do we want it or not?  If we do we have to enter the forge.

I have some friends who work a a company that makes tools.  Two things are needed to forge those tools into useful and dependable tools (upon which lives depend).  It takes heat and force.  The metal they use comes prepared for forging.  All the trash has been removed - there is no dross left - it is ready for the forge.  Then are with the purifying process heat - very high heat is applied to make the metal pliable.  then great force is applied to hammer the metal into the tool.  The force is so great that "hammed" has to have a special foundation and the whole plant shakes with each blow of the hammer.  But the heat and the hammering produces the desired tool.

Christ has purified us by His blood.  Yes we still have to wrestle with the evil principle that remains but my point is that while we wrestle with that remaining flaw He is busy heating and hammering that we might be forged into the tools He desires us to be.

Yeah, all analogies have problems but I think that we will do well to look at His conforming us are necessitating the heat and the hammering.

Those of you who know me know I like to keep things simple or as my guy Alistair Begg says I like to stick to the, "main things and the plain things."  So here you go brothers and sisters - a simple "secret" to living the life and being conformed -

Joshua 1:6-9 NASB
"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. [7] "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. [8] "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. [9] "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Trails are blessings - No joke!

James writes:
Jas 1:2-3
(2)  Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
(3)  for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

Is he nutz of what? ;-}}

Not really.  The counting it all joy is easily answered in 1 Peter:

1Pe 1:3-9

(3)  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

(4)  to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,

(5)  who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

(6)  In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

7)  so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

(8)  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

(9)  obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Verse 6 is critical.  We have to be grieved by "various" trials.  but the problem is;  "What do you consider a trial?"

For most of us a trial is usually something big.  Cancer, financial crisis, addiction, mental health issues - you know the "biggies."  But we cheat ourselves when we limit our perception of trials to just those things that hit us hard.  Our lives are full of trials - the fact that we miss most of them is a sad reflection of our condition.

If you are a believer every day holds many many trials which we miss and in missing them we fail to experience the sense of victory or defeat we need to experience.  Going to work, dealing with traffic, working among unbelievers are all trials of not only our faith but of our faithfulness as well.  If you have never noticed that, WAKE UP!

Money is a trial.  Getting it, keeping it and using it especially today is a trial.

Kids - raising them well is a trial.

Cars - keeping them up is a trial.

All the demands of our culture that we equate with being OK are trials.

Jesus, as I've said over and over and over made it very very clear that our LIVES here, as His sheep, would be LIVES of trial, temptation and tribulation.  

Why do we refuse to see ALL the trials we face and face them as such?  Maybe we just don't want to bother.  Maybe we're just ignorant.  Maybe we're just, well, numb.

Regardless of why, we need to fight against the numbness, ignorance and bother and realize the fantastic place we have in God's plan, the magnificent thing He has done for us and the great and sure promise He has made us.  Doing this we can count our trials, all of them, as simply part of our work here as His sheep.

I do not think the "little while," in verse 6 means we suffer intermittent trials.  I believe that he is telling us to look to the promise of our full and complete sanctification.  I think he wants us to look at our trials, all of them, through the lense of the promise of eternity with Him.  We need to have a heavenly view, if you will, of all - all - of our trials.  We need to recognize them all and appreciate them all.

Appreciate?  Yes!  That's the "if neccessary," in verse 6.  Trials here are necessary   I would go so far as to say essential to our spiritual health and our hope.  Not only do they produce endurance but they remind us of what we endure for.  Even more importantly they keep us in mind of how we can endure them.  We can only endure them by His grace and provision.  Trials - small and large - all of them - should make us keep our eyes on Jesus, keep our eyes in His word and keep our knees bent in prayer.

Paul writes:

1Co 10:13

(13)  No temptation (this is the same word translated trial in James) has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Trials drive us, or should, to the faithfulness of God - on our knees.  He will not to be tried by that which His faithful provision cannot enable us to face and endure.  And even better, He will provide an escape, a way out of it.  He is faithful.

But Paul nails it when he follows this verse with:

1Co 10:14

(14)  Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.

What worries you and diminishes your trust in Him?  What hinders you in your duties to Him?  In short, it is idolatry plain and simple.  But more on that another time.

God bless you in all your trials which are blessings if you will but submit to His sovereignty and trust in His grace. 

Finger Thinking through James 009 050313

Jas 1:2-3  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,  (3)  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

We need to look hard at these verses and grasp the significance of come finer points.  

"Consider," is an aorist imperative.  This means that we are to plainly and simply "consider"  It is a call to a definite preference in regards to trials.  We are to choose to do what James admonished us to do

Trials are blessings - period and we are to choose to see them as such.  We may not like them, we may struggle under them but they are always for our good and His glory.  Period.

"Joy" - this is not some weird sort of happiness.  Rather it is a confident sense of the valuable purpose and result of trials.  We express joy in giving thanks to God for His promise to provide and guide.  Usually, it is ONLY is trials that our focus is on our need for submission to His sovereignty and out desperate need for His providence and protection.  Sad fact but true.  However it IS a cause for joy to be lovingly found by the shepherd and cared for.

Gold or sivler ore has value but the value and beauty are diminished because of all the impurities in the ore.  It is only through refinements (the application of a catalyst and heat) that the true beauty and value of the gold or silver can be known and valued.  when we are in the refining trial we may and should rejoice in God's caring enough to provide for our refining.  Sure, it's usually not fun and we are not "happy" but we can rejoice in His love and desire for our sanctification.

"Various trails,"  there is not single method that God uses to purify us.  The purification needed in one life at any one moment way well be very different from any one moment in another's life.  So God brings only that trial that is appropriate for us at that time. 

Having said that let me add that God does not need our help in refining us.  I worked with a man who was in a financial time of trial.  One day he declared that he had decided to quit smoking.  I advised him not to.  That was not what God was focusing on in his life at that moment.  Also, as we talked, it became clear that he thought that if he quit smoking God would "fix" his financial issues -  In other words he thought that by doing a good work (quitting smoking) God would "re-pay" him or that he would "earn" God's relief of his financial issues.  This is simply "pagan" thinking and offensive to and in our relationship with God.

"Knowing."  Ginosko in Greek.  A knowing from experience.  In James the reference the readers would have thought of (since James is the most Jewish writing in the NT) would have been god's dealing with Israel and His discipline of them through trials in order to bring them back to Himself.  This frame of reference should move you and I to become as familiar as we can with God's dealing with His people in the OT.  It is here we will see clearly the lovingkindness of God even in the trials He brings to His people.  We will also see how they (and we) rebel against and soon forget the lessons the trials were intended to teach us.

"The testing of your faith."  Faith is used two ways in scripture.  It is used, of course, to refer to our trust in God as our good sovereign and it is used to refer to the content of what we believe the Bible teaches, the content of our faith.  Both need to be refined.

We sin, certainly, becasue the "principle of evil," as Paul says, still abides in us.  But we also sin because what we believe is, well, wrong.  God needs to refine both our trust and our knowledge and understanding.  Theology may seen like something only for the specialist but that is an arrogant error.  Theology is simply the rational and systematic study of what we may know of and from God.  Sure, it can be tough and even boring but it forms the content of our faith and that content needs to be refined just as much as the living out of that faith.  If our theology is off, our living can not be "on."

So we can view this testing as God inquiring whether we trust Him AND whether or not we trust Him appropriatly, according to His revelation.  Theology is an aid to our being able to plainly, "rightly divide" the Word and hence rightly live it out.

The result of these trials/tests of our belief and practice as essential and are great blessings.  The produce endurance, the ability to stand under a load.  The not only "clean us up," but they give us confidence and strength to stand.  And if ever we needed to know and practice right knowing and living so that we might stand, it is now.

Trails and tests are never pleasant but they are providentially productive in our seeking to glorify God and enjoy Him now and forever.

Finger Thinking through James 001

James 1:1 NASB
James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

Just some insights:
Possibly the first epistle of the NT to be written (50-60 AD)
Written (we believe) by James the brother of Jesus and leader of the Church at Jerusalem.

Written to:  Possibly Jewish believers who had fled persecution in Israel but none-the-less the letter is applicable to all believers.  Regardless of the background of the recipients the letter is the most practical letter to any church.

Verse on lays out the context for us.  The recipients are, "the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad."  Though it is tempting to assume the letter is written to believing Jews we can't assume that.  There has long been a belief that "Israel" - that is those Jew who were faithful to the faith of Abraham -were aptly the church in the Old Testament.  The Puritan especially saw things that way and we would not do wrong to see it the same.

Remember that the redeemed are those who have placed their faith in the Christ regardless of whether they lived before He came, dies and was resurrected or after.  It is faith in God and His Word - trust in His faithfulness - that was counted as righteousness to Abraham.  Regardless of how little of how much even Abraham understood of God's promise and the coming of a Redeemer, Abraham's trust in god was the key.

So, we have believers, "scattered abroad."  This had to be difficult.  For Jewish believers
there may or may not have been a Jewish community which would tolerate these folks.  for Gentile believers is may have been tougher.  They would have not real "community" to associate with in a pagan city and association with the Jewish community would have been iffy at best.

So we have believers living, if you will, in exile.  They have been uprooted from their homes and have gone to a foreign place with no real support group.  This had to produce trials and with those trials came temptation and with temptation - sin.

They were no different than we are.  Even if we were born here in  the U.S. we are resident aliens.  This is not our "home."  It is just where we live.  Not only that but our "support group," other faithful believers grow fewer and fewer daily.  We too are faced with trials and that brings temptation and hence sin.

We would do well to remember as we move through James that the context is trials.  Not temptations as much as the trials which precipitate them.  We are constantly bombarded (at least I hope we are) with challenges to our faith and our faithfulness.  How could we not be?  And if we are not we need to be very very concerned about whether or not we are indeed of the faith.  It's one thing to "trust" about Jesus.  it is a whole other thing to trust in Him as the only object of trust anywhere and to resist the confrontation of offers to trust other people, processes, things, etc.

The context of James is trials.  We will be looking next at that word, trial, and hopefully we will gain a greater insight and sensitivity concerning trials.  We desperately need to.  Our "trial radar" is being jammed by multiple sources of interference and we need to ramp up the power to overcome them.

Questions:
Do you live as a resident alien, waiting to finally be "home?"
Do you recognize all the subtle trials you and your friends and family face daily?
Are you actively armoring yourself and increasing your wisdom in regards to these trials?
Do you understand that in not being sensitive to trials you set yourself up for temptations?

Peter writes:

1 Peter 2:11-12 NASB
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul. [12] Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Stand up - stand firm -- yeah, I dare you :-}}}}

041113

Was just reflecting on how things seem to be going for followers of Christ in our country and, well - things just don't look too good.

Oh, please, know that trials and tribulation are all in god's hands and we have every reason to stand fast - but when gov't officials see "bible believing" Christians as a threat - well we need to prepare.

No, we don't need guns and bullets - get a grip guys - we need His strength to love those who have chosen to be our enemies and to vilify and even oppress us.

Here's a version of a poem that is worth our considering:

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

That "they" will come for us is no nut-ball idea.  They have been and will escalate their opposition and attacks and once started - it's all "down-hill."

Well, I want to make a statement of where I stand and who I serve.  I want to get out ahead of the curve and make it plain I am His and will remain so.

Now - history shows us that when a group of people are targeted for vilification they are typically made to wear some symbol that identifies them as members of the unacceptable group.  Well, I've picked mine and suggest you follow suit - let's start something!!

With heartfelt apologies to my Irish friends (especially my wife) I have chosen what has long been the symbol of the Irish Easter rising.  The lily.

The lily has long been a symbol of the resurrection - and with all the respect I can muster for the symbol of the cross - The resurrection is something we all too often just think of once a year.  BUT without the resurrection, the cross was just a killing.

So, I am ordering a lily pin (maybe a couple) and i intend to wear it prominently.  they can be found at  http://www.sinnfeinbookshop.com/easter-lily-metal-badge/

Year - it's the Sinn Fein folks but I doubt my $7 is really gonna be used for something bad.  If you find a more comfortable source - let me know.

Why not just wear a cross?  Well - there are just too many nut jobs out there that have abused it until it's message is lost in the mix.  And besides, I want to make it plain that i believe:

Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.  (1Co 15:12-17)

Will you join me in this?  

If you never considered it - I beg you to do so.

1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, [7] so that the tested genuineness of your faith-more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire-may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Let's come clean.  My wife and I are now (actually have been) undergoing trials we never though we would.  Of course we know that we are not alone.  But as most of you know, in these trials, we feel very alone.

We are fortunate that our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing all they can to help us and walk with us through this - but that feeling of isolation still sneaks in and chokes one's heart and hope.  

We were doing OK - and then things began to go wrong(?) - or at least grow not good.  Then we found that there was little we could think of to "fix" things.  Like many of you we began to wonder why.  The more we wondered the darker it seemed to grow - and the more desperate we began to feel.

But - God has been faithful - through brothers and sisters who love Him we are loved, prayed for and to the degree possible provided for.  We can't deny His blessings even though we feel that sense of desperation.  It's a very hard thing to count your current blessings when what seems like disaster looms ahead.

We have both voiced Paul's comment that:

2 Corinthians 1:8b

 For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.

No, we in no way think we are anywhere close to the despair Paul felt - but at times it does feel that way.  

We are also learning to count whatever we have left as "dross" compared to the grace and mercy we have in Christ.  But the danger there is to begin to be bitter towards having acquired all the "dross" and beating yourself up for it.  We find ourselves wanting for someone to just come and take it all and sell it for whatever can be had.  That looks and feels like quitting - like faithlessness.

We know He is sovereign and our trial is for His glory and is not for our injury but our benefit - it just doesn't feel that way.  The fight is to remember it is good regardless of how it feels.

So what would I have you consider?  Consider that this could be you or someone close to you - and it can happen more suddenly than you think.  Consider your intimacy with God when things are "good" and work on making it and keeping it as do Stanton and healthy as possible.  Do not wait until that intimacy comes from a trial - from desperation.  That intimacy can never be too deep nor too constant.

Consider how prepared you are to serve others as we see the Body doing in Acts 2.
Consider that suffering is part of our walk - it can be long and small or sudden and crushing.  Consider being prepared - knowing and trusting Him more deeply - trusting Him for everything and submitting to Him more broadly.

I wish we had - but we thought we were.  We never do considered we would be where we are.

Prayers are offered.  Prayers are sought.

May He draw you closer and may you run to Him often.

Weeping in sorrow but not too much.

First let me apologize for the lack of posting anything new for the past several weeks,  It is not uncommon for a believer to find themselves under such affliction that anything they might say seems selfish and hollow.

As Patti and I pass through this time of trial and sorrow we have had a very real struggle to keep ourselves productive - me especially.  I have started many post only to stop and realize I was so focused on where we are ( and where we aren't) hat my writing was a great disappointment and so could not be published.  For you who follow this blog, please forgive my lack of faithfulness and my self-absorption.

Though I don't know if I can keep our circumstances out of my writing I will make the best attempt I can, relying upon His provision and power.

Let me just say this - it is very very easy when one is undergoing some affliction or other difficulty to miss the blessings that are all around you.  When one is looking for something specific to happen it is easy to miss what is indeed happening.  Missing the many blessings that do occur is something we need to consider.  While we wait upon Him we must not forget that in His sovereignty He is guiding everything and though He can work instantaneously and awesomely He is still working in the common and everyday blessings we so often overlook.

Yes, we need to be thankful that, "things aren't worse," but we need to work to see and be grateful for how things are - even when a part o that is not so hot.

In his work, A Christian's Directory, Christopher Love writes:


That Christians should take a great deal of heed, that they do not be immoderate or excessive in worldly sorrow, either for the meeting with any crosses, undergoing any troubles, or the losing of any comforts here in the world.    Whatever afflictions you meet with, or whatever comforts you part with, you should take care your sorrows are not immoderate and inordinate.
Love, Christopher (2012-11-27). A Christian's Directory (Kindle Locations 372-377). Puritan Publications. Kindle Edition. 


The blessing o these words are, of course in the admonition to not to allow our sorrows to be immoderate and inordinate.  But the other blessing is that we may be sorrowful when we meet crosses, troubles or loss of comforts.

In a world that demands we "suck it up," "tough it out," and even "hang in there," we do ourselves an injury when we do not allow ourselves to acknowledge and express our sorrow.  Instead we bite our cheeks and force a smile - - pretending -- we are fine and happy.

Let me encourage you to consider your sorrow and to respect it.  Express it but do not allow it to overwhelm and crush you.  God blesses our tears as well as our laughter.  He takes notice of our joy and our pain.  I do not believe He would have us -- pretend -- things are good when they are not. 

Yes, we all have heaven to hope in and hope for but here we are going to have crosses and troubles and losses.   I praise Him that we may be sorrowful and even weep when things are thus.  It is a great blessing to know:


You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book?   (Psa 56:8)

Father, though I hope in You, I hurt as well.  Thank You for Your understanding and mercy. Thank You that I do NOT have to - indeed I must not - pretend I am fine when I am not.  Thank You that You hold my pain in Your hand and send Your comfort to my heart.  Lt me come weeping to You - not over much - but rather to express my weakness, my frailty, my utter need for You.
Amen

Any takers???

When we are going through trials there is a great temptation to seek to negotiate with God.  We drive ourselves mad just trying to work some angle with Him to relieve our distress.  Some of us run about others of us just sit and stare silently screaming for help.


Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 
(Pro 3:5)

Great words - true words - but will somebody please tell my mind and body about it?   Knowing the truth and even having evidences in one's own life does not make a trial any easier.

In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. (Pro 3:6)

Yes, we must acknowledge Him in all our ways  And rely upon Him to make our paths straight - but we have to remember that straight paths are always easy ones.  Kind of makes the verse stick in your throat.

When we hurt it is hard to think or even pray for anything other than for the pain to stop. When we can't see hope it is hard to pray for anything other than some sign that things will be OK.  When we are afraid that fear is present and powerful and steals our attention from Him and His faithfulness.

So what do we do when we "feel" unique in our distress, when we "feel" alone and abandoned?

Well, any takers on this one?