by RobertCummins | Oct 3, 2013 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
Psalm 109: 21-26
“For Thy name’s sake” is a key phrase in this passage. God, “for Thy name’s sake“, do this, or do that. The larger part of this psalm though is David asking God, for His name’s sake, to absolutely pulverize those who have slandered him. Wouldn’t it have been a shock for David to have encountered Jesus and heard Him say, “David, instead of Me destroying these people, I would like you to just forgive them; love them, turn the other cheek and then ask how you might serve them. And..by the way, I want you to start praying for these people not against them.”?
David was complimented by God as one who had an exceptional heart toward Him. I’m sure with a heart like that, David would eventually have gotten over His desire for personal vindication. I suspect one of the aspects of David’s heart that God loved and approved of was that David presented his own heart to God very honestly and very regularly. This is what I hear God applauding about David. He was a man who lived very presumptuously about God’s favor toward Him.
This psalm reveals at least three motivations in David’s heart. 1) David perceived that his own heart was wounded. He was weak and shaken. 2) David wanted relief from the suffering by way of improved circumstances. 3) He wanted to see and he wanted everyone else to see an outcome in his life that reflected well on God Himself. It seems David is not too different than us really.
We do not know what percentage of David’s heart was running on the “Thy namesake” motivational track, where his concern was exclusively for God’s glory; where he say’s, “and let them know that this is Thy hand; Thou Lord hast done it”. Even though David’s heart was mixed like ours in its motivations, God approved and endorsed it.
What percentage of our hearts are fueled by this motivation? Do we understand our hearts well enough to see that they are divided by many different motives; that we do many things which we tell ourselves are being done “for Thy name’s sake” when they are really being done for “our name’s sake”? Even if we could discern our ego’s vested self interest in singing that “special” or preaching that sermon or appearing in this or that light, can we just flip a switch and suddenly be jealous only for God’s glory? Much opportunity to walk through suffering with the Lord, coming to know His heart more intimately, would be squandered if we could.
In another psalm the writer places this petition before God, “Unite my heart to sing Thy praise“. It seems this writer understood his heart’s duplicitous motivation and was crying out for purification and refinement in the deepest part of himself. It is in this space where motivations reside. It is in this place that Jesus either becomes Lord or just a consultant on an as-needed basis. I think the idea of Jesus being just a post-conversion consultant to us is a tragic and unbiblical affair that will result in tremendous loss to us on that day when we see Him face to face. “Lord, unite my heart to sing Thy praise” is a very sane prayer for a follower of Christ to be praying.
It is unpopular to say this, even among some of my closest friends, but I believe that suffering is one of the things that God uses to refine our heart’s motivations. I believe if we will process suffering in the Lord’s presence, we will not only come to know Him more intimately, but when we ultimately stand before Him, a greater portion of our hearts will be found, there in the light of His glory, to have been united – operating out of that sincere desire to see His name exalted and honored, above our own, in earth and in heaven. Is this line of thinking a part of what it means to you to call Jesus Christ your Lord? Is Jesus Savior and Lord to us or is He Savior and consultant in our perceived needs?
Father, help us to cooperate as you unite our hearts; retrieving them from all the things we have given them over to; our reputations, our success; our ambition, our need for approval, our own comfort – our own glory. Unite our hearts to sing Your praise so that the predominant motivation within us really is all about “Thy name’s sake“. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Oct 1, 2013 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
1 Peter 4:12-19
Have you ever had to endure unpleasant circumstances that were beyond your control? It would sure be unusual if you haven’t. How is it that bad things happen to us when we have angels looking out for us; when Christ Himself is interceding for us; and when God Himself, who is all-powerful and all-knowing is all for us? If God is my fortress, how did this stuff get over the mote and into the fortification?
This passage might be helpful in sorting out our answers. How are we as His followers to respond to suffering? What value, if any, is there to suffering? If we will permit Peter to speak to us, he will answer these questions that so many of us have asked or may be asking still;
1) Since Jesus has suffered, arm yourself with the very same purpose. 2) Don’t let suffering catch you off guard as if a test were an unexpected thing. 3) When You suffer according to God’s will, entrust Yourself to Him. 4) Christ shares His suffering with some. If you are privileged to be one of them, stay current in your rejoicing, knowing that exultation awaits you. 5) Trials and suffering are necessary sometimes. They serve as a refining fire for our faith which will prove more precious than gold. Responding well to suffering will result in the eternal benefit of praise and honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I will once again recommend two classic books by the late Paul Billheimer; Don’t Waste Your Sorrows and Destined for the Throne. These books hammered home a spiritual reality into my belief system. It was that from life’s painful experiences, God could somehow create eternal value and blessing. So, when an event causing suffering came, there was always a hope and anticipation, albeit faint at times, that God would be meeting me somewhere in the future with a reward. The presence of that idea has always help encourage perseverance and faith.
I do not look forward to suffering at all. But, if suffering is necessary, for some unknown reason, the last thing I want to do is squander any value that might be embedded in it by grumbling or becoming hard and embittered. I believe the same principle applies in all the various expressions of suffering ranging from inconvenience to catastrophe.
Father, We really don’t need to know why painful experiences come our way as Your followers. Regardless of our poor initial reaction to suffering help us to recover quickly, realizing that we are being raised as sons of God; as brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ and that You are a competent and loving parent who is capable of making use of everything that touches our life regardless of where it comes from. Amen.
by RobertCummins | Sep 30, 2013 | 40. Moving Through Suffering
Hebrews 2:10-18
When we look at humanity we see so many radically different groups and we wonder how we will ever achieve any harmony on earth. We see the ancients and the moderns; the communists and the capitalists, the Hindus and the Muslims; the young and the old; the good and the bad and hundreds of other breakdowns. I wonder though, in light of verse 15 if their may just really be two categories of men; those who are free and those who are slaves. It says that it is the fear of death that the devil uses to subject men to slavery. How does he pull this off?
Fundamentally, the devil is a lying spirit and by propogating his myths, errors and distortions, he earns his title as the father of all lies. His power rests in his capacity to deceive. He works to convince many that God does not exist. For the rest who believe that He does exist, satan simply works to distort God’s nature and His ways.
What would you say is the greatest lie being told on the the earth in this hour? Wouldn’t it be that particular lie that does the most damage over the longest period of time? Other ways of asking the same question would be; What lie do you think the Prince of Darkness works the hardest at promoting? Or; What deception, if it were exposed, would do the most damage to the kingdom of darkness? I am proposing that Satan’s worst nightmare is that the sons of God who are currently living as slaves will discover God’s provision of life in Christ and begin living as sons and daughters – children of light – fearless citizens and credible representatives of an eternal kingdom. So, in this scenario, Satan’s most strategic lies are the ones holding the body of Christ in check – the ones you and I entertain unwittingly in our own hearts.
When we do break into freedom, and we will because he is bringing many sons to glory, light will be released through the Church not just through better Sunday sermons but in the Word that has been made flesh in Jesus’ many brothers and sisters who are spread out in strategic networks located throughout the earth ready to shine our light into the darkness around us.
Slavery within the church is not a popular topic. How can a pastor speak to his congregation who are, in theory, free in Christ and insinuate that lies being entertained in their hearts are perhaps the place Satan, more than any other, is working to promote the most damage over the longest period of time? If these lies exist, as I have proposed, what would they look like?
Since they are lies, and deceptive by nature, they are not going to be obvious to us. It is more likely that we, and others especially, will just see the outcome of the lies such as an absence of the fruit of the Spirit which we have just come to terms with as normal. The evidence of lies will also show up as a shortfall of the power of the Spirit – a vacuum where we have come to terms with the absence of the supernatural and even formed doctrines and beliefs to explain that condition as normal. Promoting a lie until it is crystalized in a an individual or corporate belief system is how the enemy enslaves men.
Jesus, better than us, understands the temptation to sell out to the devil. He was posed with various lies in His 40 day wilderness exposure to the father of lies. If you recall these temptations all began with, “If you are the son of God, then you will……..”. Many of Satan’s most effective lies attack our identity through our souls. We allow these often negative thoughts and feelings about ourselves to take precedence over God’s words and feelings about us. I know from experience that some of this thinking can become so engrained and normal that deep down in our hearts we can quietly entertain questions about our legitimacy, God’s existence and, amazingly, even His goodness. It is surprising how well we, even as Christians, can serve the father of lies.
Father, since, through Your suffering, You have removed the basis of any fear we might have of death, let us give ourselves unreservedly to Your Life. Go after the half-truths and blatant lies the enemy has sold us that have enslaved us. Liberate us into the freedom of the sons of God which we and all creation are longing to see. Amen.
