The Final Suffering

 

Suffering 26

 

          It has been an interesting few months, I think, and hopefully profitable ones examining the subject of suffering in an in-depth manner from the Word of God. I would be remiss, however, if I did not include some thoughts of the final suffering that will come to each of us prior to the elimination of all suffering from our lives. That is the suffering of death.

The Vocation of Death

One of the men I read in preparation for this series was R. C. Sproul. His book on suffering was not tremendously helpful to me, and I do not plan to read him again, but he did a good job examining the idea of death as a vocation.

Death is the result of sin, but that does not mean death is under the control of the devil. It is not; it is under the control of Christ. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death (Revelation 1.18).

Absent the Second Coming, we will all walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23.4). It is appointed unto men once to die (Hebrews 9.27). Appointed here means reserved or destined, something that is necessary to do, that must be done. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die (Ecclesiastes 3.1-2). Season here means a specific, appointed time; purpose means our business.

          Vocation is defined by the dictionary as a particular occupation, business, profession, or calling, specifically a divine call to God’s service. Beloved, we have been called to face death. It is not an accident even if it comes by means of accident. It is not a coincidence. Contrary to popular parlance, it is not a door we take one moment to step through. It is a season, an appointment we must meet for a period of time, in all likelihood. God has purposed that we endure this season at the end. We are called to it.

Wisdom Prepares for a God Called Vocation

          I am called of God to be a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a pastor, and a saint. These are major callings on my life by God, things He has tasked me to do. What a fool I would be to not prepare for such God given vocations.

          I surrendered to the ministry at fourteen. I wrote about the process of this calling on my life in “Schizophrenic.” I began my first pastorate at the age of twenty-four. During those intervening ten years I gave my utmost attention to preparing for that vocation. No, I did not know when it was coming but I knew that it was coming. No, I did not know how difficult it would be, but I did my best to prepare to do what I knew God was calling me into.

          In a similar sense, I am going to walk through that valley of the shadow of death one day. When this season of final suffering comes, I want to be prepared.

Preparing for the Final Suffering

          I see four different things we need to prepare as we contemplate the vocation of death.

First, in primacy not just on this list, we must prepare our soul. Prepare to meet thy God (Amos 4.12). We must endeavor to make our calling and election sure, having a good understanding of scriptural salvation and seeking strong evidence of its presence in our lives.

          Second, we should prepare our affairs. When God sent Isaiah to Hezekiah with news of Hezekiah’s coming death Isaiah told him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live (Isaiah 38.1). I have spent untold countless hours attempting to get the seniors to whom I minister to do this very thing. I am mystified by the large number of them who are resistant to it, or who have done little to nothing at all along these lines. Have a will. Have a living will. Plan your final arrangements. Pay for your final arrangements. Have your financial and legal paperwork organized.

          “Well, I won’t be here so what does it matter?” It matters because when you die your loved ones will be handed a mess right on the worst day of their lives. Additionally, they will want to do what you would want done but if they do not know what you want done it can breed uncertainty and strife in the family. Love your loved ones well one last time; put your house in order.

          Third, prepare your conscience. At the end, Paul had the boldness to say, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith (II Timothy 4.7). Make it a priority to maintain your testimony, your beliefs, and the practice of those beliefs to the very end. Your health will seek to give you excuses. Your disappointments with people will try to do the same. Your adult children’s lives will push you to silence. Your old nature will fight to the bitter end. So fight it back. Hold on to the end.

          Fourth, prepare your life’s work. Paul said he had finished his course. Some people aim at nothing with their lives. When death greets them they have left nothing undone because they never set about to do anything in the first place. But I have zero desire to be one of those. I can neither control nor know the time of my end, but I can prepare and plan for probabilities. I can live my life intentionally, purposely. I want the end of my life’s arc to find my life’s work done. I want to straighten things up, set my tools down, and walk away. I want to finish.

Enduring the Final Suffering

          Allow me three concluding thoughts in relation to actually going through the valley of the shadow.

          First, loosen your hold on this life. As it approaches give away your possessions. Find others to take on your jobs and responsibilities. Decrease your media consumption. Let all these things go. In the Garden, our Lord said, Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me (John 14.30). May the prince of this world find no hold on you or in you at the end.

          Second, tighten your grasp on the life to come. As your body stumbles toward the grave let your mind reach toward eternity. Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth (Colossians 3.2). For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11.10). Read about Heaven. Meditate upon eternity. Think of Jesus. Turn your eyes toward Him.

          Third, as you enter the valley of the shadow itself, reach for His presence. The sweet psalmist of Israel penned these sentiments most beautifully. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me (Psalm 23.4). Walk together with Him on that last highway as you turn toward Home. Lean into Christ and onto Christ as you prepare to meet Christ.

          Carrie Ellis Breck’s words are haunting my mind here at the end of this post and this series. She wrote them 125 years ago…

Face to face with my Christ, my Saviour

Face to face – what will it be

When with rapture I behold Him,

Jesus Christ who died for me?

 

Only faintly now I see Him,

With the darkened veil between,

But a blessed day is coming

When His glory shall be seen.

 

What rejoicing in His presence,

When are banished grief and pain;

When the crooked ways are straightened

And the dark things shall be plain.

 

Face to face – oh, blissful moment!

Face to face – to see and know;

Face to face with my Redeemer,

Jesus Christ who loves me so.

 

Face to face I shall behold Him,

Far beyond the starry sky;

Face to face in all His glory,

I shall see him by and by.

 

 

For a Season

 

Suffering 25

 

          Peter’s first epistle dwells on the subject of suffering in depth, not just by specific mention but all through the book. Toward the beginning we find this wonderful text. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations (I Peter 1.6). Peter understood each of us have an all too human tendency to think when we are trudging through the vale of sorrow that it is going to last forever. To allay that natural attitude, he lovingly inserts three little words I could not get past in preparing this series, for a season. They were in heaviness, a word specifically relating to sorrow. They were experiencing this hard-to-bear sorrow for manifold reasons. Peter was assuring them that this sorrowful weight they carried for several different reasons was not going to last forever. It was only for a season.

          Three thoughts flow from this in my mind. First, there are seasons of suffering in the Christian life but they do not last forever. For instance, to the children of Israel born and raised during their Wilderness wanderings this season of suffering composed their entire life – but it did not last forever. To those whose memories stretched back to better days in Egypt, and had seen the hand of the Lord via the plagues and the Red Sea it must have hurt terribly – but it did not last forever. Ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season (Joshua 24.7) but it was only that, a season. It made a tremendous impression on national Israel, and the lessons forged in that crucible of suffering were often referred to by later prophets and preachers, but it did not last forever.

          God will only keep you in the season of suffering as long as He needs you to be there. For a season, if need be. To this Solomon agreed beforehand when he wrote, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven (Ecclesiastes 3.1). He will not leave you in heaviness one minute longer than is necessary to accomplish His purpose, whether it be your own purification, others’ edification, or His own glory. It will not last forever, only until His purpose is accomplished.

          Second, these seasons of suffering in the Christian life are designed to produce fruit later. Some years ago I read “The Dreamt Land” by Mark Arax. In it, he vividly describes what drought, engineering, and over-use have done to California’s aquifier. In the process, I learned that during drought’s citrus fruit becomes sweeter and vegetables become more flavorful. So it is with suffering.

          Sometimes we cling to the erroneous idea that we are always going to be growing, always going to be seeing results, plucking the fruit, so to speak. This is simply unscriptural. John the Baptist certainly had periods with great fruit and others of dwindling and doubt. It was said of the people in relation to him, ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light (John 5.35). But they only responded to him for a season. And one season is just as ordained of God as another, whether of dwindling or growth.

          Churches go through dry spells. People go through dry spells. Marriages go through dry spells. Fruit bearing in the life of a righteous man is seasonal. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season (Psalm 1.3). If you quit on God during the dry season, if the heat on your back, the sweat on your brow, and the grit on your parched tongue causes you to throw in the towel you never will reach the bringeth-forth-fruit season. And let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not (Galatians 6.9).

          Philemon understood this. A godly Christian, he experienced grief at the hands of his servant, Onesimus, who stole from him and ran off to Rome. Later, after Onesimus had been brought to Christ by Paul’s intervention the latter told Philemon, For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever (Philemon 1.15). Beloved, perhaps your son or daughter has departed for a season that you might receive them forever. The season of loss and grief is oft a necessary prequel to the season of reaping. Faint not.

          Third, we are called to be consistently Christian in all seasons.

It has been my deep privilege and solemn responsibility to shepherd a flock of God’s children for the last 1,335 weeks. Some of those Sundays I have rejoiced to see fruit. Others have been like walking over broken glass. But in all of them, I was required to be faithful. Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season (II Timothy 4.2). The Apostle Paul would understand what I feel completely here. He told the Ephesian pastors, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with… many tears, and temptations (Acts 20.18-19).

          Many reading this will be experiencing a season of suffering. What you are going through is not an excuse to exit stage right into a subpar Christian life. In fact, what you have is an opportunity to glorify God, edify other believers, and bring the lost to him. You have been handed an opportunity not an excuse.

While meditating on this text some years ago, the Lord moved me my heart. Putting pen to paper, I wrote the following words.

For a Season

 

I wept as I walked down the road;

A paperboy trudging through rain.

My heart was hurt 'neath the load,

But I didn't see then the pain

...was only 'for a season.'

 

I wept as I walked down the road;

A steelworker stumbling through snow.

The bleak ice of winter's abode

A mirror of my cry of woe

...but 'twas only 'for a season.'

 

I wept as I stood by the crib

In that lonely hospital room.

Her heart fluttered 'neath the rib,

And close by death whispered doom

...but 'tis only 'for a season.'

 

I wept sitting there in my car

When I came to your house to pray.

I know a bit 'bout the scar

On your heart, so I gently say

...it is only 'for a season.'

 

O my people, I lovingly plead

For your patience and faith in the Lord.

You suffer heartaches indeed.

Take the comfort this thought does afford

...'twill be only 'for a season.'

 

I promise your sorrow will end;

A smile will return to your face.

The tear in your heart He will mend;

The wound with joy He'll replace

...because this is only 'for a season.'

 

And someday we'll all gather 'round

The Throne in eternity's day.

This suffering life we'll lay down;

The tears all wiped away

...and it won't just be 'for a season.'

Seven Right Responses to Suffering

 

Suffering 24

Note: I am offering a ten hour Zoom class on hermeneutics on Monday nights from March 20 to April 17. It will run from 7 PM to 9 PM Central Time. It is designed for anyone who teaches in a volunteer capacity in a local church. There is no charge for the class. You will receive a 50 page syllabus and a 90 page assigned reading course. Because everything for the class functions via email I do need you to register with your email address if you are interested, even if I already have that email for some other reason. Any questions, feel free to let me know.  

          Suffering is only occasionally self-caused. More often, it is caused by someone else and impacts you. We likened this to how a rowboat must respond to the waves coming from a large rock hurled into the pond from shore. Last week, we examined nine ways not to respond. Today, we are going to look at seven ways we should respond. Suffering is coming; here is how you ought to respond.

Prayer

          Prayer, as John R. Rice famously said, is asking. Prayer is also often just enjoying the Lord’s company. Prayer ought to be praise, much more than it is. But in addition to these, prayer is taking the grief of your heart and pouring it out to the Lord. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee (Psalm 55.22). I poured out my complain before him: I shewed before him my trouble (Psalm 142.2).

          Venting to your friends brings a feeling of catharsis, and the temporary emotional support of sympathy. Prayer takes that a step farther by doing all of that plus the addition of strength. Jesus did it. Job did it. Joseph did it. Moses did it. David did it. Jeremiah did it. Habakkuk did it. And you and I ought to do it.

          The waves are advancing rapidly toward your fragile craft. What should you do?

          Pray.

Trust 

          I just urged you to pray in response to suffering, but sometimes you cannot pray. In my experience this happens when I feel like God is the one responsible for my pain. Other times, this occurs when I feel as if I have already taken this burden to Him a million times; what is to be gained by voicing my grief again? On rare occasions, I have not been able to summon any words at all; all I can do is kneel there, weeping brokenly. I have learned, though, that even in such times I can still trust Him. Trust in him at all times; ye people, Pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah (Psalm 62.8).

          In such times, this is what I tell God. “I’m mad at you, though I know I have no right to be. I do not understand at all what you are doing. I am weary with bringing this to you again. But underneath all the ferment of my feelings I trust You. I have to; I have nowhere else to go.”

          As an old saint said, when you cannot trace His hand you can trust His promises. He is too good to be unkind and too wise to make mistakes. Trust in that goodness. Trust in His reasons, that He is working all of this to good purpose. And trust His timing. He is never late.

Brokenness 

          Some of you reading me today will not understand this, but the psalmist would. I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart (Psalm 38.8). Thou hast sore broken us (Psalm 44.19). The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Psalm 51.17).

          One of the most difficult messages I have ever given was to a local pastor’s fellowship on the text, And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken (Matthew 21.44). Brokenness, however, is not something only pastor’s experience; it is something saints experience.

          In the original language, broken in the above text means shattered. It is to be crushed, to be heartbroken, to be in despair, to be ground into the dust.

          In the main Bible I used during my college days you will find this poem in the front flyleaf:

A crystal mirror, I;

Fate flung me, how prosaic, in the dust.

Now shattered here I lie.

Dear God, please help me try

To be a rare mosaic, in the dust.

          C. H. Spurgeon said something similar in his own inimitable way.

Oh, what a mercy it would be if some of you were broken all to pieces! There are many flowers that will never yield their perfume till they are bruised. Even the generous grape lets not its juice flow forth till it is trodden under foot of men. Breaking and bruising are fit treatment for the nature of men, especially for the new nature. When God has put sweetness into our hearts, it is then that breaking develops the sweetness. Oh, to worship God in spirit and in truth! One has well said, “No one ever worshipped God with his whole heart unless he worshipped him with a broken heart.”

          Let him break you. Do not fight Him. From the shattered remains He will shine forth all the brighter.

Joy 

          I have quoted the psalmist often in this series. If anyone in the Bible besides Jesus understood suffering it was him. Yet that same psalmist understood joy. Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: For praise is comely for the upright (Psalm 33.1).

          So did Isaiah. As an old man, enduring the awful reign of Judah’s worst king, the murderous Manasseh, he wrote, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels (Isaiah 61.10).

          So did Habakkuk. After enunciating in excruciating detail all that his country would endure at the hands of a righteously indignant God he said, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3.17-18).

          So did Paul. Shivering in the bowels of a Roman prison, probably shackled to rotating teams of guards, looking death square in the eye, he penned these immortal words: Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice (Philippians 4.4).

          Beloved, when everything around you is awful and everything inside of you is broken, He is still God. His attributes are unchanged and His Word is still true. The weeping prophet, well named, wrote, Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise (Jeremiah 17.14). When you cannot rejoice in a single thing about your life, you can still rejoice in Him.

Peace

          During the coronavirus pandemic, I wrote a lengthy blog series about peace. I will not here reiterate it, but I do want to mention it. When your boat is rocking up and down as the waves of suffering threaten to swamp your craft, ask Him for His peace.

Absorb

          About twenty-five years ago, a major safety innovation began to be designed into cars for the first time – crumple zones. The hood and the trunk were purposely engineered to fold up, accordion style, in order to absorb as much force as possible from an accident. In the years since, uncounted lives have been spared or spared from serious harm.

          Many of the people who cause suffering in others do so because they endured suffering themselves. Most abusers were themselves abused when they were younger. Broken people often cut. Hurting people often hurt. Mangled people often mangle. Broken people often break others.

          Do not be like those people. When damage comes into your life, absorb it. Do not pass it on to those around you.

          Perhaps the best biblical example of this is David. Saul hurled spears at him, literally, and hunted him down like a dog. Yet when David became king he refused to become an abusive, authoritarian despot like Saul became. He absorbed what Saul threw at him. In the process, he protected his family and his kingdom in ways they never even grasped let alone understood.

          It will cost you more than you want to pay to absorb suffering, and the better you do so the less the people around you will even notice. Absorb anyway.

Radiate

          The Mojave Desert is beautiful, especially at sunrise or sunset. During the heat of the day it is brutal, but the bookends of that brutality are breathtaking. As the sun sets, and the desert plunges into blackness the air temperature swiftly plummets. Yet the sand for quite some time still retains the warmth of the sun, and silently radiates that heat back out.

          Paul, in telling the Corinthians about God, said, Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God (I Corinthians 1.4). Absorb the pain, yes. But radiate outward to all within your embrace the faith, peace, comfort, and joy you have found in the Lord.

          The sweetest Christians I know are the ones who have suffered the most, in whom the Lord has plowed His deepest furrows. But the fruit that has grown in their life as a result is marvelous, and everyone around them shares in its blessing. Our Saviour, with His life leaking from His battered body, suffering for your sin and mine, ministered to those around Him on that cross.

          Be like Jesus, Christian, be like Jesus.

Nine Wrong Responses to Suffering

 

Suffering 23

        

 

          Suffering is generally caused externally. In other words, with the exception of consequences, suffering does not begin because we cause it. Lets say you are in a boat drifting lazily between some lily pads on a pond. Suddenly, from the shore, someone heaves an enormous rock into the water just to the left of your bow. You did not throw the rock, but you do have to deal with the waves. Next week, we will look at good ways to respond to suffering but today I want to begin on the negative side of the equation. As I see it, there are nine bad responses to suffering. Here they are; do not do them.

Surprise

          Your parents are going to age and eventually die. Along the way, they very well may enter a long, slow, painful decline. Your children are going to make decisions you disagree with. Your pastor is going to misunderstand you and consequently mistreat you. Your friends are not going to notice how difficult life is for you. Your employer is going to fire you. Your body is going to fall apart. Your dreams are going to go up in flames. Your world is going to attack what you believe in and stand for. Someone is going to gossip about you behind your back. Someone is going to criticize you fiercely and publicly. Someone is going to accuse you falsely. Your money is going to run out just when you need it most. Your service for the Lord will go unnoticed and unthanked.

          “Boy, Pastor Brennan, you’re depressing today.”

Not at all. I just do not want you to be surprised when it happens. For verily, when we were with you, we told you before that we should suffer tribulation; even as it came to pass, and ye know (I Thessalonians 3.4). One of the primary reasons I am doing such a lengthy series on suffering is to prepare those I love for it when it comes. Because it will come.

Surprise is a bad response.

Accusation 

          Very rarely, do the people who hurt you intend to hurt you. There are evil people in the world; I accept that. But most of the people you and I interact with are not evil. Sinners? Yes. Evil? No. But as sinners their decisions, actions, and words will bring suffering to you, a suffering that is not imaginary, but they were not trying to make you hurt.

          The human problem here from a reaction standpoint is that lashing out at people who hurt us makes us feel better – temporarily. Yet we should not. Charity suffereth long, and is kind (I Corinthians 13.4).

          Not only should we not respond to suffering by accusing people we should not accuse God either.

          You see this all through Job, for example. In a sense, I accept and agree with it. We ought to pour our heart out to Him even if that heart is so hurt at the moment all we can do is blindly lash out at Him. (Always remember, most people do not respond logically while undergoing extreme suffering; they respond emotionally.) But in a larger sense, I disagree with it. Perhaps I should say it this way: when your head clears in the morning, when you are rational again, do not accuse God of unfairness or injustice. He is not evil.

          Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (Romans 9.20)

Anger

          It may be one of the stages of grief but that does not mean it should be. We get angry at God for allowing it. We get angry at the friend, parent, child, or coworker we think caused it. We get angry at the company we work for, at the traffic, at the government, at the media. We get angry at how life has turned out. We get consumed with anger until the anger possesses us as surely as the demons possessed the maniac of Gadara. Suffering people often become angry people. That anger goes to the core of their being, settles in, and breeds all sorts of mischief. 

          The Puritans used to preach a concept called resignation. This is similar to the more modern concept of acceptance but more spiritual. It says, in essence, “God has apparently decreed this for me for this stage of my life; I accept His will; I am resigned to His work in me.”

          Job is a precious example of this. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 2.10) Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1.21). As was our Saviour Himself. Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it? (John 18.11)

          Do not be angry; be resigned.

Bitterness 

          I think I see this more than any other wrong response. It is so instinctually human. I am also conscious I fight it in my own heart. I always will. The root of bitterness is ever springing up (Hebrews 12.15).

          Bitterness springs from a sense of injustice. “I was hurt and it wasn’t fair; I didn’t deserve it.” Alternatively, “I was hurt and the one who hurt me has gotten away with it; that’s not fair.” Like accusation, this starts as a bitterness against people and proceeds to become a bitterness against God.

          The best word I can think of to associate with bitterness is destruction. Bitterness is eminently destructive. I am thinking right now of one particular wife of my acquaintance who is bitter at her parents. That bitterness has now driven away, in addition to her parents, her sisters, her in-laws, and one of her own adult children. It will only continue to wreak havoc so long as she harbors it.

          Bitterness becomes the taste that is always on your palate; nothing is sweet anymore.

          Bitterness becomes the only lens through which you see anything. Everyone and everything becomes suspect as you blame everyone in your past for every little thing that ever sat wrong with you. And you become an old, bitter, dried up husk of a person.

          Do not get bitter.

Envy 

          The sweet psalmist of Israel struggled with this, and expounds on it most movingly in Psalm 37 and its reverse, Psalm 73. In his case, it was seeing the prosperity of the wicked. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked (Psalm 73.3). Envy, however, is bigger than that. It is not just envy at the prosperity of the wicked but an envy of everyone around you who is enjoying what has so cruelly been denied you.

          Bitterness is what I see most often in others as they respond to suffering, but envy is what I see most often in myself. Do ye think that the Scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? (James 4.5) As my college days ended without obtaining that mysterious be all and end all known as a wife, envy grew in me. I looked around at all of my friends happily driving off for their honeymoon and I was envious. For many years, while living in Chicago, I could not afford to buy a home. I struggled with envy of those who could and did. At this stage of my life the spirit of envy in me is different. I look at those who can drive or travel without any apparent difficulty and then be perfectly normal once they arrive and I fight envy. Meniere’s Disease has robbed me of that, along with so much else.

          We so often get our eyes off of the Lord, beloved, distracted by the very blessings He so bounteously bestows on others. If you are in the Lord’s will you have Him. And He is the point; He is better than any of His gifts.

          Let us work at being happy for other people who have what we do not. Let us work at being content with what God has given them and denied us. Let us work at being grateful for His provision to us. Let us work at being enamored of Him.

          …but let us not be envious.

Guilt

          There is subtlety in the devil’s temptations sometimes, and here is one of those times. We do sin, and that sin has consequences. We do sin, and God does convict us of that sin. We do sin, and God does punish us as a result of that sin. But that does not mean that your child died because you did not witness to enough people last year.

          Conviction is a present thing; guilt is a past thing. The devil deals in guilt. God deals in conviction. David was blatantly rebellious and wrong when God took his son’s life. If you, though, have made something right already, and if you are sincerely following after the Lord, you need to realize that blaming yourself is not a healthy thing.

          Let me return to a moment to my old foe, Meniere’s Disease. I think (not know) that God has allowed me to have it as a check on my pride. If I am right about that, sometimes my thought process becomes… “Tom, you have Meniere’s Disease because of your pride. Your family suffers terribly right along side of you and has for years putting up with your disease. If you would just learn your lesson God would take it away and they wouldn’t have to suffer your disease.”

          Perhaps. But maybe God is using this in their life too. Maybe He intends for them to have to put up with my limitations, to not be able to do certain things with me as a father/husband because God wants to draw them to Himself.

          Ask God to show you where you are wrong, but do not blame yourself for all the waves that rock your boat in the lily pads.

Anxiety 

          Anxiety is the evil twin of prudence. The latter biblically looks down the road to see what is coming so it can prepare for it. Anxiety looks down the road and always sees something negative coming. The “what if” is always answered in the negative.

          I speak from sad experience here: when you have suffered it is very easy to become anxious all the time. Mandy and I buried our first child on a snowy Pennsylvania hillside in the waning moments of the last century. Since that day, we are sore tempted to imagine the worst for our children. You become exceedingly conscious of the frailty of human life; it is always on your mind.

          Learning from experience is one thing; allowing yourself to become anxious is another. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4.6-7).

Self-Pity 

          I sat on the picnic table across from a girlfriend who had just broken up with me. My class ring lay rocking gently back and forth on the table between us. She had just dropped it there. Shocked, I stared at her and groaned, “I can’t believe this is happening to me.” Ever the sensible woman, she looked me square in the eye and said, “Tom, you’re not the only guy in the history of the world to have his girl break up with him.”

          She was right. What helpful words those were to me in the dark years ahead. I was not somehow destined for a miserable existence beyond the ken of any man. I was just experiencing life, the same kind of life that millions of others before me and after me experienced. It was endurable. It was survivable.

Despair

          After so many years fighting Meniere’s Disease and its effects, I am generally on an even keel. But occasionally I will descend into the spiraled, twisting madness of despair. At such times, I feel trapped in a broken, deteriorating body, fearful I will be unable to continue to provide for my family or to serve the Lord in any measurable capacity. But despair is always wrong, beloved, always.

          Despair is a vote against the goodness of God. Despair is a vote against the sufficiency of God. Despair is a vote against a real view of what God is actually doing now. Despair is the emotional result of lying to yourself and believing your own lies. At its extreme end, despair becomes suicide, the direct result of a wrong response to suffering.

          Whatever you do, do not despair.

          I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God (Job 19.25-26).

          If you do not have the faith to share Job’s thoughts at least have the wisdom to cling to his words. Whatever has happened or will happen, God has not died. He lives. In the end, when it all is said and done, He will stand triumphant over a creation restored from its curse and you will stand there with Him.

          Believe that, child of God, believe that. And do not despair.

Count the Cost

 

Suffering 22

 

          If you serve God it is going to cost you. Our Lord said as much. For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? (Luke 14.28) It is going to cost you time, money, work, and it is going to cost you suffering. If you want your ministry to grow in effectiveness or in scope you must understand it will cost you more of all of these, especially suffering.

          The link between serving God and suffering is found all through the Word of God. If you do not understand this, you will be tempted to quit when the suffering begins to roll in, or when the suffering begins to exponentially increase. In today’s post, I aim to drive this point home by showing you a variety of ways we suffer as we serve the Lord. To be clear, we could avoid all of these if we quit serving God. So count the cost.

          First, if we serve God, we will experience criticism, reviling, rebuke, and perhaps persecution. We find this in the Old Testament. O Lord, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke (Jeremiah 15.15). We also find it in the New Testament. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name (Acts 5.41). By my count, there are at least eighteen specific references to this in the Word of God along with numerous personal examples.

          You will be criticized, mocked, and attacked by your friends, your family, and your coworkers. Some of this is driven by genuine concern for you. Some of it is driven by pride. Some of it is a reaction against the conviction your life provokes in them. Some of it is driven by peer pressure.

          You will also be criticized, mocked, and attacked by the brethren in Christ. Some of this is driven by misunderstanding. Some of it is driven by genuine doctrinal disagreement. Much of it is driven by a lack of charity and grace along with accompanying pride. Elbert Hubbard said, “To avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.” If you take a stand, brace yourself. Just put your flak jacket and helmet on. The hits are going to keep coming.

Most of these are verbal, but in the wisdom of God occasionally the attack directed our way for our public stand/service for the Lord becomes actual. This is persecution. It is driven by the devil, who hates God, hates truth, and hates God’s people. He whips the world up into an emotional frenzy aimed directly at all that God loves and he hates. It will come more and more as we draw nearer the Second Coming. So count the cost.

Second, we must suffer to get out the gospel. If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ (I Corinthians 9.12). Getting out the gospel takes time, money, and hard work. Often the only thing we get in return is discouragement, rejection, little to no visible results, and an abiding sense of futility. Jack Hyles used to say, “We do not suffer to make salvation possible but we do suffer to make it available.” Elijah experienced this, Noah experienced this, Jeremiah experienced this, and Jesus experienced this in spades.

In addition to this, I would also argue the Christian who is dedicated to getting out the Gospel must suffer with a deep and abiding sense of the burden of sin’s consequence, hell. For this type of believer, the fact of hell is an ever-present reality. It drives him, motivates him, spurs him to continue. One more tract. One more visit. One more door. One more conversation. The eternal destiny of those around him weighs on him constantly.

This, too, we see in our Saviour. The last week of His life, as He and His Apostles enter Jerusalem the Judean hills echoed with shouts of acclamation. Yet our Saviour’s cheeks were wet with tears. He looked forward in time to the consequence of Israel’s rejection of Him and the corresponding destruction of Jerusalem under Titus some forty years hence. Their destiny burdened him even in His moment of greatest public acclaim.

Third, there is suffering that comes in pursuit of spiritual growth. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ (Philippians 3.8). For instance, as the Spirit convicts me of sin I suffer the painful reminder of my own shortcomings, and the difficult task of mortifying my flesh and allowing Christ to live in me. Giving up the things Tom Brennan loves hurts sometimes. Study is a necessary part of the growing Christian’s life, and study is hard work. As we go deeper with Him we often find it a very lonely quest. And I could mention numerous other aspects of suffering entailed in the pursuit of spiritual growth.

Fourth, there is deep suffering in the ministry of sympathy.

I find this comes when I must ask others to do something that is obviously difficult for them. They are wronged and I ask them to forgive. God is silent and I ask them to trust. They are struggling financially and I ask them to tithe. Their marriage is sheer pain and I ask them not to divorce. As I ask them to do what I believe God wants them to do I hurt knowing how much they will hurt in doing it.

I find this comes when I must endure all manner of loss as God prepares me to minister to others. Thus, when I call on others to allow God to use them I know I am asking them to suffer. I feel that most keenly. This is the route God must take to prepare them for service, but I am asking a lot of them and I know it. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted (Hebrews 2.18).   

 I find this comes when I seek to be to others the paraclete that God is to me. I am instructed by Paul, Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep (Romans 12.15). When your heart is breaking it will cost you, beloved, to paste a smile on your face and fellowship with those who are walking in the sunshine. And when you are called to walk with those whose burdens are heavy you will find yourself sharing that heaviness. This also includes the cost of building a close enough relationship with them to be able to do this.

You will find this type of ministry does not add to your burdens; it multiplies them. Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ (Galatians 6.2).

          Lastly, we suffer when we must part from those we have grown close to in serving the Lord. We see this clearly in Acts 20 as Paul takes leave of the Ephesian pastors. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him, Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. You only experience this if you have given your heart away to others in your service for Him. But if you do, the ties that bind you are tightly wound indeed, and severing them, either in parting or in death, is most painful.

          Again, let me be clear. You can avoid all of this if you will just be a carnal Christian. You can probably avoid most of this if you will just be a plateaued Christian. Even if you have served the Lord long and well you can lay most of this aside if you will just quit.

          There are other things you will avoid too. You will miss out on growing close to the Lord, the deep blessing of knowing you are a blessing, the joy there is in serving Jesus, the warm and committed relationships you build with others as you serve the Lord alongside of them, seeing the Lord turn evil into good, and glorifying God. Count the cost, yes. And make sure you count what you buy with that cost too.

          Thirty-six years ago this summer at a Christian camp in southern Ohio I put my hand up and said, “I’m willing to pay.” Pay I have for these thirty-six years. And I would make the same decision over again in a heartbeat.

          There is deep suffering in serving the Lord by serving people. And there is deeper joy and blessing.

          So count the cost.