Of Suffering and Joy---Day 287 Through the Bible

                                     Fall in Yancey County makes a similar appearance year after year, 
                                                            even as the same pattern of sins have spanned millenia.

      (Scripture readings for today: Jeremiah 15:1-16:21; Psalms 118:21-24; Proverbs 27:10; I Thessalonians 2:1-20).

The God of Israel "has had it" with His people as Jeremiah 15, begins. "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people" (v. 1). He says in verse 4, "I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem".  I recently read a devotion by Henry & Richard Blackaby that put Hezekiah's plea for God to spare his life in a different light than I had ever considered. Maybe it would have been better (especially for the kingdom of Judah) if Hezekiah had never fathered his son Manasseh. Perhaps Hezekiah should have accepted the fact that he was going to die. Because of Manasseh's evil reign Judah would go into captivity to Babylon. Verse 14, "And I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land which you do not know". This passage is something to seriously consider whenever we find ourselves, like Hezekiah, asking for what we want--Hezekiah did not want to die--rather than accepting God's plan. I doubt that Hezekiah was any more ready to die 15 years later than he was when God told him his time was up.

Dr. Stanley writes a "Life Principle" passage on Jeremiah 15:19, "Brokenness Is God's Requirement For Maximum Usefulness". Jeremiah was suffering even though "your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart" (v. 16). Dr. Stanley says, "He calls us to get rid of this, toss that, purge ourselves of this trait and habit, repent of that desire and that goal, and finally strip ourselves of all self until we can truly say, 'All that I am and all that I have is God's. He is in me and I am in Him, and that's all that matters' (Dr. Stanley). He continues, "The joy set before us, however, is the joy of knowing that God is with us, working in us and through us, and that God is pleased with us".

We have read time after time of God dealing with His idolatrous people. The answer to why God is punishing His people resounds throughout the ages: "Because your fathers have forsaken Me, says the Lord; they have walked after other gods and have served them and worshiped them, and have forsaken Me and not kept My law. And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me" (Jer.16:11-12).  Do we today know God's hand and His might? Do we know that His name is "the Lord" (16: 21)? Do we rejoice in the day that the rejected stone has become the chief cornerstone and that "this was the Lord's doing" (Psalm 118:22-24)? (What causes us to rejoice?)

Proverbs 27:10, speaks of the wisdom of loyalty on our part. "Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend". Family ties deserve respect. We all need close friends and neighbors in addition to family who may live far away. This Proverb says, "Nor go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity; better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away".

As Christians, we cannot realistically expect to not suffer. Paul was familiar with suffering just as Jeremiah. However, they did not equate their relationship with God with a lack of suffering. He says after they were "spitefully treated in Philippi, as you know, we were bold in our God to speak to you the gospel of God in much conflict" (I Thes. 2:2).  Paul says he was not only bold, "but we were gentle among you" (v. 7).
The bottom line? "That you would walk worthy of God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory" (v.12).  Do we, as the Thessalonians, welcome the word of God--"not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe" (v.13)?  Are we better than Jeremiah, the Apostle Paul, and the brethren in Thessalonica? Are many of us not already familiar with suffering? Paul says he was hindered by Satan time and again (v. 18). But he asks, "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?  Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?" (v. 19). We are avoiding reality when we long for a life in this world without suffering. Paul accepted suffering and was focused on God and others. His joy did not hinge on avoiding pain and his hope was that of seeing his brethren in the presence of Christ at His coming!