Musing – Suffering? How to Keep it in Perspective.

  Hebraic Musing – Suffering?  How to Keep it in Perspective.

Here’s an almost unedited prayer request from a friend* undergoing suffering.  I appreciate his perspective!

“I just wanted to thank EVERYONE for all the prayers & to update you on my situation. I can’t stand or walk without pain and the strain from just moving from one room to another is so tiring that I have to sit down & relax before I attempt to walk again. I believe God has a purpose for everything and I want to reassure everyone that this doesn’t shake my faith because I see it from an eternal perspective.”    He goes on…

It’s unfortunate that the false teachings of the “health and wealth” prosperity gospel have deceived and influenced the Body of Christ and have shipwrecked the faith of many.  Instead of picking and choosing verses to OUR LIKING, we need to look at the whole counsel of God.  There is nothing in the Bible that says all Christians are exempt from life’s struggles.  Our God doesn’t always answer the way we want and when we want it; however, FAITH is trusting HIS perfect will and being content with whatever it is.

The other day I watched a secular movie, USS INDIANAPOLIS, MEN OF COURAGE, about the naval ship torpedoed by a Japanese sub near the end of WWII.  Imagine having a leg or arm bitten off by a shark and enduring such pain while in a raft, floating in the ocean for five days before being rescued.  I thank the Lord because what I’m presently going through is NOTHING compared to what those men endured.  Though we live in a cursed creation, I praise God that as Christians our peace and joy is IN HIM and not in our circumstances!

What does God’s Holy Word say about Suffering(s):

James 1:2-4 NIV  “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-10 ESV  “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But he said to me, ‘My grace is SUFFICIENT for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, THEN I AM STRONG.”

Hebrews 5:7-8 ESV  “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.  Although he was a son, he learned OBEDIENCE through what he SUFFERED.”

2 Corinthians 1:3-5 ESV  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 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.  For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”

Romans 5:1-4  NIV  “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, … we also glory in our sufferings, BECAUSE WE KNOW that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Romans 8:35-39 ESV “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …   No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Job 13:15 ESV  “THOUGH HE SLAY ME, I WILL HOPE IN HIM;…”

Points to ponder

How do we define Faith?   How do we exercise Faith?

Might these Biblical perspectives change how we pray about our needs, wants & desires?

♫  Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. ♫

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                             January 11, 2022
Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of Christian  faith”
“Biblical Marriage by Yosef”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”   http://insightsbyyosef.blogspot.com/

*  Copied & edited from message by Jun Renegado of Bethany Christian Center in Stockton, CA