The Work of Suffering - Part 3: Three Areas to Explore
I have been working through a series on the work of suffering. I was inspired by Oswald Chamber’s devotional My Utmost for His Highest and you can see the original post here. Part 2 looked at the necessity of leaning into the truth of God’s word, our foundation, during difficult times. This week I want to look at three areas where the work of suffering becomes essential.
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Belief.
Suffering has a way of honing our belief systems. I have looked at the word belief before on this blog, but let’s review. (You can see that original post here. ) The word belief is defined by Webster’s Online Dictionary as a NOUN: a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing; something believed or held as true; conviction of the truth of some statement or reality of some being or phenomenon especially when based on examination of evidence. The VERB state of belief would be believe which is define as: Transitive - to consider as true or honest; to accept the word or evidence of; to hold as an opinion; Intransitive - to accept something as true, genuine or real; to have a firm or wholehearted religious conviction or persuasion; to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of someone or something.
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We know the Bible talks a lot about belief. It is essential in our faith that we believe in a God we do not see based on what we know from His Holy word, and on the revelation of the Spirit, the third person of the trinity. We also have the words of Jesus, His son, in the four Gospels.
For instance, reading through another of Oswald Chamber’s devotionals recently he used the following two verses, two days in a row.
“...for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
6 so that we confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?””
When I am going through difficulty and I approach Scripture, I need to ask myself, “Do I believe what God is saying in these verses? We will talk about trust in a moment, but for now, just think about this idea of belief. Do I believe…what? Do I believe God is real? Do I believe He created the universe? Do I believe the Bible is His holy words written down by men moved by His Spirit? Do I believe what those words say? Do I believe in the person and work of Jesus? Do I believe He was born to a virgin, walked as a man on this earth, gathered a group of disciples who became the foundation of the church, died on a cross and rose again? Do I believe that when I accept Jesus as my Lord and savior that I receive the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and through Him I am able to learn, and grow and find all that I need for life and godliness?
“ 1 Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. ”
Trust.
It may seem that the words trust and believe are the same thing, but this is where we get into the nuances of words. To me, the word belief is a stance. I am placing my feet on the solid foundation of God’s word and its truth. The word trust belies something more relational. Websters Online Dictionary defines trust as: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. If I trust someone I am choosing to rely on them. This is where I believe many Christians struggle. We can be standing on the edge of the Promised land, but never step into it. I can believe God’s word, plan and purpose for this world and for me. I can know scripture, attend numerous services at my church, and spend my weekends serving those less fortunate, but if I don’t trust God, all of it becomes merely works that I am hoping to stack in my favor. Trust moves us from merely standing on the foundation, to opening the door to God’s movement and work in our lives and the lives of others around us.
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“38 Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.
39 She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word.
40 But Martha was distracted with [q]all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me.”
41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;
42 but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.””
If you have been a Christian for a while, and have been in a Bible study, or heard a sermon preached on the above passage, you probably know this piece of scripture is not without controversy. I do not mean controversy pertaining to whether it is true or not, but as to whether Martha was really out of line for questioning the Lord and wanting Jesus to reprimand her sister for not helping her with the meal. However, what does Jesus say?
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chose the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
The point I want to make is Mary had trusted Jesus. She wasn’t worried about the meal, or the work, she was leaning in to the relationship with her Lord and teacher, and eventually savior, Jesus. This is such an important point, and I am sorry this is so long, but I feel it is important to understand; without the movement from belief to trust we will never become the sons and daughters we are meant to be.
Read this article form the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (UK), The Tree Stump Prayer: When Billy Graham Overcame Doubt. I learned of this prayer years ago when I was attending Moody Bible Institute and the story still impresses me. Billy Graham, the greatest evangelist of the 20th century had doubts? Wow! He did, until he took the step from belief to trust.
Peace.
The last area I want to look at having to do with the work of suffering has to do with peace. Suffering easily leads to anxiety and fear. It is completely understandable. It doesn’t matter what sort of suffering you are going through: chronic illness, newly diagnosed cancer, impending divorce or job loss, losing a loved one, a home, or being in the throes of trying to maneuver government websites to sign up for Social Security and Medicare; all of these can produce stress, anxiety and fear. If we do not believe and entrust ourselves to God and his truth we will not have peace.
I talked about peace back in February in my Peace in the Chaos series. You can see those pieces here: Part 1, Part 2a, Part 2b, and Part 2c. Being able to have peace during difficult and chaotic times is essential in the growth and stability of our faith. The only true way to attain this peace is to abide, abide, abide in Christ.
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“1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
9 Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.””
This passage really lays it all out. If we abide in Christ we will be standing firm on the beliefs that are foundational to our faith; we will be entrusting ourselves to the vine dresser, which is God the Father; we will have His peace, and the most amazing thing is that even in the difficulty of pruning and cutting us back we will bear fruit. I would like to do a further study on this passage at a later time, but we can certainly see the benefit to our lives during suffering when we abide in Him.
Sorry, this series has taken so long, and I hope that it has benefited you. My spouse and I have been going through some struggles, but I am thankful that I have a loving Father who keeps turning me back to Him.
Have a great week.