Healing Rays of Righteousness

A Song of Confidence

Read Psalm 23

For my times of suffering, I have found much comfort and encouragement in Psalm 23, and as a chaplain have shared this psalm with many others in their times of suffering.  I think this psalm portrays an excellent summary of the Christian perspective for all of life, including suffering.

Psalm 23 is probably the best-known and most quoted passage from the Bible.  Even those who seldom read the Bible can quote at least a line or two from it, because they’ve heard it so often spoken at funerals. It is appropriately used there and is most often a comforting passage to mourners. But if you think of Psalm 23 as being only an appropriate funeral text, you can miss the fact that this Psalm is mostly about living, not dying.  In fact, only one verse references death, while the other five verses speak about good, abundant living.

Although many of us are used to hearing the King James version of verse 4 as “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death …,” the underlying Hebrew words can also mean simply “place of deep darkness.”  And so, the New International version, which I prefer, reads “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, (of hurt, pain, suffering and loss) I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and staff they comfort me.”

Psalm 23:4 candidly faces the inevitable experience of suffering and fear.  It does not say “If I walk” but it says “Even though I walk through the darkest valley ….”  The comforting power of Psalm 23 comes from its use of these two key words: “though” and “through” – the same word except for the single letter “r.”  That one little letter makes all the difference in the world.  It is the letter that turns your “though” into a “through.”  Valleys are not resting places, but passageways.

This then is a statement about God’s shepherding me during the difficult and troubling stretches of life.  And the reason I’m not overwhelmed by fear is because God the Shepherd is with me and his rod and staff are at the ready to protect and guide me.  His presence comforts and reassures me in the midst of threatening darkness.    

 “Though” none of us journey through life without walking the valley of deep darkness, the psalmist makes it plain that God does not intend for us to stay there forever.  The valley is something one goes “through.”  We can walk through our problems.  We can walk through our sorrows.  We can walk through our pain.  We can walk through our screw-ups and life-threatening situation without fear of evil, because the Lord, our Shepherd, journeys through with us; and his rod and staff are at the ready to protect and rescue us, if and when needed.

The Psalmist concludes, “Surely your goodness and love shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

And so, this Psalm becomes a strong statement of faith, a song of confidence in God.  Whether our dark valleys are times of painful sufferings or the actual passage through death itself, we believe God is not only with us but is more than equal to whatever threats to our spiritual well-being may lurk within the dark shadows.

Psalm 23, along with the whole book of Psalms, is about having confidence in God.  The Psalms recount all sorts of human troubles, despair and fears, but like a compass needle that keeps swinging back to the north, they keep coming back to the confidence we can have in knowing that God is with us in the darkness.  And so, when Psalm 23 talks about God’s rod and staff being a source of comfort in the frightening valleys of life, it is stating the main point of the entire book of Psalms.

Psalm 139 can be read as evidence that God has journeyed through the dark valley ahead of us.  The author that Psalm says; “Where can I go from your spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make by bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”  (Psalm 139:7-12).

So says Peter in his letter to the suffering followers of Jesus in his day; “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”  (1 Peter 1:6-7).

Let Freedom Ring and Reign

The history of our country records thousands of stories of people who left everything they owned and came to America with nothing but the clothes on their backs.  They risked their lives and their future for what they valued more highly than everything they had left behind.

What was this thing they valued so highly?  It was freedom – freedom to live, work, and worship as they desired without suffering ridicule, persecution, imprisonment, or death.  The strong desire for freedom prompted them to resist the governing authority of England and establish a new nation were these freedoms could be enjoyed.

The Statue of Liberty that stands at the entrance to the harbor of New York is a striking, welcoming symbol of our nation’s commitment to freedom of life, work, and worship for all who become citizens of the United States of America.

Freedom was at the core in the formation of our nation’s government.  The Declaration of Independence says that freedom is from God and endows everyone with certain inalienable rights; and the right to live and worship in freedom is guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.

Likewise, freedom is at the core of our biblical Christian faith.  Its welcoming symbol of freedom is the Cross of Christ on Golgotha’s hill.  Just as the statue in New York harbor lifts her lamp, welcoming and lighting the way to freedom, so also the cross on Golgotha’s hill invites and lights the way to freedom and eternal life for whoever will believe in Jesus.

The Jesus who hung from that cross said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.  …Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  …So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”  (John 8:12, 32, 36).

The New Testament begins with God’s announcement to Joseph that his “soon to be wife” Mary, would give birth to a son.  God told Joseph that he was to name the baby, Jesus, “because he will save (free) his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21).

At the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus announced freedom to be the purpose of his life and message – “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18).

And, in his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul declared freedom to be God’s gracious gift to us through Jesus’ suffering and death – “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” (Galatians 5:1).

By accepting Christ’s gift of salvation, which he purchased for us with his own death on the cross, God sets us free from the guilt of sin.  By overcoming death through Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb, God sets us free from the fear of death.  By bringing Jesus’ love and power to us through the indwelling Holy Spirit, God sets us free from self-contempt, insecurity, hopelessness, purposeless living, addictions, racism, and all selfish and unloving attitudes and actions toward others.

The freedom that Christ offers to all who will believe in him is ultimate and complete freedom.  We who enjoy this freedom should celebrate this freedom with grateful worship every day of our lives.

So we see that both the foundational core element of our Christian faith and the predominant core purpose of the American politic are similar – that is to provide and protect freedom for all people.

And I think the relationship between these two differing freedoms – spiritual and political – should be evident to all of us.  It is SIN, living apart from God, that prevents a person from experiencing spiritual freedom, and it is SIN that deprives a nation of people from experiencing political, cultural, and religious freedoms.

The freedom Jesus offers is not a license to keep on sinning.  To receive God’s gift of forgiveness and salvation (deliverance, set free) is to begin a process of working out our freedom from self-contempt, insecurity, hopelessness, purposeless living, addictions, racism, and all selfish and unloving attitudes and actions toward others.

And since these things are the things that threaten our political freedoms, we can rightly conclude that a people’s spiritual freedom has very much to do with the preservation of their nation’s political freedoms.

So let freedom ring and let freedom reign, in both the lives of people everywhere and in our nation always.  “You …were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge in sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love.” (Galatians 5:13).

Christian Faith and Does God Care

When there seems to be no answers to our pain and suffering, how can Christian faith encourage our confidence that God truly does see, know, and care about what is happening to us?  To unwrap a response to that question, I’m asking you to ponder a very important question – “On a scale of 1-10, how precious do you think you are to God?”

Philip Yancey, the author of “Disappointment with God” says that he was surprised to find so many expressions of doubt and anguish in the Psalms and the writings of Old Testament prophets.  However, “In striking contrast, the New Testament Epistles contain very little of this anguish.  The problem of pain has surely not gone away: …. But nowhere do I find the piercing question ‘Does God care?’  I see nothing resembling the accusation, Has God forgotten to be merciful?  The reason for the change, I believe, is that Jesus had answered that question for the witnesses who wrote the Epistles.  In Jesus, God gave us a face.”

At the beginning of his Gospel, John introduces Jesus’ birth into our world – “In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word (Jesus) was with God, and the Word (Jesus) was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  …The Word (Jesus) became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (Jn. 1:1-2,14).

John continues by telling us that God so loved the world, you and me, that he sent his one and only Son, Jesus, into our world as a helpless, needy human baby just like you and me, to suffer the growing-up pains and temptations of human childhood, teenager, and young adult years, just like you and me.  And then in response to God’s call to be our Savior in the world, he was subjected to the sufferings of ridicule, rejection, injustice, and death as a human being, just like you and me.

Why did Jesus need to suffer?  Hebrews 2:14-18 tells us “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity ….”  He had to become just like us,  “fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”  And also, “because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted (tested).”

If I understand this correctly, it is only because you and I are so very precious to God, that Jesus willingly laid aside his glorious royalty, his all-mighty sovereignty, his perfect holiness, to come down and live as a human being in our human world, in order to taste the bitterness of sin and experience first-hand the painful sufferings of human life, so that he could rescue, redeem and reclaim us as his brothers and sisters in the great, eternal family of God.

This is the good news the angels proclaimed on the night of his birth into our human world – “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

That, my fellow human being, is how precious you are to God.   “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!  And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1).

I agree with Philip Yancey that in Jesus’ coming to earth, God gave us a human face so that we could better see and know that God truly does love us and cares about what is happening to us.  During the three years that the disciples lived and traveled with Jesus they learned first-hand about how deeply God felt about suffering by watching Jesus respond to all kinds of sufferings.  No, Jesus did not solve the problem of pain and suffering, but he did consistently live and demonstrate that God does care for those who are experiencing all kinds of pain and suffering.  And so, because of Jesus, I can trust that God truly understands my pain, that I matter to God, and that he cares. 

And my Christian faith is very simply my believing, trusting, worshipful response to God’s unconditional, undeserved, unfathomable love for me and all creation.  Even though I don’t always understand and may question his ways in my life and world, my faith keeps me secure in the knowledge that God knows, God sees, and God deeply cares about what is happening to me, and has promised never to leave me nor forsake me.  And I have found that my times of suffering, more than any other experience, gently led me into this deeper and more intimate relationship with God; and his comforting, healing grace has always been sufficient for me.

Furthermore, my Christian faith is anchored in the knowledge that everything is under the control of the almighty, all-knowing, sovereign God who loves me more than I can ever imagine.

 “Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted (tested) in every way, just as we are – yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Suffering and God

Where is God when it hurts? Isaiah 63:7-9 speaks of God’s relationship with his people, and says, “In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.  In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”

Why do bad things happen to good, righteous people?  Job’s story tells us that sometimes we suffer precisely because we are righteous.  We know that Satan hates righteousness, and wants to destroy it in any way he can.  And so, he tempts us to sin, and in getting us to sin he hopes to destroy any righteous relationship we may have with God.

And if he can’t succeed in tempting us to sin, he will attack us by way of our family, our job, our physical bodies, to the maximum degree that our God will allow him to do so, hoping that we will give in to doubts about God, to denial of God’s existence, and to turning angry and bitter toward God.

I believe Job’s story reveals the following basic truths which can help us better understand God’s perspective on human suffering:

 First – The painful sufferings we experience are more likely due to Satan’s attack on us in his attempt to diminish and destroy our faith, rather than being an act of God punishing us for personal sin.  At other times it may simply be the consequence of our bad choices.  This is the human reality of living on planet earth where all kinds of evil abound, and the followers of Christ are not exempt from its sufferings.

Second – God accepts responsibility for allowing Satan’s attack on his followers, but retains sovereign control over Satan by setting limits to his attacks (Job 1:8-12 & 2:3-7).

Third – Our sufferings are not just about us.  Like we saw in Job, suffering tends to make us rather egocentric in saying “Why me?” and “Woe is me.”  Although Job never got his “why” question answered, he did come to realize that his hardships were about something bigger than his afflictions.  God overwhelmed Job with a litany of every day, everywhere evidences of his presence and power.  (Job 40:3-5 & 42:1-6).  This revelation from God transformed Job’s “why” questions into a “worship” response of confession and praise (Job 42:1-6).

Fourth – Job’s story of wrestling with God, gives us permission to do the same.  And we learn that spiritual unrest and questioning is a struggle that can teach us much about ourselves and our God, and hopefully strengthen us in Godly faith, trust, and hope.

Fifth – Because Job firmly believed that God loved him and would rescue him, he was able to maintain his integrity and faith in God throughout his suffering and so can we.  Job believed that God’s supreme sovereignty was consistently interwoven with his love and thus had a right to rule over his life.  In his own words, he asked, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10).  He also counted on God’s promise of resurrection.  Again in his own words, he declared, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.  And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I will see him with my own eyes – I, and not another.  How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-26).

Finally – Job’s God is the same God we worship today.  He is unchanging and his sovereign knowledge and control of things remains far above our best understanding.  We need to always remember that we are “creature” and God is “creator.”  Accepting this understanding of our relationship with God leads us to an eternal perspective of humility, submission, and dependence upon God.  

I continue to find the following few scriptures helpful in my understanding of God’s perspective and participation in our sufferings.  I would encourage you to read them frequently in order to strengthen your faith and trust in the God who created and cares deeply for you.

Psalm 139:1-18 – a lengthy and detailed assurance that God is everywhere and completely knows me and my whereabouts, and protects and cares for me.  “How precious to me are your thoughts, God!  How vast is the sum of them.”

Isaiah 43:1-3 – assumes suffering and assures me that I will not be destroyed by my sufferings, “For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

Lamentations 3:22-26, 31-33 – God is always compassionate and “does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.”

Job’s story clearly portrays God as allowing Satan to attack Job in order to test Job’s faith relationship with God.  The following scriptures lead me to believe that God continues to use our sufferings for the purpose of testing our faith, strengthening our trust, and deepening our love relationship with him.

Romans 5:3-5: “…but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”   – God would have us grow in righteousness and the only way we will ever grow is by exercising our spiritual muscles of faith, trust, and righteous living.

I agree with Ernest Hemingway when he wrote, “The world breaks everyone, and afterward many are strong in the broken places.”  He reminds us that we can use suffering to become stronger in our weak and broken places.  Some of the noblest human traits flourish in the soil of suffering – compassion, kindness, fortitude, patience, sympathy, and humility to name a few.

Above all, suffering reminds us that life on this earth is temporary.  This present place is not our home.  We wait in anticipation of our eternal home with God in his kingdom.  And so, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a).

Job’s Story of Suffering

Read Job 1-2

In our effort to understand why bad things happen to good, godly people I think it important to hear the story of a good, righteous man named Job.  Job is a wealthy, highly respected, successful, godly man who suffered greatly.  His story of sufferings begins with this backdrop, “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job.  This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.  … He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.”  This sterling characterization of Job is repeated by the Lord in verse 8 and in chapter 2, verse 3.                   

But then tragedy struck and in quick succession Job loses everything precious to him.  His flocks are stolen.  His servants are put to the sword.  Celestial flames engulf his sheep.  His children are crushed in a windstorm.  His skin burns with open sores.  It’s hard to imagine the severity of Job’s sufferings.

Beginning in chapter 3 and for the next 35 chapters, we hear Job, his wife, three of his friends, and a pretentious young man named Elihu wrestling with Job’s question, “What have I done to deserve this?”  It’s the same question many of us have shouted out to God when we were emotionally and spiritually overwhelmed with painful losses of things and persons precious to us.

Just like his fellow believers in God, Job’s faith is anchored in God’s divine sovereignty.  He believes God is firmly in control of the universe.  Furthermore, his religious tradition is anchored in a system of strict moral retribution:  “God blesses the righteous, but curses and afflicts the unrighteous.”   In other words, good people are rewarded and only wicked, evil people are punished.

However, Job finds himself suffering the punishments of the wicked without having done the deeds to deserve them.  And so, Job’s moral universe has crumbled into a pile of confusion and controversy, causing Job to now be a man without a creed.  He can’t explain what has happened to him.  He can’t find an adequate response to the counter the criticism from his friends .

Biblical scholars say that Job’s story is mostly about whether or not Job will abandon his faith in God under the anguish of severe suffering.  And as the story progresses we discover that the crux of the matter is more about Job’s faith in God then about his sufferings, which is expressed in Job’s question to his wife, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (2:10).

At first, Job refuses to question God for what had happened in his life.  But after crying out to God with his desire to die, and after suffering so much scorn from his wife and friends, Job is ready to have it out with God.  “If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!  I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.  I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me.” (23:3-4); and later, “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.” (30:20).  In these verses we hear the anguished cry of Job’s deeply wounded soul saying to his Lord, “You don’t seem to care about me, Lord.”

Finally, in chapter 38, God breaks his long silence and responds to Job’s taunts by counter-challenging Job’s challenge for God to defend himself.  Interestingly, God’s response to Job is a series of rhetorical questions that Job cannot begin to answer, and no answer is expected.

We may question the purposes of God in this lengthy series of questions to Job.  But I am confident that it was not to display and confirm God’s righteousness within the moral, religious framework that Job and his friends propose, but rather the purpose is to shift the focus of debate from Job’s innocence to Job’s ignorance, and the role this ignorance plays in Job’s questioning the “why” of suffering.

I say this because I too experienced similar questionings from God’s Spirit when journeying through my times of bad things happening.  And I believe that God’s questioning me did more to evoke within me the feelings of majestic awe and mystery then what any direct statements describing God’s power and glory would have done.

Through the telling of his power and sovereignty in nature, God is telling Job the only thing he needs to know in his time of suffering:  “I am who I am.”

•  – I am all-knowing and wise while you lack understanding (38:2-4, 42:3);
• – I am all-present.  My eye sees all and my presence touches all;
• – I am all-powerful and can do anything I will.
• – I designed the world (38:4-7) and I control it (38:8-13).

I believe God’s speech to Job portrays the encounter of a mere human with the Almighty, who is the powerful, all-loving and ever-caring God.  As is always his intent, God’s speech brings Job to his knees.  And in similar fashion the psalmist is brought to his knees and ponders, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”  (Psalm 8:3-4).

God’s speech ends as it began, completely ignoring the narrow, elementary questioning with which Job and his friends have approached the problem of suffering.  God did not give Job any answers, but instead  overwhelmed Job with a verbal display of his indisputable supreme knowledge, presence, and power as creator and controller of all things, and whose actions in all creation are way beyond our human comprehension.

Yes, this refocusing of our thoughts regarding God’s sovereignty and majesty can be helpful in reassuring me of God’s ability, but where is God when I hurt?  More about that next week.

Why Do Bad Things Happen?

Ray M. Geigley

This is a very troublesome question that we all struggle with at some point in our life’s journey. Last October, I was asked to share my understanding of the biblical response to this question in a weekend church retreat setting.  I do not pretend to have all the answers, but would like to share some reflections that have come to me during my many years of pastoral and chaplaincy ministries, and from my own journeying through several very significant and difficult “bad” experiences.  I plan to spread my thinking on this question over the next several weeks and hopefully build a more adequate biblical understanding that encourages your heart.

Read Genesis 1-3

For both Judaism and Christianity the understanding of this basic question comes from the Hebrew Scriptures, which we call the Old Testament.  It begins this way:  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”  The story unfolds, describing the progression of creation, one event upon another.

Then human life is created.  First it is man, then as the Creator notes, it isn’t good for man to live alone, so he creates woman.  The two are given responsibility for overseeing the grand and beautiful world that God has created for their provision and enjoyment.

There are three important things to note in this beginning story of humankind and the wonderful perfect world they were placed in as partners and caretakers with God.

First, God alone created everything.  There is nothing other than God; there are no other gods, no other authority or power to which God is subservient.  All life came from his will and word alone.

Secondly, After creating the cosmos, God saw that it was good, and after creating humankind he pronounced his work as very good. There is no evil, no badness in all of this creation.

Thirdly, Human life is unique in that it bears the image of its Creator.  Though animal and plant life were also seen as good, only the human being was stamped with the likeness of the Creator.  This was God’s special work, the epitome of his desire to create a living creature with whom he could have an intimate relationship and be loved by.

From the beginning, it was God’s intent that in the harmony and balance of creation, human life would gladly and obediently carry out his will and concern as the supreme and sovereign Creator of all things.  In creating us humans he also empowered us with the ability and responsibility to participate with him as caretaker and stewards of all his good creation.

That’s the essence of the first two chapters of the biblical story of beginnings in Genesis.  But then the story takes a sad and ugly turn in chapter three.  Deception and disobedience are two earth-quaking events that pull shut the curtain on God’s “good” creation of all things.  Satan’s deception and mankind’s sin of disobedience brings “badness” and “death” into the human experience from that time forward.  The consequences were significant, immediate, and continuing:

1. Creation was cursed – both the serpent (v.14) and the ground (vv.17b-18).
2. Humans were driven out of the good garden into a life of sufferings; a life of shame, fear, blaming others, painful childbirth and difficulty in working for food to survive, ending in death.
3. Fellowship with God is broken.
4. Community with one another and with all creation is destroyed.

Living on this side of that cataclysmic break, it is hard to grasp the vastness of its consequence.  Humans entered into an entirely different way of life when they disobeyed God, losing their purity and intimacy with the divine. The devastation of that disobedience broke the harmony of creation and humanity, pitting one against the other, and changed the entire relationship of God to creation.

The resulting impact was global.  The man and woman were set at odds with one another and with creation. The principle of shared resources was turned upside down.  Resources became objects of greed and envy.  The powerful hoarded rather than shared.  Instead of care for the environment, abuse and pollution became accepted standards.

God’s human creation began to oppress others and their environment.  And God sent prophet after prophet to warn the people about their sin, and to invite them back into a relationship of forgiveness and love with himself, as was his intention in creating humans.

This is the world in which we live.  A world where bad things happen and keep on happening. Deception and disobedience not only opened the eyes of Adam and Eve but also the fountain of evil that spills over all the earth everywhere and every day.  Pain and suffering exists and we are continually seeking refuge and relief from it, all the while wondering what life would be like if sin had never been introduced into our world.

However, we are still left with the question, “Why do bad things happen to righteous, godly people?”  That will be our focus next week.  I hope you will prayerfully tune in.

Finding Courage in Storms

Read Mark 6:45-52

Storms – we often experience them as sudden and unexpected events in our life, whether they be storms of nature, economic downturn, health crisis, or death of a loved one.  Storms can be very scary with their deepening darkness and increasing turbulence, causing us to feel helpless, hopeless, and terrified.  These raging, out-of-control storms often threaten our emotional and spiritual stability as well as our physical life.

I want to share with you one picture from Scripture that I believe illustrates what Jesus did, does, and always will do for his followers when afflicted and threatened by stormy events.

It was in the early morning hours, during the fourth watch of the night, between three and six o’clock.  Suddenly the disciples are caught in the middle of the lake by a threatening storm over which they had no control.

After his miracle of feeding a large crowd of people with only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, “Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him” to the other side of the sea. After dismissing the crowd, Jesus “went up on a mountainside to pray.”

While the text doesn’t say this, I’m inclined to think that at least some, if not all,  of Jesus’ praying was for the disciples that he had earlier sent to journey across deep waters at night.  I can imagine Jesus kept his eye on the storm developing over the lake and the increasing difficulty his disciples were having in keeping their boat afloat.  The text does say that Jesus saw them “straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.”

 It was then that Jesus “went out to them, walking on the lake.”  Caught in a fierce storm while in the middle of a large sea during the night was frightening hard work to stay afloat.  And then to see a ghost walking across the stormy waves toward them was terrifying, possibly signaling their certain death by drowning.

In that moment of awful terror and hopelessness, Jesus identifies himself saying, “Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”  He then climbs into the boat with them, and the storm ceases, making the deep waters calm again.  Stunned with amazement, the disciples were speechless, having just experienced a truth about Jesus that we all need to learn and experience.

This is more than simply a story of what Jesus once did on a stormy night many years ago in far-off Palestine.  It is the story and truth of what he always does for his people when they are caught in life’s storms with contrary winds and in danger of being overwhelmed.

The truth about Jesus that this story confirms is that in all times of difficult and stormy life events, we do not struggle alone, for Jesus is watching and praying for us.   And when the storm becomes severe and terrifying, Jesus comes, walking across and on top of the raging storm in our life, and with his calm and strong voice bids us to “Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”

Yes, I have experienced it to be true.  In our most desperate moments Jesus comes to us in the midst of the storm.  He doesn’t begin by overruling the forces of nature or of evil that threaten us, but instead he comes, first calling us to look up, to see the reality of His presence and not be afraid.  Then he climbs into the situation with us and calms the raging sea of turmoil around us.

When it is the darkest, He comes.  When we are the weariest, He comes.  When the sea is so wide and our boat is so small and the storms of life are raging, He comes.  When we’re up a creek with no paddle, and even if we had a paddle our arms are too tired to hold it, He comes.  When it’s too dark to see, or worst yet, too dark to hope, Jesus comes.  He comes, and his presence quiets our fears and doubts.

Some of the most assuring words we can hear in the midst of any frightening, exhausting experience are the words of Jesus, “Take courage!  It is I.  Don’t be afraid.”  He comes to calm our greatest fears with a pledge of his unshakable, ever-loving, almighty presence, as recorded in Hebrews 13:5, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

His presence reassures us.  His presence is our comfort and strength.  The psalmist testifies, “Even though I walk through the valley of (shadowy, threatening) death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:4).

O Lord Jesus, please come by here?  We need you now.  Some are weary from struggling, some are fearful, some have given up hope, many are crying.  O Lord, come by here.

Teacher, I Want To See

Read Mark 10:46-52

As Jesus and his disciples, along with a large crowd, leave Jericho on their way to Jerusalem, there was a blind man, Bartimaeus, sitting by the roadside begging for money.  Hearing a noisy crowd approaching he asked what was happening.  Being told that it was Jesus of Nazarene, he cries out, Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.”  Many in the crowd rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Unfortunately, Bartimaeus has two strikes against him — he is blind, and he is begging. During Jesus’ time and culture, that was a perfect prescription for being overlooked by society.  It’s difficult for me to imagine the pain of scorn and rejection, of being considered a worthless person in society that Bartimaeus daily suffered because of his blindness.

However, this blind man sees something that no one has yet seen or declared.  For the first time, Jesus of Nazareth is publicly called the “Son of David.”  In doing so, Bartimaeus makes a declaration of faith, conviction, and confidence that this Jesus can completely heal him, physically, socially, and spiritually.

In this miracle story, it is only the sightless man who sees Jesus clearly.  Only blind Bartimaeus correctly identifies Jesus as the long-awaited “Son of David” – the promised Messiah for the world.

For me, it is so reassuring to note that Jesus heard Bartimaeus’ urgent plea, stopped, and called Bartimaeus to come to him.  Bartimaeus makes a quick response, “throwing his coat aside” (used to catch coins), “jumped to his feet” (abandons his sitting position as a beggar), “and came to Jesus” (on his own, without help).  And with amazing love and compassion, Jesus responds to the ready faith of Bartimaeus with the question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Bartimaeus is a beggar, so he could’ve asked for a bag of gold.  He’s got no status in the community, so he could’ve asked for the respect of others.  He’s unemployed, so he could’ve asked for a job.  He’s made mistakes in life, so he could’ve asked for forgiveness.

I understand Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?”  as being open-ended, non-directive – a blank check, just waiting to be filled in.  I really wonder how I would have responded, if I were blind Bartimaeus.  How would you have responded

Bartimaeus says, “Teacher, I want to see!”  It’s a simple, straightforward request, but one that is much harder to fulfill than a plea for a job or a bag of gold, or even a place of honor in the community.

Bartimaeus makes his request, trusting Jesus to be both infinitely powerful and endlessly merciful, willing and able to fulfill his request for healing.

“Go, your faith has healed you” says Jesus.  And immediately Bartimaeus could see and follows Jesus down the road toward Jerusalem.  Bartimaeus is spontaneously enthusiastic, and I believe, in all likelihood, he is one of the cheering crowd who surrounded Jesus as he enters Jerusalem, shouting “”Hosanna! …Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David.”

Just before this encounter, in verses 35-45, James and John had asked Jesus to do for them whatever they asked.  The difference between Jesus’ response to Bartimaeus’s request and the disciples’ request is the difference between faith and ambition.  Faith, as we see in Bartimaeus, asks for needs, whereas Ambition, as we see in James and John, begs for wants.

“What do you want me to do for you?” What would be your response? What are the deepest needs that you haven’t asked Jesus or anyone else to help you with?  Does the deep darkness of fear, rejection, or loneliness – or the blindness of guilt or unbelief keep you from experiencing the healing of forgiveness, joy, and peace that Jesus offers?  How might you take a leap of faith and against all negative voices, ask for healing of mind, body, and spirit, confidently believing that Jesus will give you all that you need and more?

Jesus tells Bartimaeus, “Go, your faith has healed you.” Faith is the catalyst for asking, and asking is the key to healing!  We may not receive precisely what we want, but we can be assured that Jesus is ready to supply our need.

This story, like many others from Scripture, reveals Jesus as the compassionate, all-loving, almighty healer.  Like Bartimaeus, let us together embrace Jesus as our powerful Messiah King, and follow him with courage and confidence, knowing that he is a most trustworthy Savior.

The Ultimate Thirst Quencher

Read John 4:4-26 

The story begins with Jesus, a Jew, seated and resting by Jacob’s well near Sychar, the capital town in Samaria.  It is about noontime and a Samaritan woman comes alone to the well to draw water for herself.  Seeing the stranger and realizing that he was a Jewish man, she hesitated, wondering why he was there, because Jewish people usually avoided contact and conversation with Samaritans.

John says in verse 4, “Now he (Jesus) had to go through Samaria.”  Palestine is only 120 miles long from north to south.  But within that 120 miles there were in the time of Jesus three definite divisions of territory.  In the extreme north was Galilee — in the extreme south was Judea — and in between was Samaria.

The quickest route from Judea to Galilee was to go through Samaria.  But there was a centuries-old feud between the Jews and the Samaritans.   The Samaritans were descendants of those Jews who had not been deported into exile and had intermarried with the heathen colonist brought in from Babylonia by the Assyrian conquerors.  And so they were looked upon by the returning Jewish exiles as unclean half-breeds of Jewish blood.   The hatred and feuding between them deepened when the Samaritans’ offer to help rebuild the temple was refused.

So the Jews would cross the Jordan River in Judea, go up the eastern side of the river to avoid Samaria, then re-cross the Jordan north of Samaria and enter Galilee.  However, this alternative route took twice as long — another three days of travel.

Jesus chose to go through Samaria, I believe, because his primary reason for coming into the world was to love the world — all of it, not just some parts of it.  His coming was to break down barriers — all barriers, not just some of them.  And so, Jesus “had to go through Samaria” because he knew and understood the spiritual thirst and yearnings of the Samaritan people.

And why did this woman come to this well, located more than a mile outside of town, when there was a good well in town — and why did she come during the hottest time of the day?  I think this woman felt deeply hurt by the resentment and rejection from her own townspeople.  She knew she was an outcast because of her immoral lifestyle, and was most likely the daily gossip at the town well.   And so, to avoid the pain and embarrassment, she walked the greater distance in the heat of the day along to get her water supply.

As the woman comes closer to the well, Jesus lifts his head and looking at her, makes a simple, unexpected request of her — “Will you give me a drink?” (v.7).   In politely asking this Samaritan woman for a drink of water, Jesus cuts through centuries of suspicion and animosity, and treats her with respect and dignity as a human being.   He treats her with respect even though he knows the immorality and emptiness she tries to hide.

The woman can only respond with undisguised amazement, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman.  How can you ask me for a drink?”  She is well aware that any self-respecting Jew would never consider even touching the water jar of a Samaritan, and most would avoid being touched by even the shadow of a Samaritan.

But it is not long before the woman who has been asked for water is addressing the thirsty traveler as “Sir” and asking him for the water he offers.  Jesus offers this morally corrupt, Samaritan woman water that can quench her deepest spiritual soul-thirst, not just for a day, but forever.   He offers her water that is continuously fresh and abundant — “a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  He offers this woman “living water” as “the gift from God” and it is hers for the asking.

All through Scripture, water is a rich symbol of varied spiritual meanings — but always of life.  The precious physical water, coming from well or river, bringing life and beauty to the barren desert land of Jesus, had become a symbol of that everlasting spiritual water which could quench and revive the parched, dying human spirit.  So the Psalmist cries out, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”  (Psalm 42:1).

And the Apostle John records that on the last day of the annual Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus throws out an amazing invitation to all who hear him, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”  (John 7:37-39).  Then John explains, “By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.”

This is the invitation the Samaritan woman is hearing.  And it is the invitation Jesus still gives to all whose lives are empty, barren, and thirsty.  To all who feel unloved, abused, rejected, and lonely, Jesus offers, “living water — a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 

Are you drinking living water — the ultimate thirst quencher?  It can be yours for the asking. “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’  … Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”  (Rev. 22:17). 

God Is For Us

Read Romans 8:28-39

We are quick to classify significant events as either “tragic” or “triumphant” based on our very limited knowledge and insight.  However, we need to admit that such simplistic classifications do not and cannot fully describe nor explain the whys and wherefores of such events.

What is so visible to us in regards to our every experience or situation in life is, in fact, so small, so miniscule, in comparison to what God knows, sees, and purposes for us.  He sees and knows the big and eternal picture of the world in which we live.  And he knows every little detail about us because he created us and breathed life and purpose into our bodies.  And so it is only reasonable to believe that his perspective of any event or situation happening to us would be much different and more accurate than ours.

The Biblical story of Jesus, from the cradle in Bethlehem to the cross in Jerusalem, has dramatically revealed to us the amazing extreme of God’s everlasting love, and gloriously confirms that God is for us.  That story is summed up in these two verses from John’s gospel – “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”  (3:16-17).   

I will always remember one of my seminary professors, J.C. Wenger, frequently saying, “The yardstick of God’s love is Golgotha.”      

In these verses from Romans 8, the apostle, Paul, inspires our thinking and response by asking two questions.  His first question is this – “What then, shall we say in response to these things?  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (vv. 31-32).   

Paul is emphatically trying to convince us that written on the underside of every experience in our life, both the good and bad, is the holy seal of assurance, “God is for you.”  Unfortunately, some have misunderstood verse 28 and being disappointed, have become confused and discouraged.  I think it is very important to note what this verse does not say as well as what it does say;

1. It does not say God causes everything that happens. He doesn’t.
2. It does not say that everything that happens is “good.” It isn’t.
3. It does not say that all things are working for the “good” in terms of health, wealth,and success.  They are not.
4. It does not say that everything is going to work out for “good” for all people.           The truth is that God can do some things for those walking with him that he cannot    do for those running away from him.

Verse 29 clearly identifies the “good” promised in this scripture as the ability “to be conformed to the image of his Son.”  To accomplish this, God uses all things, the good and the bad, the joys and the tears, the successes and the failures to shape us into the likeness of his Son, Jesus.  And most certainly, God does not waste any events or experiences in our life and world toward accomplishing his work of transforming us into the person he created us to become.

Paul says we know this because God is for us.  Pause and think about what you just read.  God is for us,  -not “may be” -not “has been” -not “was” -not “will be” — but “God is for us.”  Can it really be so?  Today, at this very hour, this very minute and every minute, he is for us.

Paul’s second question is this – “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”  Illustrating from his personal experience of hardships and sufferings, Paul lists those things that can cause us to question God’s love for us, and emphatically declares that none of these things can ever separate us from Christ’s love.

Rather than separating us from the love of Christ, Paul declares that the love of Christ makes us “more than conquerors” over all these difficulties and sufferings.  (v.37).  In other words, our sufferings do not defeat and separate us from the love of Christ, but rather the love of Christ defeats our sufferings and strengthens our bond of relationship to him.  Truly, we are the dearly loved, adopted children of God.

In verse 38 Paul answers his own two questions, with a powerful, all-inclusive declaration regarding the love of God for us – “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  This is Paul’s testimony of faith from his own life of many very difficult, life-threatening experiences.

I know that if all I had to go on was what is visible and tangible to me in difficult and tragic events, I would soon become discouraged, afraid, and without hope.  However, as a follower of Jesus Christ I can live joyously and hopeful, in spite of these circumstances, because I have confidence in the truth and promises of Romans 8:28-39.

God is present with us every moment or every day.  He has promised “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  He is by our side cheering us on, applauding our accomplishments.  He is there to pick us up when we stumble and fall, and he puts his arms around us to comfort us when we hurt and cry.  God is always for us, and in every situation of life working for our good.  Thanks be to God!