Healing Rays of Righteousness

Read Ephesians 1:3-14

Sitting in prison, the apostle Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians by reminding them that God deserves their praise because God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.”  We often speak casually about God’s blessings, but the song writer reminds us to “Count your many blessings, see what God has done.”

There is a simple chorus that I like to sing that says, “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, he’s so good to me.”  Yes, he is!  Let’s review three of those blessings with Paul.

We are Chosen by God – “For he chose us in him (Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ.” (v.4-5a).

In Christ we have been chosen by God to be his beloved children.  Our relationship with God is not based simply on our acceptance of Jesus Christ.  It is first based on God’s amazing love and acceptance of us.  Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we have been graciously adopted as children in God’s eternal, glorious family.

Paul never thought of himself as having chosen God.  It was always the opposite – God had chosen him.  This was also Jesus’ word to his disciples; “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit – fruit that will last – ” (John 15:16).

There isn’t any feeling quite like the feeling that comes when we are accepted/chosen to be a member of, to participate in, or to receive an award.  Such experiences empower us with desire to do our best.

What an inspiration it is to know that we have been chosen and loved by God.  To know this truth of God’s amazing love is to be freed from all our insecurities, neurotic fears, strivings for acceptance, and self-depreciation.  “God is so good!”

We are Forgiven and Redeemed by Jesus – “In him (Christ) we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” (v.7-8a).

The essence of this redemption is forgiveness.  Paul does not try to explain how this is so, he just rejoices in the reality of being redeemed.  Nothing is more important to Paul than Calvary.  He saw Christ’s crucifixion as God’s supreme outpouring of his love for us sinful persons.

The marvel of this was overwhelming for Paul.  Even he, a spiritual giant, cannot fully fathom the depth and breadth of divine love that willingly endures the shame and agony of the cross in order to reconcile us into relationship with him as his adopted children.  We can only stand in worshipful awe as we gaze upon this love and grace that has been “lavished on us.”

(A story) – When Richard married, he anticipated a long life of love and joy but soon discovered his wife’s unfaithfulness.  Rather than abandon her in his shame and anger, he sought to restore their marriage.  She would have none of it, but instead ran off to prostitute herself.

Years passed.  While visiting a distant city, he was told that his long-lost wife was being held in the mental ward of a public hospital, diseased and despondent.  He went to her, paid her bills, and brought her home to nurse her to health and to rekindle her love for him.  She had been redeemed, “bought back.”  She had been his wife; now she was also his devoted love.

That’s exactly what Jesus did for you and me.   The apostle Paul declares this in his letter to the Roman Christians, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (5:8). “God is so good!”

We are Sealed by the Spirit of God – “When you believed, you were marked in him (Christ)  with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.” (v.13b-14).

That seal is like branding, a mark of ownership.  The Holy Spirit in us is God’s mark of ownership.  The Holy Spirit in us is the seal of authenticity, that we belong; the seal of assurance, that God will not change his mind about us; and the seal of God’s pledge, that his eternal promises to us are true and will not fail.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit daily reveals God to us and makes effective in our lives the forgiving, cleansing power of Christ’s sacrifice.  The Holy Spirit continually functions in our life, giving us power and guidance to “work out our salvation” in perfecting our love for God and for others. “God is so good, God is so good, God is so good, he’s so good to me.”

No wonder Paul says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We belong to God – he chose us, redeemed us, and sealed us as his children.  What does that mean for you today?

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”  (Psalm 118:1).

Read John 9:1-41

In the biblical story of John 9, Jesus brings healing to a man who had been “blind from birth” and who has never seen the face of his parents or his friends.  Neither has he ever seen the dazzling colors of a sunrise or sunset, the beauty of flowering bushes, flying birds, flowing streams, or a starlit sky.

As Jesus is walking along, he sees this man and stops to heal him.  Yes, for Jesus, no one is ever lost in the crowd.  He knows each one of us, where we are, and what our need is.  He knows the cause of our blindness and he wants to heal us, if we let him.  This truth is our daily strength and hope.

And so, after answering his disciples question regarding whose sin caused this man’s blindness, Jesus healed the man’s eyes.  Mixing his own saliva with some soil, making a mudpack, he plasters the man’s eyes.  Then he tells the man to “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam.”

The blind man believed, went, and washed – just as Jesus commanded – and he “came home seeing.”  Can you feel the emotions erupting within him?  Can you imagine the joy, the amazement that filled him as he walked home “seeing” everything and everybody around him?  Here was a man who could not venture into new territory without being led, but now he “came home seeing.” 

Here was a stunning miracle – a man blind since birth suddenly given eyesight, but no one is celebrating with him. His neighbors are doubtful and his parents are worried about the religious and legal ramifications, while the Pharisees find the whole episode threatening and foreboding.

In spite of the Pharisees attack, the healed man, without anyone coming to his defense, not even his own parents, refuses to give in to the charges they make concerning his healer, Jesus.  He simply speaks the truth as he has experienced it.  He admits he does not know a lot about this Jesus, but “One thing I do know,” – and this he clings to without wavering – “I was blind but now I see!”

The man’s life was changed physically and spiritually.  He was no longer blind, but now “seeing” and experiencing a new life of relationship with God.  And when Jesus heard that he had been thrown out of the synagogue, Jesus went and introduced himself as the “Son of Man.”  Hearing this, the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and then worshiped Jesus.

This story gives us the opportunity to consider the possibility of our own blindness.  This story also tells us that spiritual blindness is worse than physical blindness.  Physical blindness can be healed, but willful spiritual blindness resists healing.

The Pharisees were blinded by their dogmatic belief in their tradition and the Law of Moses and could neither see nor understand the healing miracle.  If they believed in what Jesus had done, then their law would be wrong.  And because they believed that to be impossible, they concluded that Jesus was not from God since he “does not keep the Sabbath.”

Tradition is a good and healthy thing – it gives us roots that connect us with our heritage, and helps us judge our thoughts and actions by the standards of those who have gone before us.  But tradition is not God – and we must always be aware that tradition can become an idol that blinds us to what God is saying and doing among us today.

The parents and neighbors are blinded by their worry and fear of the Jewish leaders and so are hesitant to give witness that Jesus, God’s messiah, was in their midst.  Yes, fear kept them from “seeing” Jesus, and fear can blind us as well.

I consider fear to be the most destructive weapon in the devil’s arsenal to keep us from “seeing” God’s hand in our lives and in our world.  We may fear loss – health, accident, death – or friends, job, home.  We may fear offending others who question or ridicule our faith and biblical understandings.  We may even fear the possibility that God may give us something that will be new, overwhelming and different than what we had in mind.  All of these various fears are capable of blinding us to the reality of Jesus’ healing, teaching presence in our midst.

And yes, I think we all need to admit that there are also times when we really don’t want to see truth, but prefer to live by our desires, our prejudices and be affirmed in what we know to be safe and familiar.   And so, we refuse to open our eyes to the possibility of seeing Jesus alive and doing kingdom work in our life and community.

The good news of this story is that the man born blind does not remain blind – and neither do we need to remain blind.  Jesus offers the man the chance not only to see the light, but to be light.  And Jesus offers the same to each of us.  What is it that keeps us from being able to “see” Jesus today?

Read Psalm 37:23-24

“The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

I’m quite certain that you, like me, have those days when you feel like throwing in the towel. It seems troubles and difficulties keep piling on you and no one seems to care, not even God.   You feel wiped out, exhausted, crushed, devastated, and emptied of hope.

The apostle Paul tells of a time when there was so much opposition against him that he not only felt worn out, but so exhausted and discouraged by what was happening to him that he wished he were dead.  “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death.”  (2Cor. 1:8-9)

Most of us have felt this kind of weariness during difficult times in our life.  It happens when we are experiencing opposition from others, or suffer from a prolonged injury or illness. Our emotional and spiritual strengths and resolve seem to slowly erode until there is very little energy left in us to face another day of suffering.

It is at these times in our lives that we find it most difficult to see or imagine God’s long range plan of guidance for our life.  But it is also during such times that we most need to reach out and grasp God’s hand and be encouraged by his promises.

We can begin reaching out by remembering that we are not alone.  God has promised to always be present with us and to guide our every step, one at a time.  “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him; though he may stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”  (Ps. 37:23-24).  Then, having stretched out our hand, we are encouraged to allow God’s strong hand grasp our hand and lead us out of despair and into hope.

God also promised, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”  (Ps. 32:8).  I remember a bus company’s advertisement, “Take the bus and leave the driving to us.”  In a similar but much grander way, God invites us to let him take the steering wheel and do the driving for us in our life journey.

I like to think of my living through difficult experiences as similar to driving my car through the darkness of night.  I can see only as far as my headlights pierce the darkness, but I keep driving forward and the headlights keep piercing the darkness with a pathway of light.  And I complete the whole trip through the darkness, trusting my headlights to keep showing me the way forward.

Yes, my forward progress may be slowed down when my headlights make visible an accident or road construction and detours.  Also, a dangerous storm of wind, rain, or snow may delay my travel.  And yes, these unexpected delays can cause me frustration and possibly elevate my fear and stress, but my headlights will continue to show me a pathway of light, leading to my destination.  I like to think of God’s Holy Spirit being that headlight shining a pathway of light through these times of darkness in my life’s journey.

Yes, there are many times I wish I could see further ahead into the next week, month or year, but that is not how God promises to guide us.  His promise is to guide us one step at a time, and we take that step forward by faith, believing that his presence and his light will continue to show us the way through the darkness that surrounds us.

Fanny Crosby wrote the words to the hymn, “All The Way My Savior Leads Me,” as her praise to God for his leading in her life.  Being physically blind, she knew the importance being guided by another. She was keenly aware of the uncertainty and possible stumbling in every pathway she would take.  The hymn was first published in 1875, and remains a favorite for many of us.

“All the way my Savior leads me – What have I to ask beside?  Can I doubt His tender mercy, Who through life has been my guide?    Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, Here by faith in Him to dwell!  For I know, what-e’er befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. 

All the way my Savior leads me – Cheers each winding path I tread.   Gives me grace for every trial, Feeds me with the living bread.   Though my weary steps may falter  And my soul a-thirst may be,  Gushing from the Rock before me, Lo! A spring of joy I see.

Yes, all the way, “the Lord upholds him (her) with his hand.”  God’s presence and light will always pierce the darkness and say to you, “This is the way, walk in it.”  (Isa. 30:21).

Psalm 27:1-6, 11-14

All sorts of human troubles, despair and fears are recounted throughout the book of Psalms, nevertheless, the psalms also keep coming back to affirming the sure confidence we can have in knowing that God is with us through all the frightening dark valleys of life.  Repeatedly we hear the psalms declaring that because of God’s presence and power, we have no need to be afraid.

Medical science confirms FEAR to be the greatest threat to mental, physical and spiritual health – first we think it, then we feel it, and slowly our trust in God weakens and we believe our fears to be true.  And so, it would seem logical to conclude that the remedy for quieting our fears begins with deliberate action toward strengthening our spiritual relationship with God.

Psalm 27 was written by King David, and is a declaration of faith by which he has learned how to deal with his fears.  Verse 1 opens with an exuberant “the Lord is” and his intensely personal faith is reflected in the use of the possessive pronoun “my”.

“The Lord is my light and salvation – whom shall I fear?                                                                The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?”                                     …….    “Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear;                                                                              though war break out against me, even then will I be confident.”

The Hebrew word for “confident” means to “feel secure, be unconcerned.”  For King David, this sense of security comes from the Lord, which he declares to be his “light and salvation.”  His confidence is that “…in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his tabernacle.” (27:5).

King David had discovered through his many difficult and frightening life experiences that, even though God does not always remove the causes of fear, he always does give us the inward resources to confront and deal with them. Too often we are tempted to become so focused on the fear-causing threat that we forget about the power available to us in confronting and calming our fear.  We so easily forget that God is bigger – much bigger than any difficulty or threatening situation facing us.

The psalmist’s opening question, “of whom shall I be afraid?”  is echoed in Apostle Paul’s question “If God is for us, who can be against us?”  Paul’s answer declares that no one and no thing in all creation “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!” (Romans 8:31).

This is the essence of our faith, and such faith makes it possible to quiet our fears, not because we “have faith” or the threats we face aren’t real, but because faith connects us with a much greater reality – a sovereign, all-powerful God who is much bigger than any and all of our fears.

We choose either faith or fear.  These are our only two options in response to difficult and threatening circumstances.  Either we can know and relate to the living God as our “light, salvation, and stronghold,” or we are destined to live in worry, anguish, and fear through every troublesome situation.

The psalmist then closes with this encouragement, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  The ability to calm the soul and wait before God is most likely one of the most difficult tasks in a Christian’s life.  At least I find it so, as I tend to be impatient, wanting God to act now.  I frequently need to reclaim for myself the confidence in God as expressed by the psalmist in this and the following scriptures.

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone, my hope comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.  My salvation and my honor depend on God, he is my mighty rock, my refuge.  Trust in him at all times, O People; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.  Selah.”  (Ps. 62:5-8).

And so we say with the psalmist, “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?

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).

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).

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).

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).

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).

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.