Suffering

Rev. {3:10} Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. {3:11} Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.


James {5:10} Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.


Examples for suffering affliction and patience.


The two must go hand in hand. The hour of temptation will come upon all the world and only if we keep the word of God's patience will we be kept from that hour.


I was going to do an indepth study on the prophets and their suffering and realized as I began to look up each prophet that there would be no way to know all the suffering they experienced and the patience they had to possess to get through the suffering. That's what suffering does isn't it... makes us stronger?


I was telling my daughter the other day that old saying about what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger and it's true I told her but I added a bit. It's only true if we don't let the suffering, the affliction in whatever form it takes, over come us. We don't have to let it make us stronger in fact a lot of people succumb to their suffering because by its very nature suffering is something to be abhored, something to avoid at all costs. No one wants to suffer. We have painkillers for just about everything, maybe ineffective in the most serious cases, but strong painkillers, painkillers that can end all suffering by causing death. We have drugs to muffle emotional suffering and mental anguish. It's nothing to grasp at medication to rid ourselves of whatever kind of pain we are in. I, myself have told others that there is nothing wrong with treating things with medication because we treat physical pain why shouldn't we treat mental and emotional pain. We've come so far in science that we know that chemicals in the brain- things we have NO control over by our will alone- can be messed up and drugs will help out with that. It's become a physical ailment now that we've advanced in our science so amazingly. I have no doubt that there are physical things in play that effect us all, chemical embalances that can make us seem crazy, make us depressed, make some into serial killers those with no remorse for what they do, that things can be so twisted in our chemical make up that we truly have no choice but to be what we are. I believe some people are born what we term homosexual through no fault of their own in fact even calling it a fault now has become wrong because so many can't help that they've been given the chemical make up that has their perception, their lives far from what is deemed normal.


What I don't believe is that this is something totally new. Afflictions are not new to the world, suddenly appearing after a couple, four thousand years. I believe from the moment man sin things were altered in what made man perfect unto God, made in His Image. Sin's result brought death- not instantaneous so the devil could gloat that God lied right up until Abel was murdered by his brother and Adam and Eve saw the death of one of their own. They did see the death of their beloved animals as they were slain in sacrifice to make coverings for their new nakedness, to cover their sinfilled selves. They saw that death right off but not the death of another human- something Satan said God lied about when Adam and Eve weren't immediately snuffed out of existence for their wrong doing. Death was the result of sinning, death was inevitable from that moment on. A life of toil and suffering had begun.


I told my daughter and son the other day as we were talking about how they are going to get their educations and go to work and how it's all part of life to do so. My son's vacation is being cut short with college starting a month sooner than he believed it would and telling him that it was life, that working with a few days off here and there was the life he had to look forward to wasn't something pleasant to hear. Sure he knew it already, he's not stupid, but making it reality as he seeks his higher education and future employment is altogether unpleasant because who wouldn't rather play and not work? The new world after Christ comes to take us home with Him will not be filled with toil and work in the way we know it to be. It wasn't until Adam and Eve sinned that the toiling began, up until that point all the tending in the garden and such was pure enjoyment not troublesome in the least. The huge beautiful garden of the world where all the animals came to be named, where the fruit of the trees were in full readiness to be enjoyed, where no weed threatened to choke any plant to destroy it... that world was the world we were made for. Is it no wonder we want to play and not work? Is it any wonder we go to great lengths to have free time rather than work time? We weren't made for the toiling and suffering of the world we have, the world that has evolved after sin.


Suffering. We think the suffering people undergo today inhumane and horrific and we look back in our history and see times of great horror. We wonder why it all came to be, how people could stand and allow the suffering to take place. How could the thousands of people sit in the colliseum and cheer on the slaughter of other people as sport? How could they watch and be entertained by the suffering of others? And yet they could. If the vast majority didn't accept such a way of life it wouldn't have lasted long. But the majority of people agreed to what was going on and participated in the events by their support. Then we have the inquisitions where thousands were tortured under the guise of it being God's will. In more modern times we have the Holocaust where millions were slaughtered and we have to ask ourselves how it could be allowed to happen. Even today, right now there are horrors taking place around the world and the suffering is great.


The prophets of God, those close to God, chosen by God to preach of Him, write of Him, witness of Him suffered and they didn't end their lives even when the suffering was beyond what anyone should have to endure. They suffered over and over, their afflictions were great, they weren't given super human powers that included super human protection from suffering. They suffered and even today any prophets of God suffer and it's better that they suffer and endure so it works patience and proves an example to us to cultivate patience, than to give in and end their suffering.


In a world where we are so caught up in ending our pain no matter its source, accepting that some are called to suffer and endure the pain seems absurd.


Even with all the medication and such, even with all the therapy we can afford, it's not always enough and we have to find a place within us that accepts that we are how we are, that chemical embalance or whatever it may be and I mean that- not in a mocking manner- it must be embraced as our lot in life and pray to God that we can somehow let it work in us the patience we need so that we may endure unto the end.


One more note- I was watching a popular tv show the other day and a woman who believes in ghosts (promoting spiritualism and the great lie Satan told Eve in the garden before she ate the fruit) said out right that there is no such thing as demons. Another great lie. In one breath she'll talk of God giving her this special ability, and the next deny the existence of demons when we know for a fact that Jesus cast out demons.


We wrestle against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places- not flesh and blood- and so I say that a lot of our so called afflications do come from outside sources in our lives and we are made to ignore them in favor of keeping the inside sources and something we can control.

Eph. {6:12} For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in
high [places. ]


We are told the prophets are example in patience, the suffering they endured working that patience. May God help us all to realize that no matter our affliction we can endure by the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Does it seem like we can endure? No, not always, but we holdfast to the profession of our faith in Jesus to save us and not us saving ourselves. Our suffering in whatever form it takes can make us stronger in Christ but we have to look to the author and finisher of our faith always and not look to ourselves or other humans around us.


May God bless us all and keep us in Him now and forever by the grace of His Son's sacrifice, His Son's righteousness.


Amen.