Saints
are appointed to “afflictions” (1 Thess. 3:3), walking the narrow and
“difficult” way (Matt. 7:14), as they go through many “tribulations” to enter
the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). These three words, affliction, difficult, and
tribulation are translated from the same Greek word thlipsis, which has as its origin
the act of squeezing and crushing grapes. Simply put thlipsis means the adverse
pressures of life.
All is
not well on planet earth for in this fallen world adversity and affliction are a
reality. God gives us power to deal with
the works of the enemy, but we are not immune from the works of the enemy. God does not give us overcoming life. He
gives us life... His Life, as we overcome. And nothing happens... absolutely
nothing, to God’s children apart from His caring presence… nothing! The
difficulties of life test and try our faith which requires some degree of doubt. Struggle strengthens faith by burning out the
dross of doubt as we choose faith over doubt, leaving only pure proven faith...
overcoming faith, developing “the word of our testimony”, developing trust. It
is most important to remember during the storms of life who to fear, and who
loves us.
TO
FEAR GOD IS TO TRUST HIM
Life’s circumstances
will always present things that elicit fear: illness/disease, impending death,
loneliness, financial problems, rejection, abandonment, failure, the unknown,
loss of control... pressures of every kind abound. Whether physical, financial,
relational or emotional, we will face hardships, and in these times we have a
choice of what we will fear: We can fear God, or fear everything else. To fear God is to trust Him when everything
around us is saying He can’t be trusted: to revere, respect, honor, extol and trust Him enough to believe by faith that
He is good, sovereign and present when life is hard, cruel and out of control.
(B.M.) To fear and trust God in the face of adversity takes living faith, a
steadfast pursuit of God through thick and thin, through the mountain top of
blessings and through the valley of adversity, never despairing, even when
everything around us says He isn’t there, to continually pursue God, and not
merely pursue answers, resolution or a desired outcome. This is faith in the face of adversity: Trusting
God’s goodness in spite of any apparent evidence against it, recognizing His
ways are above our ways. (B.M.)
THE
CROSS IS PROOF ENOUGH: GOD LOVES US
Jesus
is the ultimate expression and proof that God cares for us and desires to be
with us. Christ is Emmanuel…God with
us. The cross of Christ is proof enough
that God loves us beyond measure…beyond comprehension…beyond explanation, regardless
of what happens to us, and He is good... always good! The cross of Christ finishes the love debate:
God loves us! The resurrection of Christ
proves whatever is happening to us is not the ultimate; death does not have the
final say for Christ conquered the grave... He lives and is coming again to
fetch us home. God has the final say: There
is coming a resurrection of the dead and living, an undoing of everything that
is wrong. The adverse pressures of
life...painful speed–bumps that threaten to derail us, do not happen apart from
our Father’s caring presence. Rather
than put our faith and trust in a certain outcome, we need to put our faith and
trust in a certain Someone. Nothing
happens apart from the Father…and that’s enough.
“FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH YOU”
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