daily java

Daily Java:

But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground. All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. (Hebrews 11:35-40)

And we whine when someone makes fun Christians on TV.

The people of God have always suffered for being so. In America, we are coming to a point where it might be our turn. We are still a Christian nation, with 85% of Americans proclaiming faith in God. But there is a strong undercurrent trying desperately to turn that.

If it does, and we join the list of nations who were Christian but are now not, and if when that happens, we become persecuted God will still love us.

Our living in religious ease is not a sign of the favor of God. His grace is that sign.

These people went through a lot of pain and suffering serving God anyway.

But they knew that there was something better for them. This world was not the end, it was not the greatest thing. All this world amounts to is a proving round, a preparation time, getting us ready for heaven. It is not and can never be heaven itself.

When we suffer for God, we join the ranks of the greatest people who ever lived, people who showed that they were real God-followers by their lives and by their faith.

daily java

Daily Java:

About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword. When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish people, he also arrested Peter. (This took place during the Passover celebration.) Then he imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. (Acts 12:1-5)

Sometimes things happen that make you really wonder why God allows them.

The church was not very old. But all of a sudden one of their leaders is put to death. James, the brother of John, one of the three that went with Jesus wherever he went, one of Jesus’ favorites, was killed.

Why? What purpose did it serve to lose one of the Twelve on the whim of a madman?

It served no purpose. That is because sometimes things happen.

The king who killed James got approval from the Jews so he decided to arrest the ring leader himself: Peter. He did, but God let Peter out of prison miraculously and he got away.

Why did God let Peter out of prison, allow James to be killed right off, and for that matter, let the apostle Paul maybe die in prison? What was different about these three men that he treated them so differently in what was essentially the same situation?

There is no answer. As much as I like things tied up neatly in nice little theologically pleasing bows, there is no answer.

James died, Peter lived, Paul stayed in jail. Three men, all leaders, all apostles, all needed in the early church, but each met different fates.

As I said, though, it served no purpose except maybe for the purpose that the Book of Job showed. Sometimes things happen that seem to be out of the will of God.

It makes you wonder, was he paying attention? He was distracted maybe and the devil got one by him? Is he not powerful enough to notice that James was in danger? Did he care?

I believe that God is not in the process as some teach. I believe that God is the process. I believe he is all-knowing and all-powerful, and that he is always in control. But sometimes things happen that baffle me, things that do not seem to be in his character.

I do not know what great thing was accomplished by the death of James and we never will, unless God tells us when we get to heaven.

Maybe the early church got complacent when James was arrested and figured that God would just let him out so they didn’t pray about it. The verse says that after he died, and Peter was imprisoned, they prayed very earnestly for him.

Maybe that was it. Maybe God was trying to show them that he was not going to be a free fount of blessings with no effort on their part.

And maybe it just happened. Sometimes things do. The entire staff of my seminary, all very good men with families that needed them and students that loved them, was killed when the plane they were in crashed in bad weather. For what reason? The seminary was very hard hit by it. They came out of it but at great cost emotionally.

My wife, the sweetest and most godly person I have ever known has MS which almost debilitates her with pain. Why? What purpose does it serve?

People in Hollywood who are as godless as anyone can be are healthy and wealthy, seemingly without any difficulties. Yet they are useless to the Lord. People who are godly suffer in poverty. What is the point?

I have kind of written myself into a corner here because there is no answer. Lots of people better than I have written on it and it still is unsolved.

All we can do is recognize, as Job did, another godly person who suffered for no good reason, that God is still there.

But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
      and he will stand upon the earth at last.
And after my body has decayed,
      yet in my body I will see God!
I will see him for myself.
      Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
      I am overwhelmed at the thought! (Job 19:25-27)

And I praise his holy name, no matter what happens. He is my King.

daily java

Daily Java:

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.  (James 1:12)

As any bodybuilder. He will say, “No pain, no gain.”

You cannot build muscles with out resistance and suffering. It is impossible to build muscles from a distance with no problems.

The same goes for anything worth having. To get it, you have to work at it. A good marriage is only gained by people who are willing to have the arguments and disagreements, work through them and love each other anyway.

Knowledge is only gained through arduous study, learning, sometimes to the point of headaches and lack of sleep. Without it, you only gain a surface knowledge that is soon lost.

There was a scene on the old Waltons’ television series that I always remember. I didn’t watch the show that much, but I happened to tune in to this episode. The old man and old woman are sitting on the porch. She is griping about something, as she usually did. He mentions another woman, which irritates her more. She says something to the order of, I guess I am just not pretty.

His response: no, old woman, you are like that walnut tree in the yard. You have gone through the storms of life and have taken everything life has had to throw at you and you still stand tall and majestic. You are beautiful like that tree. That shuts her up.

Suffering produces perseverance, Romans 5 says. We know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (5:3-5)

Without the suffering, our faith is shallow, untried, untested. And that makes us shallow also. The one whose faith has been tested is the one who is truly strong.

It is through that testing that strength comes, that depth comes. Just as love is stronger when it is tested, so is faith.

Faith is a muscle. Unless it is exercised, it is small. It is like the plant Jesus spoke of in Matthew 13:5-6: It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. When there is no root, there can be no nourishment.

There is no room for water or anything else where there is no depth.

You see people like that occasionally. They look so strong and spiritual, but one day, they quit it all, leave their families and totally turn their backs on God and goodness. They just had no real depth. And when a real problem came along, they folded.

That is why the plant in Psalm 1 is no strong and vital: planted by streams of water,  which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. With a good water supply and roots going deep into the ground, that plant is going to strong and healthy even in times of difficulty.

When trials and problems come, and they will, know that it is giving you strength. You are becoming a spiritual bodybuilder, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound, more powerful than a locomotive – or something like that.

Anyway, you are going to be a lot better off when a bad thing happens to you than the one who never has had any real problems.

Suffering is never fun, and that is one reason why I have never been that good a bodybuilder. I never enjoyed the suffering needed to get there. But it does make us strong in Jesus and in his grace, that is for sure.

the problem of pain

My wife just fell down and hurt herself again. She has a big cut on her leg where she hit the edge of the pavement.

There is no reason for it and it makes me angry.

Someone said that there is a reason for everything, that God has a purpose for everything happening.

In the literal Hebrew, that is called Baloney.

Sometimes thing happen for no good reason. The only real reason they happen is because sin came into the world and with it came pain.

There is no good reason that Ella is in pain from her leg injury, anymore than there was for any one of the other injuries caused by her falling.

And it makes me mad that she has to go through this.

God could change it if he wanted. He could make a sovereign move and heal her of her MS and make it easier for her to walk and not be in constant pain from these stupid injuries.

But he doesn’t.

CS Lewis, the guy wrote the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe also wrote a book on the Problem of Pain. How can a loving and merciful God allow pain?

And that is a good question, too. The problem, though, is that the answer is not so easy

Sure, he could take away pain, but to do so, he would have to take away pleasure. We won’t have that until we get to heaven, according to the book of Revelations.

So while we are here, we put up with it, knowing that a better time is coming.

That is not always real comforting when I see my wife with bruises and cuts.

But the funny thing is, she still looks cheerful even when it hurts. I would want to hit someone, but she is cheerful. She is one who looks to the day when all pain is gone, all tears will be wiped away. And she loves her God.

There is no purpose, but God is still good. And he can use whatever happens to you to make something better. Just as he has in Ella.

He will do the same for you, if you will let him into your heart and allow him access. He can make the bad good and the unpleasant pleasant.

After all, he is God and he is in control. And he is good.

daily java

Daily Java: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

There is a lot to being comforted by someone. You feel bad, you hurt in some way, and you want to offer comfort. God offers us comfort in that way. We know that he cares for us and, if nothing else, ultimately will take care of us.

Sometimes there is nothing you can do here in this world, and there may be no release from what is wrong. Your comfort comes from the fact that you know God loves you and wants the best for you.

You also know that sometimes bad stuff happens anyway, and it doesn’t matter a fig whether you want it or not.

My wife is ill with multiple sclerosis and there is nothing we can do about it. We have prayed for healing and it has not come. Yet we know God cares for us and will use us anyway.

That was the point in 2 Corinthians 12 when the apostle Paul talked about pain and suffering in a Christian’s life. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

He knew that God loved him anyway, even when he would not give him what he wanted.

As my wife progresses in her pain and suffering, she become sweeter and more gracious. I do not know why, but she does. When she prays for healing, she hears God say the same thing he said to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you.

She doesn’t like it, nor do I, but it is a fact that she is going to continue to suffer. Unless God smiles on her and decides to release her from her suffering, she will continue and get worse.

I hate it. But I love God. The pain and suffering did not come from God, but from evil in the world. And the only way God could get rid of it would be to get rid of evil, and then we would be like robots. Then we would not praise, but merely fulfill programming.

I like the choice myself. But with the choice comes the downside: the results of the choice, not only in your own life, but in the world in general.

I suppose that is why it is so hard to help a friend who is suffering who is not a Christian, who doesn’t have that internal peace in times of trouble. There is no focal point for them. All they see is the pain.

Thank you, Lord, for the grace in our lives that gives us the ability to see you through all the problems.