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We need to be abased before we can be exalted. Consequently,
the greatest blessings are often preceded by intense suffering.
It was this way with Joseph and Mary. The angel had informed
Mary that she would honored by giving birth to the Savior of the world.
However, her betrothed had initially rejected her, convinced that she had been
adulterous. However, she was vindicated after an angel had revealed to Joseph
in a dream that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18-25).
Mary had no alternative but to give birth in a smelly,
fly-infested animal cave and to wrap her newborn in cloths reserved for the
dead. However, Mary’s agony was followed shepherds honoring her and adoring her
Child.
They had to endure a hasty and dangerous flight to Egypt, where
the new family were forced to live for several years as strangers in a strange
land (Matthew 2:13-15).
They then had to endure returning to Nazareth with a son who
must have appeared to have been born out of wedlock.
While generations would call her blessed, Mary had to endure
the sight of her son tormented by the most excruciatingly torture and death.
The mother of God then became a humiliated social reject as the mother of a
“deceiver” who had led Israel astray.
It was the same for His Apostles who suffered, even
martyrdom, to receive the glory of an eternal life with their master. Paul was
shown how much he would have to suffer for His Master. He recounted:
·
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews
the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was
stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea;
on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from
my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the
wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship,
through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in
cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on
me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:24-28)
Even this wasn’t enough. God allowed Satan to afflict Paul,
and God refused to heal him, lest Paul would become proud (2 Corinthians
12:7-10). On top of this, history informs us that Paul and most of the Apostles
(perhaps even all) had to suffer martyrdom to prove that Christ was more
important to them than life itself, for which I am eternally grateful.
We should never underestimate what they had suffered for us
so that we might be reassured of the truth of the Gospel (Colossians 1:24).
Jesus didn’t want to suffer crucifixion (Matthew 26:39), but
nothing was able to demonstrate His love for us as was His death on the Cross
Romans 5:8-10). Consequently, this was the moment of His greatest glory:
·
And Jesus answered them, "The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain
of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it
bears much fruit.” (John 12:23-24)
His glory was the hour of His greatest humiliation, but of
our exaltation. Somehow, they both go together, even in our own lives, where
our Lord makes room for blessing by first emptying us through suffering.
Surprisingly, even Jesus needed the training of suffering:
·
Although he was a son, he learned obedience
through what he suffered. And being made perfect [in His humanity], he became
the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. (Hebrews 5:8-9)
This life is filled with groaning:
·
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning
together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but
we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait
eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we
were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he
sees?…Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings
too deep for words.” (Romans 8:22-24, 26)
For now, everything and everyone is groaning. It comforts me
to know that our Lord is not robotic. The Spirit is groaning along with us.
Even Jesus:
·
For we do not have a high priest who is unable
to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been
tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
Meanwhile, we are encouraged by Jesus’ example to look
beyond the suffering of this life:
·
…let us also lay aside every weight, and sin
which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set
before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
I have found that this journey can only be endured as we
proceed in confidence that the Lord is holding our hand, a lesson we must
continually relearn, as Paul too had confessed:
·
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,
of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened
beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we
had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on
ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly
peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver
us again.” (2 Corinthians 1:8-10)
These lessons teach us to die to self-trust so that we can
live unto God-trust. However, my feelings often do not comply. Amid suffering,
I still cry, “Where are you God? You seem to be so far from helping me.” Yet, I
can remember how He has, on so many occasions, rescued me from the fires and, therefore,
recommit to trust in Him as the fires promise to completely consume me.
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