Finding Hope When We Look in The Rearview Mirror of Our Lives, Part 3
(Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)
A few years ago, our family relocated here in Folsom. In our search for new housing, we read contracts and rental home requirements. We looked within documents for a full disclosure of our responsibilities for payment and requirements for living. Full disclosure helps us make wise and thoughtful decisions.
John 16:33 gives us full disclosure to our righteous lives here on earth. It says, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” God’s full disclosure of life here on earth eliminates the element of surprise and enables us to focus on four right responses to the inevitable suffering of the righteous.
- We must respond to suffering honestly.
Psalm 73:2 is helpful concerning this point. Notice how the Psalmist speaks openly and honestly to his suffering. He says, “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.” He is not taking a “buck it up” or “real men don’t cry” mentality. He is honestly admitting the suffering and his vulnerability within it. In a similar fashion, we must respond through an honest admission of hard times and their impact on our lives. However, we cannot allow this to be the only element of our response. Notice the next three points.
- We must respond to suffering by allowing God to deepen our relationship with His Word.
Richard Baxter said that “suffering unhinges the doors of our hearts to allow the Word of God easier entrance.” Have you found that to be true in your life? The Psalmist in Psalm 119 certainly found that to be true. Notice vss. 50, 67, 71, and 75. All four of these declare the profit the Psalmist received from suffering. The Word of God had comforted him (vs.50), kept him faithful (vs.67), taught him truths (vs.71), and reinforced God’s faithfulness to him (vs.75).
- We must respond to suffering with a view that screens suffering through the lens of eternity.
I Peter 1:6-7 is so helpful in this regard. To those who have suffered or are suffering in something that feels like a lifetime, take comfort. Scripture teaches us that the longest suffering here on earth is still brief compared to eternity!
- We must respond to suffering missionally.
The Psalmist Asaph and the Apostle Paul were both able to endure suffering because they looked at their suffering as a channel to one day help others who suffer.
Psalm 73:28 says, “But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.”
II Corinthians 1:4 says, “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”
II Corinthians 1:6 says “And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.”
We must not be surprised that God may lead us through something and give us something that is for a purpose bigger than ourselves. A missional response to suffering seeks to allow God to do things through us for the sake of others.
To each of you who has suffered righteously, have you responded right to righteous suffering?
There are a lot of reasons people refuse to consider their own personal wrong responses to the hurtful things that have happened in their past. Some people refuse to consider it because of fear. They believe someone may use their acknowledgement of sin against them. That kind of fear must be overcome by a simple choice to obey God’s Word rather than our own feelings or suspicions. Some people refuse to consider their wrong responses in the past because they are foolish. They personally believe they were justified in what they did therefore their choices were not wrong. Proverbs 12:15 puts this kind of thinking into the category of a fool when it states, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes.”
The longer we make excuses concerning our own wrong responses the longer we continue out of fellowship with God. When a person is willing to do a humble analysis of their responses and seek God’s forgiveness, they are promised renewed fellowship with God.
The forgiveness of God is one of the most forgotten and misunderstood truths of the Bible. I would love to leave us today with a simple thought concerning I John 2:1-2 that gives us incentive to deal wisely with our wrong decisions of the past.
I John 2:1-2 says, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
This passage points out two crucial truths about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: He is both our advocate and our propitiation. As our advocate, He defends us when the enemy of our souls accuses us before the throne of God day and night (Rev.12:10). And the basis of His defense is not our righteousness but His. He is our propitiation or satisfaction. When our adversary accuses us, and often rightly so, our heavenly lawyer points to the wounds in His hands and side. Then the holy Father raps the gavel and declares that our sin has been forgiven and the case is dismissed.
Don’t let any more time go by before you confess the wrong responses you have had to the hurts of your past. Forgiveness is too valuable and accessible to forsake it any longer.
Ron Perry is the pastor of Faith Baptist Church of Folsom, California. This post first appeared on the Faith Baptist Church blog page, and we republish with his permission.
Photo by Taras Zaluzhnyi on Unsplash