Not-so-disguised mercies

One of my favorite recent songs on Christian radio is Laura Story’s “Blessings”.   We pray for our desires, she says, but God loves us too much “to give us lesser things.”

'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

You can listen to the entire song here.  If it brings tears to your eyes (as it does to mine), it is no doubt because you have faced, or are facing, trials in your life.  You understand what she means.

However, touching though the song is, I believe it could have taken us to an even deeper level.  Consider, for example, the “what ifs” of the song.  No doubt Laura is suggesting a truth with poetry rather than straightforwardly stating it.  “What if your healing comes through tears.”  However, the "what if" also suggests a doubt about the purpose and results of the trials.  I have many times heard Christians, including myself, say something like this:  “Maybe God is going to accomplish something is this situation.” 

I've thought about those “maybes” and I've decided that it is not merely a lack of faith that leads us to hedge in that way.  I think, rather, it is because we have so little understanding of what God intends to accomplish.  We have trouble imagining the “good” He has purposed for our trials. 

Certainly, many of God’s purposes are unclear to us.  We “see through a dark glass”, as Paul said. "His ways are not our ways," said Isaiah.  Nevertheless, the Bible has much to say about God's intentions.  His plans are not as obscure as we generally think them to be.  God tells us over and over that He intends to reward faithfulness and He offers many descriptions of those rewards.  Here is just one of His many promises to reward, from Proverbs and referenced in Romans 2 by Paul.   

Does not he who guards your life know it?   Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?  (Prov. 24:12)

So, we don’t have to say “what if” or “maybe”.  God's mercies are not as "disguised" as the song suggests and as we normally assume.  It can be said with certainty that God is going to reward (the same Hebrew word as "repay") you for faithfully enduring your pain and suffering.  No "maybe" about it!  

Those rewards have many descriptions in the Bible; but, for now, let this suffice:  God’s reward for faithfulness will be very, very good.  Pause and let that soak in.  You are earning something - this very moment - as you endure your painful circumstances with faith and hope in God.  

Now, that is a reason to rejoice! 

Like Pumpkin Pie w/out Sugar

I don’t mean to pick on the well-known pastor/devotional writer I critiqued in my last post; but, he has done it again.   While what he says (in his devotional entry) is true, it’s incomplete and comes across as simplistic.  It’s like the pumpkin pie I made for Thanksgiving.  It was beautiful as it came out of the oven.  It had that orange-brown hue of pumpkin pie.  The crust was golden.  But, it was not my mom’s pumpkin pie.  It was not sweet.  In fact, it was bitter.  Ahhh!  I had left out the sugar! 
  

Well, the writer of the devotional left out a sweet ingredient from God's receipt for joy in the midst of suffering.  He began his entry, “You may think, ‘Nobody knows what I'm going through, nobody feels the pain I'm experiencing.’  But God knows!”  Does it comfort you to know that God knows even if others don't?  Somewhat, I suppose.  But, it also begs the question:  Why does He allow the pain to persist?

The writer continues in a similar vein, “Often when we're hurting, we feel very isolated and lonely. Maybe there's been a death in the family, a divorce, maybe we've gotten fired, and we start to think, ‘Nobody understands the way I feel; nobody can tell the way I feel; nobody feels the pain.’  God not only sees, He cares!"  He then quotes from Psalms 103:13, "The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him." (NLT)

The same question springs to mind, however:  If God cares so much, why does He allow the pain?  If it were within my power to do so, I would end the suffering of my own children, were they in pain.  So, if the "Lord is like a father to his children," why do I have to endure prolonged circumstances of sorrow?  So, God knows and God cares...; but, why doesn't He do something about my suffering?

To that question Romans 8:28 is often (quite appropriately) offered.  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  But, we have so little understanding of the “good” that will come of pain, there is little else we have to say. “Maybe God will, oh... I don't know, perhaps He’ll bring someone to Jesus through your pain.  I don't know what it is, but good will come of it." 

Our understanding of the “good” Paul refers to in his letter to the Romans is pretty fuzzy, isn't it?  And, if that were all the Bible had to say on the matter, it would do.  But the Bible does say more, much more, about the “good” that God will bring from our pain and suffering.  We simply aren't aware of the Bible's promises.  We have left the sugar out of the pie!

That “good” to come was hinted at in one of the verses the pastor/writer quotes.  “You know how troubled I am; you have kept a record of my tears.” (Ps. 56:6)  So, God isn't just aware of our circumstances, He is "keeping a record" of them?  Why would God do that?  (Answer carefully, for without a good answer, God might appear sadistic, as if He enjoys watching people suffer.)  So, why does He record our pain and sorrow?  What is He going to do with that record?

God records every instance of your sorrow because the reward you will receive for your faith and faithfulness will be based, in part, upon the suffering you endured.  Nothing you do and endure in this life goes either unnoticed or unrewarded by God.  Listen to the Prophet Jeremiah, “This is what the LORD says: "Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD.  (Jer. 31:16)  You needn't weep and cry because your work will be rewarded.  Indeed, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5), you can rejoice and even leap for joy in your pain, because great is your reward in heaven.

So, take heart, my friends; for God has great things in store for you.  His promises are sweet.  Every act of faith and faithfulness in the midst of pain will be rewarded – for all of eternity. 

Someday... what?

Do people try to encourage you; but, end up sometimes discouraging you instead?  What they have to say may (often) be true; but, it comes across as pat or shallow.  If that has happened to you, then please tell us of your experience in a comment below.

Let me give you an example of well-intentioned but insufficient encouragement.

I have been reading a daily devotional by a well known and highly regarded pastor.  (I generally like his writing, so I’m not just being cranky.)  Today’s entry began with this.  “You may be facing a dead end right now – financial, emotional; relational – but if you will trust God and keep on moving in faith, even when you don’t see a way, he will make a way.”  Pretty standard advice, right?  He goes on predictably, “It will become more understandable as you head down the path he sets before you, but understanding is not a requirement for you to start down the path.”   True, but not particularly helpful.

Fortunately, he also quotes some Scripture; two Proverbs, including the ever-encouraging, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”  (Prov. 3:5-6)  But his elaboration on the verses falls flat.  “All those problems, heartaches, difficulties and delays – all the things that make you ask ‘why’ – one day it will all be clear in the light of God’s love.”  In other words, keep plodding on; You will understand someday. 

OK, so everything the writer said is true.  One day we will better understand.  On a good day, such assurances are even encouraging to hear.  If that were all that the Bible had to say on the matter, it would suffice.  

But that is not all the the Bible has to say.  It tells us there is something important - that we can understand now, not just in the future.  We don’t have to wait for “someday” to know and be encouraged by this promise:  We will reap a harvest of blessing if we endure our pain with faith in God.  

So, you don’t have to wait to experience the joy of anticipating that great reward.  You can "leap for joy" (as Jesus said) right now, right in the middle of the trial, because you already know of God's intent to reward you.   

Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming soon!  My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.”  (Rev. 22:12)  So, endure your suffering, my friend, in the belief that God will make it worth all the pain.  Don’t give up, because He will reward your faith!  There is reason to rejoice!

Trading our sorrow and pain

I'm trading my sorrow.

I'm trading my pain.

I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord.

We sang those lyrics in our worship service at church yesterday.

Hum...  How can one trade sorrow and pain for joy?  I mean, even when I am worshiping, I still have my pain.  It doesn't go away.  I can't simply put it down, as the song suggests; as if I have some choice to hang on to my pain.  Pain just IS.  You can't simply make it go away.

I don't know, but my guess is that the writer has never experienced great and enduring pain; or at least he wasn't experiencing pain when he wrote those lyrics.  They seem an example of the sort of cliches and platitudes sometimes offered to suffering people.  That said, I think I know what he was trying to say.  There is a kernel of truth in his words.  His problem is that he left out a key ingredient for rejoicing in the midst of suffering.  

Fortunately, Jesus didn't leave it out of His teaching.  Look at what he said in the Sermon on the Mount, in what we call the Beattitudes.  At the end of the "blessed are you" verses, Jesus summarizes with this: “Blessed are you when [you suffer].  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy.  Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven!"  (Matt. 5 and Luke 6)

Jesus doesn't just tell us, "Don't worry.  Be happy!"  He gives the reason to rejoice:  because "great is your reward in heaven!"  Jesus tells us that our sorrows and our pain will result in something very good:  a great reward - a reward that we only get after faithfully enduring pain and suffering.  The reward of which He speaks is not heaven itself.  Heaven is no reward; it is a free gift to all who put their faith in Jesus.  No, this is something extra - a reward given in heaven only to those who suffer.  

So, in that sense the writer of the lyrics (unwittingly) got it right.  We can trade our sorrow and pain for a glorious reward in heaven.  It doesn't make the pain go away now; but it does give us joy in the hope that our pain will not only end someday; but, that it will have earned a great harvest of blessing.  

And that, my friend, is a Reason to Rejoice!