After calming the storm at sea, after setting the demon filled man free, Jesus returned BACK to the other side of the sea to find many there waiting for Him. And in the crowd came a man who was well known in that area. He was the head of the Synagogue named Jairus. He came with a problem. His little girl was sick…very sick. To the point to death. Not dead yet, but he reasoned that IF Jesus could touch her, she’d live. The illness would leave her IF Jesus would come and touch his little girl.
Would that not move your heart? A man, on his knees in front of you, pleading for the life of his child? Who would not be moved? Jesus was so moved. He went with him.
Guess how Jairus felt? Would he not be the happiest man in Israel? Would not his heart be pounding fast and hard? Would he not be so excited that 1.) He found Jesus and 2.) That Jesus would come to his house and touch his little girl and have her live.
Why was he not with his little girl? He was not at home. He was out on the town—he was looking for Jesus.
Are you looking for Jesus? Are you looking for Him to touch a situation in your life? You would consider it a success if you’d find Him, is that not so? And that once you found Him, that He would go with you to touch whatever it is that concerns you. I would imagine that Jairus would be pushing people out of the way to move Jesus along faster!
But then, something happens that stops Jesus. We will look at the interruption another time. (Plain and simple, a woman with a bleeding problem touches Jesus.) But there has been an interruption. Do you like interruptions? Do you feel good when someone interrupts you in a conversation—never mind in a life and death situation like this? It must have really shaken the father up! Consider how you would feel? Put yourself in his sandals. Nothing stands in the way when it comes to the safety of Family. And here we have Jesus, dealing with two situations without missing a beat.
And as Jesus deals with this second matter, the interruption, word comes back to the father that his little girl had indeed died. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.”
Bother? These people really did not know Whom they were standing with in that crowd. He caused the sea to be calm. The winds to be still. A man filled with demons to be set free and now this… bothersome event? Not so for Jesus.
We know from the Word of God that He cares for us. Even when we walk in the valley of the shadow of death, He is with us. Even when 500 high priest of Baal have a contest to see who’s god is bigger. Even when persecution comes, He is still with us. He will never leave us. His promise to His Children holds.
Are you His child? Are you in this promised relationship with Him? This Covenant of Promise! Sealed with the Blood from His own Body!
We are living in a world with dead people walking. There are many movies out today that take this theme. Call them zombies. Call them the Living Dead! Few of these movies are based on real truth but on fear of dead people. There is a phobia of the dead. It is called NECROPHOBIA. Some people really get freaked out when this topic comes up. But yet it is all around us and sometimes, it touches us. Fear really could drive a person to deep anxiety: BIBLIOPHOBIA=fear of books. DENTOPHOBIA= fear of dentist. ECOPHOBIA=fear of home. LEUKOPHOBIA=fear of the color white. OCTOPHOBIA=fear of the figure 8.
My friend, Yu Shibuya, Ami’s brother, spoke at CAJ’s chapel this past week. He spoke about how dead people look on trains. And it is true. When you sit there on the train next time, look around and you will see the living dead. People who have given up on really living. Doing things they don’t really like. Being involved with work that they dislike. In broken relationships that they want to end but can’t. Living dead people. Kind a strange when you think about it but it is Biblical.
With out the Spirit of God in the person, he or she is spiritually dead. Separated from God. Much like this little girl. No life in her. Jesus called it sleep, but the people realized that she was indeed dead to them. Parents were destroyed. Mom had already hired mourners to cry and weep loudly to show how sad the situation was.
I have been to funerals here in Japan and in the US. I have been to non-believer’s funerals and I have been to believer’s funerals. One had no hope. No life. No promise. The other had Hope. Had life. Had promise. Why? Because Jesus showed up. He came into the dead person—while he/she was still the living dead and gave real life to them. For the first time in their existence in this good earth, they really breathed the life giving air of eternal salvation. Given to them when they believed that Jesus was the Son of God and that He had died for them—taking their sins away.
And Jesus overheard or ignored what they said and told the father, “Don’t be afraid; just believe”. Now the father is going on a most exciting ride of his life! He is going to see the Power of God in his own house…in his own little daughter.
Jesus takes His small band of followers AND the parents into the room where the little girl was laid out. There would be a soft white cloth over her body. Basins of water and towels are near by for the ladies to wash her ever-cooling body—preparing her for the tomb.
He asked “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at Him.
His response was this: “Get out of My way. Everyone, out of the room! Except for the parents and the disciples who were with Me.” He took the little girls cold hand and said to her… “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” The response was immediate. She stood up and began to walk around the room. This 12-year-old girl was now living. No longer a living Dead but alive in the presence of the One who is Life, Jesus, the Christ.
He told them to keep this secret and to give her something to eat. After such an experience, she’d be hungry and they could feed her again and love her again and enjoy their little girl AGAIN. The could be Family, once again!
The Living Dead lives—in Jesus. When I go into a train station like Shinjuku, I HAVE to stand still for a few seconds—on the side—to see the many people rushing this way and that. (Sheep without a Shepard, really.) I think to myself, “It is possible that I am the ONLY one in this crowd that has eternal life! I may be the only one—who is really alive here!” Not arrogant. I know the Truth.
What to do with this Living Dead?
We could tell them about Jesus. We could go after Him ourselves and seek Him with all our hearts. We could go to Him in the privacy of our hearts RIGHT now and ask Him to touch our living dead hearts. Did you know that He promised to replace the dead cold stone-like heart with one that reflects His Joy and meaning?
All because a father wanted Jesus to come and touch his little girl-the one who is very sick—and look what happened? A living dead girl became part of the living again when Jesus came into the picture—came into her life.
He can come into your picture as well. During this time of Thanksgiving, we can be thankful that He did come to earth to walk among us and teach us how to believe in Him. How to put our trust in Him. How to live. In Him. Like Jairus’ little girl.
What is Jesus saying to you? “I say to you, get up!”
How Their Chains Need To Affect Us.
Prominent among the French Enlightenment philosophers was Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Ironically he was born to a very strong Believing father. (His father was a very conservative Christian.) His mother died when he was an infant. He apparently rejected Christianity from an early age.
In his autobiography, “Confessions” the Frenchman gave details of his extramarital affairs where he had five children with one of his mistresses. He abandoned all five into a Paris orphanage. At that time in French society, conditions in orphanages were such that 80% of the children did not live to adulthood.
His writings greatly influenced Europe in a big way. He died 11 years before the French Revolution but the radicals followed his teaching in their attempt to remove Christianity from France. The revolutionaries took over Notre Dame Cathedral and displayed a French prostitute there as "the goddess of reason." (They also abolished the seven-day week and instituted a ten-day week with every tenth day as a day off.) Their Reign of Terror in the early 1790s was a loathsome picture of human nature that had rejected Christian morals. In was in this climate, my relatives left France.
Rousseau wrote “Man is born free yet every where he is in chains.” There may be some truth in that. During that same time in history, slavery was a hurtful institution that was outlawed by England through the long-standing efforts of William Wilberforce.
Man is in chains and no matter where Man is—there is bondage of some sort. We are in need of a key to unlock such bonds that hold us from our freedom. While I do not agree with the life style of the French teacher/ philosopher, I am in some agreement with his famous line. We are all bond up by something in our past, dreamed of in our future or in some faction, very real to us right now.
What holds us down? Not mere chains but emotion, fear, past experiences, personal dislikes, sin, pain, rejection, family history. In truth, so many things.
In our world today, there are 10s of 1,000s who are bond into human slavery. In fact, more today than in History’s past combined! Estimates for the prevalence of slavery in the Roman Empire vary. Some historian’s estimate that approximately 25% to 30% of the population of the Empire in the 1st century was enslaved.
The number of slaves today remains as high as 12 million to 27 million. Many are ‘debt slaves’, largely in South Asia, who are under debt bondage incurred by lenders, sometimes, even for generations. Human trafficking is primarily for prostituting womenchildren into sex industries. It is the fastest growing criminal industry and is predicted to eventually outgrow drug trafficking. (internet sources)
A U.S. Government report published in 2005, estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year. This figure does not include those who are trafficked internally. Here in Japan, the Shin-Tokorozawa’s gang-lords control the flow of Asian women according to a police spokesperson I had spoken to.
When we look at the numbers world wide, it sickens us. And within that number, many are held in bonds because they believe in Jesus.
It is their story we will be sharing later this morning. But before we look at the story of the Persecuted Church we will be looking at a very famous slave. At a very early age, this young man saw the huge changes in his life because of a dysfunctional family. He was the number one son of over ten kids in the family. He was very open about his father’s love for him and that got him into real trouble with his older brothers. When no one was looking, they stripped him of his cloths and threw him into a dry well. Some wanted to kill him outright but cool heads prevailed and his life was spared—except when the cool headed brother was not there, the rest sold the younger brother into slavery.
I am talking about the Biblical figure Joseph. It is very interesting that with so much written about this young man, it is very hard to find anything bad written about him. Sure he was kind of proud. Maybe a little self-centered but when things got hard, his heart did not get harder. It stayed warm toward the Lord. His life is a great lesson of how to handle hard times. Even when he was wronged by his own brothers, and lied about by Mrs. Potiphar, his heart was steadily toward his God.
Joseph did not fall in to the trap of the “Silent Killers.” The Silent Killers was around all the time in his life yet he held fast. I believe the Persecuted Church today understands how Joseph did it but I don’t believe we believe it can happen in our lives. Let’s see if I am right.
The “Silent Killers.” comes in a company of three.
The first is RESENTMENT. The second is SELF PITY and the third is BITTERNESS.
I believe that if any of these factors are in seed form in our lives, we are headed for disaster. Let me explain. When Joseph was in the dry well naked, he did not give into to Self-Pity. “Oh, this is terrible! I am so misunderstood by my brothers. I am sure they will come to their senses as I am in need—such deep need. Oh Me, I am undone! What will become of me? My future is looking dimmer and dimmer. I am lost! All is lost! What am I going to do?”
No, Joseph kept his eyes on his Lord. Evidently, his childhood years in the presence of his Mother and Dad, he heard of this Loving God and he believed in Him. His faith held him. His Faith empowered him.
From Gen 37:12, when he was sold into slavery to the group of Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver to be a slave in Egypt, to verse 36 being sold to Potiphar’s service, to Chapter 39:7 when his bosses wife lies and has him thrown into the darkest jail, Joe’s heart seems so NON self-pitied. He is always helping others.
He did not give into resentment either. “My brothers, how I hate them! How I loathe and detest them more and more!” He never looks back and plots an evil plan to do the brothers in. He is creative but it comes to no hurt. He remains pure in heart. Even at the end, he said: “You did this for hurt but God did it for good.”
He also is not overwhelmed in Bitterness. Got to hand it to him. Of all the BAD things that he went through, he never got bitter. Maybe this is just a story and not a real person! Can anyone be like Joseph? Yes, even when they are being persecuted. Even when they are being jailed and beaten and starved and when all manner of evil is said against them. That sounds like something out of Matthew.
Let’s go there: Matthew 5: 10-12:
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Are there any Silent Killers hanging around your heart? Get rid of them. Don’t let them have a foothold. Go to the Lord and have Him deal with them. Confess and be set free and fill yourself with His Spirit instead. The days of the Silent Killers in you life should be short lived. The Resentment, the Self-Pity and the Bitterness must go!
And Matthew 5:43-45:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."
It is in this light that, we will look at the rest of the Power Point. Different slides are hard to look upon but these are people who are counted worthy to suffer for the Lord’s Name and for His Sake.
Please read from Hebrews 11:37-42 (NIV)
They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
In truth, we as a Church People, live in an unreal world. Few of us are neither affected by persecution nor have we been made uncomfortable in our walk of Faith. Few of us have had to pay the price for being part of the Family of Jesus. Few of us have been hit, broken, stolen from—because of our faith in the King of Glory.
But what would it mean to be effected by all this? How has and how can it effect our lives? Should we not care for them? Should we not pray for them? Should we not work at the task of bringing some comfort to those who are in pain and despair? Not all of them would want the burdens to be lifted. Not all of them are sad or angry toward those who hunt them down or hurt them. They pray for them. They pray that their jailers would come to the Saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And they are praying for us. Praying that we will not fall down on the job of holding them up. That we would not take for granted our Faith. That we would grow more in love with Jesus today than we were yesterday. I have met some of them. They really care for your spiritual well being. They, in their pain, pray for us. Can we do the same for them?
We need to pray for these Brothers and Sisters. Don’t forget their faces. Don’t forget they are Family. It could be you who needs their prayers. Don’t let them down.
Some chains are visible. As for a two-year-old Lao Lu, he is regularly padlocked to a tree while his rickshaw driver father touts for customers in Beijing. Chen insists chaining up son Lao Lu is for his own good.
They reported his father to the authorities, who yesterday ordered him to remove the chain although it was not clear what arrangements he would make in future. There is no nursery place for Lao Lu because his 42-year-old father is a migrant worker from another province, Szechuan, and therefore does not qualify for state help. The family lives in a one room, 9ft by 8ft apartment.
Chen said he could not afford to pay for childcare on his earnings of £4.50 ($7.25 or ¥586) a day and had refused offers of ‘a lot of money’ to give his son up for adoption.
‘My wife cannot take care of him (for she was sickly) and I have to work to support my family. So I chain him to a pole when I have a fare.'
His older daughter was stolen from them and was never seen of again.
‘I don’t even have a picture of my daughter to use for a missing-person poster. I cannot lose my son as well.’
A short time later, some one donated money enough to send the little boy to day care.
Here we have Jesus on the move again after that great experience on the Sea with the Storms of Life (as we looked at last week). You will remember that He has the AUTHORITY to calm the storms we are going through and He has the AUTHORITY to walk us through those same Storms of Life.
Here is the story as is found in Mark 5:1~20.
Jesus gets off the boat and WHAM!; He is introduced to a man with an interesting past. He is way too strong for any chains or ropes as he had broken them and made life difficult for those around the area. So much so, they have left him alone in the graveyard.
The man comes FROM the tombs to meet Jesus. That was his home. He lived there among the dead. Today, in that region, there is evidence of tombs cut into the hillside. Real estate agents would say that the best place is Location, Location, Location. This was not a very nice location.
In reading verse six, we can see that this man could see Jesus from a distance and ran to Him and fell on his knees in front of Him. He knew who Jesus was. He KNEW what kind of Power He had.
Verse 8. For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”
Listen to his plea! He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!”
Jesus asks him his name. “Identify yourself.”
“My name is legion, for WE are many.”
What is a legion? During that time in history, Rome had an army. In that army, the Emperor had many soldiers at his command: about 153,600 total in his fighting force. One unity of that army was a legion. This is what it looked like.
The legions were broken into three groups. The main fighting force of men were the light infantry made up of poor men who had to buy their own equipment. They were poorly trained and lived and died a very hard life. Light infantry was made up of men who were used as scouts and were, in terms of need, expendable.
The second group was Cavalry made up of 300 horsemen who were from richer homes. They were given spears, a short sword, helmet and shield. They were broken up into groups of 30 men.
The third group was the heavy infantry, which were the principle fighting force. They carried heavy long javelins with a killing range of 30 meters, a short sword for close combat, a shield and a metal helmet.
During this time of the Republic, the legion was about 4,500 to 5,200 men. At a battle in 9AD, at The Battle of Teutoburg Forest (now a forest but not then), three legions, three cavalry units and six auxiliary regiments—some 25,000 men—were wiped out…in one battle!
So, here we have a man whose name is Legion, “for we are many.” It is possible he could have as many as eight to ten demons in him OR he could have 4 to 5,000 in him. No wonder he could break any chains that held him down. He was more than a multi-personality individual. He was possessed by MANY demons that controlled him.
He had cut himself with stones. It is common for people who were abused to cut themselves. It helps them cope with their inner emotional pain and gain some feeling of control over their own life. This man was not only a person who inflicted pain on others, he, himself had inflicted pain on his own person. And he was in Bondage. And it terrified him. He had lived with this bondage for such a long time, yet he did not want to be freed from it. He liked the surroundings. He wanted to stay in that area. It pleased him. Why? Good question. I have no idea at all, except that he was in darkness and in dread and he shared that with the graves.
This bondage held him from life. These chains of the evil one kept him from experiencing anything good in his walk. He lost his family. The city people feared him. Verse 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
What are things that hold us? What are our chains? If we can identify them, as Jesus did, we too can be set free.
In verse 9, this man told us his name and his chains. “I am legion. I am many.” What holds us? Tradition; heritage; biases; pride; past experiences that have hurt us; past experiences when we hurt others; our memory; things that were blamed on us that in truth we were innocent of; fear; doubt; real and imagined guilt; so many things that can both hurt us more and things that prevent us from growing in our freedom in Jesus Christ.
We had done something that was wrong in our past. This memory has kept us from being free. It is a bondage. It holds us and hurts our feelings of being clean. We need to identify these ‘things’, these hurts, and name them. Once they are identified, they can be honestly looked at as for what they really are. All of them are ‘things’ that Jesus died for. He wants to set us free from them.
So here we have this man “Legion” who is begging Jesus not to be sent out of that area. Why again? This was not a kosher area. There were pigs in vast numbers here. In fact, a large herd of pigs was feeding in a nearby hillside. Read again what happened.
12 The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” 13 He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
That was quite a sight to behold! WILD PIGS running down the steep hillside toward the bank and screaming! Falling into the lake and drowning! Have you ever heard pigs going crazy? SUUIE!
This caused quite a stir. Those who were tending the pigs freaked out. They ran into the town and reported what had just happened to the city and told everyone! Imagine this! Not much ever happened in that town so ALL the people went out to see what was going on. There was no instant reply, but they came anyway. They came to Jesus. And they saw next to Jesus THE man in question but in his right mind. And their response? They were afraid!
They could deal with a Demonic person but a Holy Man, no way! They pleaded with Him to leave. Get out of town! Leave, not only the town but also our region! We don’t want Your kind here! They saw His Power and Authority and they wanted nothing of this Man. Leave us alone! We are going to live our lives—pork-less—in our darkness. They too had chains that bonded them as well. Unbelief.
And here is the former wild man, sitting, clean, dressed and in his right mind, at the feet of Jesus. And why not? Such a man has been claimed from the grip of Satan and is now a new creation. All his sins were gone and everything had become new!
In verse 18, Jesus does leave the region. He gets into the boat and the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with Him. Jesus said no to him. It was a very honest request. A most natural request but Jesus says no. Listen to the tender instructions He gives the man: verse 19
“Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how He has had mercy on you.”
THAT is the Gospel after all. Telling others what the Lord has done in your life. Tell of His Grace on your life. Sharing that with your own people! The Gospel!
So the man does what the Lord suggested him do. He told what the Lord had done in his life. He went to the ten cities of the Decapolis and began to tell how much Jesus had done for him. In this area, later Jesus meets and heals a deaf man. He also heals the daughter of a Gentile woman from this very region. Jesus’ teaching and fame went before him! This resulted in people being amazed.
Men today marveled at the teachings of Jesus, but few followed Him. Many who cannot but wonder at what Christ can and does do in the lives of so many. Yet these same people do not, as they ought, wonder after Him. Few believe. They are caught in the chains of unbelief.
They knew this man. They knew he had had a problem. A man with a past. A man with a burden who had been touched by the Authority of Jesus and was set free. He was the reason why Jesus came over the sea in the storm.
ISN’T THIS MAN MUCH LIKE YOU? I mean it. Aren’t there likenesses in our lives with his? What has you tied up in chains that will not let you be free? What holds you back from following the One who came for your soul? To give you life? Who among you would deny that you have such a condition? We all need to come to Him. Sit at His feet. Hear His message of Saving Faith and take that message to our own people. To tell them how much the Lord has done for us and how He has had mercy on us. To the Glory of the Lord, Amen.
Have you had a busy week? Was it hard week or an easy one? Isn’t it fun to face hardships? Were many people seeking after you?
If you were a teacher, how did the classes go this week? Did your class worksheets and lesson planners work OK for you?
If in business, how did the office look this past week? Nervous or were people at ease. Did your boss work you long and hard? Or, are you the boss who drove your people hard?
As a student, was this week bad? Few essays, few test? Maybe there is a term paper that is coming soon? Are things piling up and you can’t see the end for the amount of work you MUST do?
Things, problems, hardships, sometimes come up and we are blind-sided. We don’t see it coming. All is calm and POW, it hits!
Such is like that in our passage today. Turn to Mark 4:35-41.
Jesus and the 12 had a very full week as well. Much has happened and there was much demanded on them all. I think Jesus understands when we have full weeks and weeks that are demanding. There is time to rest—take it and be refreshed!
Easy to understand how it was for such a violent storm to come up so fast! The lake sits low in a basin surrounded by mountains. The Sea of Galilee is particularly susceptible or prone to sudden, violent storms. Cool air from the Mediterranean is drawn down through the narrow mountain passes and clashes with the hot, humid air lying over the lake. Wind and high waves are the result. Rain and all sorts of bad weather come crashing in on anyone on that lake. Even for experienced sailors, such storms are difficult. A Perfect Storm. High winds and even higher waves.
And these men were in a small fishing craft—maybe 10 feet long. (3.5 meters) They had been on the Sea so many times before BUT this time, things were different. One was Jesus was with them. Second, there had been a long session of Spiritual teaching done by the Master and three, they were not clued into the teaching as much as they should have been. Like last week, they had not been given the Holy Spirit. They were without spiritual understanding.
Let’s take an inventory of what kinds of things Jesus has had authority over…just for a few moments. Drives our a Demon, heals many people of illnesses, heals a man of leprosy, a man who was a paralytic, calls men to follow Him, has authority even on Holy Days, & forgives sin, has the authority to call men and women to Himself. Now, He is going to move into another area altogether different. There were physical healings, spiritual healings but now control and authority over nature. Way beyond His follower’s understanding.
In fact, they asked each other after this event, “Who is this guy?” This is way beyond what I can understand! “Even the wind and the waves obey Him!”
Let’s look at the ‘event’ and then how to apply it in our lives.
They were going across the sea. All was well, Jesus went to the rear of the boat and fell asleep (He did have a very full couple of days, teaching and healing.) The other guys were sailing. No motor sounds just the sound of the wind and the splash of the waves and now, some rain. The Teacher was still asleep in the back of the small boat when things got worst and worst!
I would guess the fishermen could see the storm coming on them. They were expert sailors. They could read the water, the air and they knew what kind of weather they were going to have. No CNN or DAPA Radar. No NHK Weather Channel. But it seems like they were caught napping. All of a sudden, POW, the storm hit! Wild winds and water splashing!
Mark 4:35 That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke Him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?"
39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
40 He said to His disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?"
41 They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!"
APPLICATION: Life is hard. Sometimes it gets harder. Friends fall away. Spouse gets cold toward you. Work fails. Health goes down hill. Not a very happy time of the year anyway. In English, this season is sometimes called FALL. Not sounding alive or active but fall. Fall what? Fall down? Fall all the way into despair? Life is rough and now it may not be fun being active in it! You may want to end it.
The storms of life happen. From a friend on Face Book: “…dear friend and sister … died suddenly from a viral infection. Twenty-eight years young... vibrant - full of life and beauty- a soul sister who loved our family and modeled joy for me in so many ways. Why?”
What takes you to the next level in handling life’s harnesses? Do you live with a great many disappointments in life? Can you put your trust in God? Is He able to hold you up and give you hope? He is supposed to! Does He?
Been reading in Job recently. Hard to understand it but this time, I am reading it in the Message. Job is complaining about his hard and painful life but he does not blame God. He goes around the subject but he does find fault in his so called friends who give ‘the right answers’ but miss the heart of the problems. Job was going through a most miserable time of his life. He has lost his belongings, his health, his sons and daughters and he is in deep personal pain. He was feeling like he is alone. He also had a wife who is not very helpful: “Job, why don’t you just curse God and die!”
I wonder how we would have faced all those problems?
Sometimes, people give some strange advice and painful words of comfort. “Don’t feel so bad. It was even worst for me…” “Well, I had a cousin on my wife’s side who had a dog die and it was so sad for them.” “Be strong and don’t cry! Be a man!” “It can’t be all that bad!” “Find something to take this off your mind.” What did you do to deserve that from God?” “Are you in sin?”
During the storms of life, people forget the most fundamental points of caring.
If you were here this summer, I spoke from 1 Thessalonians 5:11~23. If you would turn to that section, you will find a great list of ways to keep your own heart in sync with how the Lord can prepare you for those storms of life.
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
12 Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
16 Be joyful always; 17 pray continually; 18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not put out the Spirit's fire; 20 do not treat prophecies with contempt. 21 Test everything. Hold on to the good. 22 Avoid every kind of evil.
23 May God Himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Your personal attitude has a great deal to do with how you handle hard times. If there is a heart of praise to start with, things will both look different and your options would be broader.
Romans 15:4~5 (New International Version)
“4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus.”
Isaiah 43:2 (The Message)
1~4 “But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started, Israel: "Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end—Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in! That's how much you mean to me! That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you.”
As the 12 found out, Jesus was able, by His Authority, to calm whatever storms He wills. He did it for them on that Sea but later, when things got bad again, He was there to walk with them through the hard times. He can calm it and He can calm you. Both bring His Best out on our lives as we walk the Road of Faith together to Reflect His likeness. Oh, to be like Him. (See below for the words to this hymn.)
Going through hard times? He’s been there. And He has made it through. He will be there for my friend who lost her dear friend. He is there for you as you face hardships. Part of this walk is to know that we can depend on Him.
4 “Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life.”
Written by Wm Kirkpatrick, words by Thomas O. Chisholm, pub.1897
Copyright: Public Domain
Oh! To be like Thee, blessed Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Refrain:
Oh! To be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
Oh! to be like Thee, full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wand’ ring sinner to find.
Oh! to be like Thee, lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer, others to save.
Oh! to be like Thee, Lord, I am coming,
Now to receive th’ anointing divine;
All that I am and have I am bringing,
Lord, from this moment all shall be Thine.
Oh! to be like Thee, while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love,
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
