Joseph, Jeremiah, and Job. These three men have become my heroes. I have been dealing with the "severe mercies" of God, as Elisabeth Elliott likes to call them. You know what I’m talking about? Those circumstances that smack you in the face and say, "Your God is not at all whom He promised to be". When, in reality, He’s just not acting the way I’d like Him to act. Those three men of the faith did not try to make God fit into their mold. They understood that God could seem harsh in the situations of their lives and yet He was still worthy of honor, praise, and obedience. And yes, He could even be considered merciful and loving.
Our American culture tells us that we need to get what we deserve. We should want the best for ourselves (the definition of "best", of course, being whatever we want it to be). If we act right, we should expect to have good come back to us. On my Pandora account, I have a station called "Beauty and the Beast". I’ll confess it. I have a definite love for musicals and Disney music. Anyway, it randomly picks songs that are in that genre of music. This one song entitled "Don’t Rain on my Parade" has played a number of times and I have been struck by the selfishness of it. It demonstrates a certain attitude that I have seen reflected in my own heart at times. That attitude which says I want to do things my way because His way doesn’t seem very pleasant and somehow I think I know better than God.
I can stubbornly want my own way like that woman or I can be determinedly surrendered to Christ. Surrender. Maybe that’s what it is all about. Surrender when it isn’t pleasant. It’s about accepting the situations God brings into my life. Oswald Chambers put it beautifully:
"The circumstances of a saint's life
are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance.
God by his providence brings you into circumstances that you cannot understand
at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God is bringing you into places and
among people and into conditions in order that the intercession of the Spirit in
you may take a particular line. Never put your hand in front of the
circumstances and say -- I am going to be my own providence here . . . All your
circumstances are in the hand of God, therefore never think it strange
concerning the circumstances you are in . . ."
Joseph was thrown in prison because of his obedience to the Lord. Jeremiah was locked in a dark dungeon and then thrown into a muddy quagmire because of his stand for the Lord. Job was allowed to suffer tremendous personal loss and pain because of his faithfulness to God. My heroes, unlike the yellow-clad lady in the musical, did not demand their own way when brought to times of difficulty. They refused to "be their own providence". They were very intentional when God didn’t act like they expected Him to.
Joseph kept on doing the next thing. He just kept breathing. He kept working in the prison; in that seemingly forsaken place of captivity where God had put him on purpose. He was left for years in that place. Years. Why did God withhold freedom from Joseph? I don’t know. But I do know that he kept on serving God day after day. At the end of the story, he knew it turned out right, but he sure didn’t know that when he woke up to a daily view of prison bars. Where was God in all that loneliness and pain? "But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him . . ." Genesis 39:20.
Jeremiah stayed doggedly faithful to his God. He had given a message from God to a king who wanted to hear something different. He was so ill received that he was thrown into "a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time" (Jeremiah 37:16). After his lengthy stay at the ‘Sheraton’, he was called back out to meet the king. The king asked him if there was any word from the Lord. Without missing a beat, Jeremiah tells him the same thing he told him before. Not long after, another group of people threw Jeremiah into a cistern that had mud in the bottom of it. "They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud" (Jer. 38:6). Vaulted cells in dungeons and sinking in mud. That would make me want to throw in the towel.
Job. He just kept on speaking the truth about God. His first words after hearing of his terrible losses were these: "may the name of the Lord be praised". The verses following show his true heart: "In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing". His own wife encouraged him to curse God. He replied, "‘Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?’ In all this, Job did not sin in what he said . . ." (Job 2:10). In the very last chapter of that book, the Lord rebukes (twice!) Job’s friends and says, "You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has" (Job 42:8b).
For them, just like for us, it comes down to knowing that God loves us, regardless of what our circumstances seem to say. He loves us. The proof to me is in Romans 8. God did not seem to have an issue with talking about suffering and hardship in the same passage as His love. "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword . . . For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present not the future, nor any powers, neither height not depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:35, 38-39). I love that. "In all these things" the love of God still prevails. The presence of suffering does not somehow exclude His love. His love for us caused Him to suffer.
I wish I could say I have life figured out. I wish I could say that I have God figured out. The only thing I know is that God is loving, merciful, and kind. Sometimes that love demonstrates itself in unusual and unexpected ways. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to be demonstrated at all. Yet, it is still there. As Elisabeth Elliot said, "God never withholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. God's refusals are always merciful- "severe mercies" at times but mercies all the same. God never denies us our hearts desire except to give us something better".
I guess I love those three heroes of faith because they give me courage to press on. Their lives were given so that I could remember the kindness of God in the midst of icky circumstances.
"Brothers, as an example of patience in the face of suffering,
take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.
As you know, we consider blessed those who have persevered.
You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about.
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy."
James 5:10-11
It is in the moment when God’s ways seem harsh that I have a choice to make. I can surrender to His plan or I can choose to march to the beat of my own drum. I can say, "I do not understand, but have Your way" or I can say, "I do not understand. I will get my own way". I’m choosing to hold out like my heroes. I’m going to let God do His thing. While I’m waiting to see what the Lord will finally bring about, I’m going to keep doing the next thing, stay doggedly faithful to my God, and continually speak the truth about God. What are you going to do?
"O Prince of Glory, who dost bring
Thy sons to glory through Thy Cross,
Let me not shrink from suffering,
Reproach, or loss.
"The dust of words would smother me;
Be all to me anathema
That turns me from Gethsemane,
And Golgotha.
"If Thy dear Home be fuller, Lord,
For that a little emptier
My house on earth,
What rich reward
That guerdon were.
"And by the borders of my day
The river of Thy pleasure flows;
The flowers that blossom by the way,
Who loves Thee knows."
-Amy Carmichael –
Anathema means "a person or thing detested or loathed". Guerdon means "recompense or requital".
1 comment:
Thank you, Jessica!!!
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