|
view all articles
Christian Masochism and Jacob the Pro-Wrestler
Is Suffering Normal?
"Ouch!" the young man said, holding his head by the temples and rubbing them gently. "This headache is killing me!" He'd been in some pain for about an hour now, and no matter how many pills and potions he swallowed, drank, inhaled, ingested or absorbed, the pain wouldn't leave, like a vindictive kick in the Gordon Bennett's from that nasty-pasty in the year above. If only the pain would leave, he'd be able to get on with his life! He had work to do! But he simply wouldn't be able to focus with this headache.
He was sent home fourth period. ‘Distracted' they had said; he'd been neither use nor ornament since the headache started. Everything he put his hand to fell to pieces, because he just wasn't in the right place to tackle anything. So there he was; sidelined when he should've been the shooting guard on the court.
You know, I've met many a Christian whose entire walk of life has become one big long headache. Some issue or other, whether it's guilt from the past, sin in the present, lack of certainty about the future, theological difficulty or something I've not said, has got them completely debilitated from growing; they can't press on, or be useful, because they are consumed by whatever this issue is. My goal in this writing is three fold;
I want to establish that wrestling through difficult issues is the NORMAL Christian experience.
I want to exhort those struggling to NOT lose hope, and to equip them to turn their struggle into a growth accelerator pedal.
I want to point to the experience of the patriarch Jacob as a pattern for receiving the blessing of God.
Without further ado, let's dive in. 
So let's say you're like the boy mentioned above. Something in you has got you so worked up, so distracted, that nothing else seems to go right. You're consumed by this struggle, or this trial, and it's difficult even just to pray for more than a few minutes, because you can't get your mind off of this issue. You're sidelined; forget shooting baskets, you can't even tie your shoes. Brother or Sister, I want you to know that what you're experience is not an accident. It's not that you have blundered from the way; you haven't left God, or fallen into some rebellion; what's happening is the normal Christian experience.
At some time or another, every Christian has to face up to the issues that are particular to them. We are all susceptible to every sin, but we're tempted in different ways given our natural disposition and our circumstances. For me, it's lust. I was a boy of the world before I came to Christ, and I had done things and seen things I shouldn't have done or seen; I had opened doors I shouldn't have, and that created a massive struggle at the beginning of my Christian life, and often led me into sin. It's ongoing; we never grow beyond our struggles. I'm still in danger of lust; but I've been taking some fantastic sword lessons with the Master, and He's shown me how to pull a fast-one on my enemies with such precision and pace that the fight is in my favour now. But, I'm still fighting. And so too, whatever your struggle is, it shall probably stay with you for some time; maybe the rest of your earthly life.
Here's the brilliant thing; what you're going through is NOT new. Read here; "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." - 1 Corinthians 10:13.
Nothing that is tempting you is entirely unique to you; no temptation is entirely unique. You see, Satan is cunning, but he isn't that inventive; he ran out of tactics centuries ago, and just keeps repackaging old ones. So too your own flesh; you inherit the same nature as the rest of us, and as such your temptations are known to man. Be encouraged by this verse; you are not on your own. Somewhere, probably in God's grace nearby, someone knows what you're going through. For God through Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 -- "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."
You see, God comforts us in our afflictions, so that we may then comfort others. As such, God has comforted others, so that they can comfort you! Yet another glorious reason to be rooted and grounded in a local church; God has been with these people, so that they can be with you. And so in turn later, you shall be of comfort to others in receiving the comfort of God. Oh, and you shall be comforted. For God promises to comfort you in Psalm 34:17-18. Go read.
It is absolutely normal for a Christian to undergo trials and difficulties. In fact, it is expected to take place. Jesus Christ never promised us, "Ok guys, believe in me, and we'll have plain sailing all the way to the Kingdom!" Not a chance. Instead, Jesus says things like, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." This is proof, rather than contradiction, of our right standing before God; people think Satan's main thing is to get the prostitutes, and the drug dealers, and the warlords and the dictators; umm, newsflash - he's already got them! The Bible says that "Satan comes as an angel of light." He's not tryna win over those who are willingly part of his kingdom of evil; he's tryna get you! Because you're the rebel, you're the revolutionary, you're the dissenter of this world; you've seen the truth and you're going ANOTHER WAY. Praise be to God! The scripture says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous [man], but the Lord delivers him out of them all." (Ps. 34:19). So friend, "do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you." (1 Peter 4:12).
So whatever your struggle is; relax. This is all according to plan.
Like a short-sighted wannabe pilot, you and I need our vision corrected. We can't fly this thing unless we can see clearly enough; heck, in the state we're in, it's tough enough seeing the numbers on the screen in front of us, let alone the approaching hostile aircraft! What are we to do?
Well, God's definitely opening up His free laser-eye surgery today, and He's making the big boast of instant recovery of sight for the blind. We're about to pull one of those aforementioned fast ones on Satan; your struggle can actually be used to make you stronger, and not weaker.
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." - Romans 5:1-5
Right, get a look at this. In light of what Paul has been talking about in Romans 4 (Abraham justified by faith), we have peace with God. You hear that? Do you see what I'm saying? This is not the ‘peace of God', this is not the subjective experience of peacefulness; this is an eternal peace treaty, ending the war between you and God. This is peace with God. This is the objective reality that no matter what happens from here on in, you are at peace with God; no longer will you be enemies, but He will remain faithful, and you are made right in His sight. Allow me to digress just for a brief moment and express my own personal amazement at this statement; you and I, fellow Christian, righteously deserve the furious wrath of a justly angered God, but inconceivable, unprecedentedly, God has provided salvation from Himself. Don't get it twisted; you aren't saved from Hell, as if Hell were an objective force or entity, you're saved from God; Hell is God's Hell. But the wonder of it is that God's love has been shown to you - whilst you were still a sinner (Rom. 5:8).
What's the upshot of this? Hope. Because the justification is a) absolute and b) objective, we have hope. And I don't mean hope the way you hope the bus will arrive on time (and that's no hope!), I mean hope that is rock solid, immovable and true-I mean the kind of hope you can read about in Hebrews 11:1. Check it out sometime.
And this hope stands firm in our suffering. In fact, not only that, but we can rejoice in our sufferings.
Eh? Rejoice in suffering? Has Paul gone completely crazy? Is Paul advocating some kind of spiritual masochism? Funnily enough, sort of, yes. You see, we can view the pain of our struggles in a different way; it's not just a reason to get all sniffily and cry, "Woe is me" - though often, those are legitimate out workings of our struggles. But no, where the non-Christian can see nothing beyond the pain, we view the wider picture of God, in His mercy and kindness, letting us feel just enough of the rain to make us buy the Great Umbrella; dependence upon Jesus Christ.
Suffering makes endurance, and character and hope. All of those things are about JESUS. We endure to the end to see Jesus; we become more like Jesus; and we depend further upon the promise of Jesus. And this hope is totally sure, because the Holy Spirit within us is the signature on the dotted line. God, through this trial that you are facing right now, is working in you things that you will look back upon and say, "THAT, was God at work, and I am so thankful that He was." He can be tempted to think that the best thing is for God to take all our pain away, and wrap us up in cotton wool; but no, in just the right ways, God lets us suffer, so as to be more steadfast in our faith, more like Him in our character, and more certain in our hope; suffering really is tremendously good for you.
Ok; so what do we do practically here?
Meditate on those passages of scripture which teach this precious truth - Zechariah 13, Psalm 34, 1 Peter 1, Romans 5, Romans 8, and Philippians 1, as starters; there are more, dig around for them; get your concordance out, or use the topic index at http://www.biblegateway.com/ . Get God's view, and make it your own.
Don't retreat or give up when faced with suffering; bear it because you are equipped with the knowledge of its purpose.
Rejoice in it; not in a way that denies the reality of its pain, but in a heartfelt way that trusts that God is at work, and He will surely complete it (Phil. 1:6).
Finally, I want to set Jacob before you as an example of how to relate to God in these things.
Read Genesis 32
Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
And when Jacob saw them he said, "This is God's camp!" So he called the name of that place Mahanaim. And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom,instructing them, "Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, 'I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now. I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.'" And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him."
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps, thinking, "If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape." And Jacob said, "O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good,' I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children. But you said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.'"
So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took a present for his brother Esau, two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, "Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove." He instructed the first, "When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, 'To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you?' then you shall say, 'They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us.'" He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, "You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him, and you shall say, 'Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us.'" For he thought, "I may appease him with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me." So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp. The same night he arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him.
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.
Jacob is great distressed. He's about to rendezvous with his brother Esau, whom he hasn't seen since he stole the blessing of his father from him, cursing him and his children after him to an existence of enmity with all other nations; the modern day descendents of Esau are the Islamic peoples. Jacob is frightened that his brother is going to be mad and that his brother, with his army, is going to destroy the wandering band of sheep-herders that is Jacob's family and entourage; hardly a group bred or even fit for military conflict.
Jacob teaches us well. He goes straight to God. He remembers and claims the promises of God; and in this, let us imitate Him. Go to God in prayer immediately with your trials, and don't keep them from Him; remind Him of His promises, not presumptuously, but in faith, asking God to act for His Namesake. But notice the incident that follows.
Jacob sets out the gifts he had promised his brother; essentially a bribe; and he bides himself some time, using an elaborate, "Oh, he's behind us" tactic. He stays in the camp. And then we read, "A man" comes, and starts wrestling with him. Now, sorry to burst the bubble, but this isn't proto-WWF; and this is no ordinary man. This is Jesus Christ. For whom else could it be? A later verse reveals that it is GOD that Jacob had wrestled with and prevailed; and who else is both God and Man? But Jacob's attitude is exemplary; Jacob, though defeated, though broken at the hip and unable to move in his own strength any further; though utterly overcome, he looks Jesus Christ square in the face and says, "I will not let you go until you bless me!!"
Please, PLEASE learn to pray like this. Learn to take a day aside and pray. Learn to stay up at night to pray to God, and wrestle with Him. You sleep every night-mix it up! Find a quiet place and be as Hannah, pouring your soul out before the Lord. He greatly desires you to do this; Jacob's attitude isn't sniffed at by Jesus, Jacob's attitude is rewarded! Be like this with God, I beg of you; only good can come of it.
I hope you're blessed; don't let Him go ‘til you are!
All my love,
Arron
|
