Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Scripture- “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” 1 Peter 4:13
Insight: In day 22 of learning to apply biblical principles to our daily life as we march towards Easter, what we are referring to as Practical Christianity, let’s consider what it means to find beauty even during suffering due to our relationship with Jesus Christ. News flash! Just because we are Christian doesn’t mean we don’t endure great suffering in this world. In fact, many times we suffer maybe even more because of the persecution that comes our way by being a Christian. Jesus told us in John 16:33 that “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” The Bible assures us that people who don’t believe in Jesus as Lord & Savior resent the fact that we have found a peace that maybe has eluded them despite their own best efforts and they will seek to try and reject our testimony that our peace comes through a personal relationship with Christ. Many will try to mistakenly reject our faith because of their false claim that a “loving” God” would not allow His people to suffer. However, we know that not only do we grow immensely in our faith because of our trials and tribulations, but often we find God’s true and sometimes hidden beauty right in the middle of our biggest storms, for there is where we learn the strength of our Anchor in Christ Jesus. There is often beauty to be found in the midst of our suffering.
There can be beauty during suffering? This sounds insane, and on the surface, it is. But I have found some of the biggest breakthroughs in my faith have taken place during intense suffering. When I had nothing but lifelong bitterness and anger towards my Father for his lack of interest and his indifference in my life, when he never showed up for games or commitments he had made, I was suffering. Jesus met me during that suffering and taught me forgiveness and grace. When I was suffering financially and living in a self-inflicted nightmare around some real estate decisions I had made that had gone terribly wrong, Jesus met me and told me He was using these difficulties to teach me some important lessons. When longtime friends rejected me because of my new belief in Jesus, He said I am with you and I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). His grace was sufficient for me ( 2 Corinthians 12:9 ) and in fact, I have never felt lonely in my life now that I walk with Jesus daily. We all suffer in this broken, sin marred world, but having Jesus’s strength and guidance with you can help you get through any pain. We will suffer from time to time in our relationships, our marriages, our careers, with finances, with health issues, with unexpected losses or tragedies. Does anyone like suffering? Not unless you are insane. But there can be beauty in the suffering because that is often where we experience the beauty of deep, personal encounters with Jesus. Those encounters strengthen our faith and leave us reinvigorated. They change us and show us new depths of God’s love and power and that is beautiful in ways that words cannot express. God always wants us to go deeper in our relationship with Him and sometimes suffering is a way to accomplish His purposes. Not because of some sick, twisted purpose but because in our deepest valleys is where we find just how much we can trust His love and His purpose for our life. Psalm 42:7 says “Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” Only when we are in deep, can we really experience the immensity of who God is and how much He loves us. That is the beauty that can arise out of our painful experiences on this side of eternity, and He will use every one of our experiences to mold us into the person He created us to be, as long as we keep saying “yes” to Him, as hard as it may sometimes seem.
Prayer: Father God, help us to always go deeper in our relationship with you, both in our Mountain Top and in our Valley experiences. Beauty comes through all of our experiences as we learn just how great you are and how much we can trust you. You have a divine purpose for our life, and our job is to keep saying “yes” to you even when it is hard.
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