For or Against You?

"And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me."

Genesis 42:36

After prayer this morning God spoke to me through His Word.  Whilst praying over problems and trials people are facing, there was a temptation to despair.  But immediately I thought better of it, for what is a problem in light of God's goodness and power?  Even if the whole world was against me and the forces of demonic evil unleashed with only me in those satanic sights, God remains good and in control!  Like Paul boldly said from experience after facing death every day, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) The very things Satan would employ to bring us to despair are the very things God can use to bring joy and salvation.

Don't believe me?  Jacob's response to his sons is a perfect demonstration of the reality God uses all things for the ultimate good of those who love Him and are the called according to His purposes.  Jacob had been told and was convinced his beloved son Joseph had died at 17 years old whilst on an errand for his dad.  After a famine overspread the land, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy food.  His sons returned without Simeon who had been arrested because the harsh ruler of Egypt suspected them to be spies.  To prove their innocence the ruler demanded their youngest brother be brought back to Egypt, and only then would Simeon be released.  Jacob was overwhelmed with the situation and felt like everything was against him.  It was a lose-lose situation for a father still grieving the death of Joseph to hear Simeon was in prison and to free him he must part with Benjamin!

What Jacob didn't know was Joseph was not actually dead but was the harsh Egyptian ruler!  Instead of killing Jacob years earlier, his jealous brothers sold Joseph to slave traders who were heading to Egypt.  God miraculously brought Joseph out of prison at the age of 30 and promoted him to second in command in Egypt.  The Spirit of God gave Joseph wisdom to interpret dreams which foretold of a great famine and provided guidance on how to survive the famine.  Jacob wasn't seeing the situation clearly at all.  He accused his sons of bereaving him, but the reality was God sovereignly sent Joseph in Egypt to save countless lives - even the life of Jacob himself and his family.  Joseph acknowledged this before his brothers in Genesis 45:7:  "And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance."  The children Jacob loved dearly would only survive because of the very thing Jacob would have carried grieving to his grave.  Think about this.  The things Jacob believed were against him actually all were God's providence working for him and the salvation of nations.  A day came when they would all be joyfully reunited.

Could it be the very things you lament as being "against you" are working for your own salvation?  Instead of blaming God, accusing others of wrong, or stacking up all which appears to be against us in a pile that reaches to heaven, how much better is it for us to turn our gaze heavenward to our great God who loves us and will indeed work all miraculously for good? (Romans 8:28) The world may indeed be against you, but isn't God greater than the world?  Though Christ we can conquer even that which kills us.  Romans 8:35-39 says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶  As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." ³⁷  Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. ³⁸  For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, ³⁹  nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Be Strong and Fear Not

I picked up C.H. Spurgeon's The Sword and the Trowel again, the first volume of a set of seven.  He cited Isaiah 35:4 which reads, "Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you."  On this theme he wrote:

"Oh how precious is the Word of God!  For it contains a cordial for every sickness, a balm for every wound, and here at the close of the day let me console myself with it.  How often does a fearful heart weaken and vex the people of God!  How well it is that the Holy Spirit has given this word to cheer them in their distresses!  Sometimes GREAT TROUBLES cause the heir of heaven to be much cast down.  But why is it so?  Are not our fears groundless?  Do not our troubles work our lasting good? Why need we fear the issue when it is in Jehovah's hands?  Our fears grieve us more than our afflictions.  Our greatest pains spring from our unbelief, not from our trials, for if we had more faith our trials could not makes us afraid...GREAT DUTIES also have a tendency to alarm our poor timorous flesh and blood, but let us remember that the work is the Lord's, we do not go a warfare at our own charges.  Our Master will never set us upon a work which is too hard for us.  When we have his command we are sure to have his assistance.  BE STRONG, FEAR NOT." (Spurgeon, C. H. C.H. Spurgeon's Works as Published in His Monthly Magazine The Sword and The Trowel. Vol. 1. Pasadena, TX: Pilgrim Publications, 1975. 244. Print.)

We need not take vengeance, for our God will come with vengeance.  He has provided us everything which pertains to life and godliness.  Not one thing He commands us can we do by our own strength, yet all things God commands us we are enabled to do through faith in Him.  The picture of the man going to war is a good one, for no soldier supplies his own tanks, food, transport, and battle plan.  Pilots in the Air Force do not supply or repair their own planes, nor do they buy the missiles loaded upon them or what is a strategic target!  Sailors in the Navy do not purchase the aircraft carrier they are stationed on or tend livestock for food when deployed.  Their training, gear, supplies, and orders come from others.  At the same time a soldier, airman, or sailor is required to apply himself in fitness, training, and skill development.  For armed forces to be effective in following orders they must be equipped, and God has done more than this for us.  As we labour to do His work, He will supply all our needs.

Let us be strong, and fear not!  Spurgeon is right:  if we had more faith in God "our trials could not make us afraid."  The old song laments, "O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer."  When God tells us in His Word to "be strong in the LORD and in the power of His might" (Eph. 6:10) through the Holy Spirit we can be strong.  It is acknowledging our weakness and trusting in God that we discover strength which transcends our own.  Praise the LORD:  the things which are impossible with men are possible with God!

Suffering and God's Will

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; ¹³  but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."

1 Peter 4:12-13

It is Jesus Christ who brings meaning and eternal value out of suffering.  In every way He was tempted as us, but He has suffered far more than any other man.  One cannot say in every way we suffer He has suffered because His suffering is exponentially greater.  As omniscient God whose wisdom is infinite, one can only imagine the depth of Christ's sufferings as Ecclesiastes 1:18 explains, "For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow."  Because Jesus is for us Wisdom, we can identify with Him in all our suffering for His sake; through faith we can rejoice with exceeding joy even in the fiery trial.

Everyone on this planet will suffer, and sometimes as a result of our own sin.  Peter exhorted followers of Christ in 1 Peter 4:15-16, "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. ¹⁶  Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter."  As a follower of Christ we have fellowship with Him through suffering.  Jesus opened His arms to people who rejected Him, and we can open our arms to people who refuse us.  We can be hated for loving others according to the example Jesus has provided for us.  The fact we do the right thing before God and suffer aligns us with the experience of Jesus during His earthly pilgrimage.  For this reason we are to glorify God, realising He is the One who will help, comfort, and empower us to persevere.

For me, 1 Peter 4:19 is the clincher:  "Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator."  Sometimes we question the fiery trial we feel thrown into, but it is supremely comforting to know when we suffer for Christ's sake we "suffer according to the will of God."  Jesus only did the will of the Father and was a "man of sorrows, acquainted with grief."  The divine paradox is He is also the source of fullness of joy which surpasses knowledge!  It is this knowledge which aids us to commit our souls to God in righteous conduct despite pain or opposition, knowing our God is faithful.  He will not forsake us, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus.

Everyone suffers, but for the Christian suffering is redemptive and brings transformation.  Suffering by itself leads to despair, but suffering according to God's will enables us to rejoice in our Saviour.  As real as your suffering is today for Christ's sake, your rejoicing will be infinitely more intense, continual, and eternal when Christ's glory is revealed.  How good is that?

Both To Will and To Do

"Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³  for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."

Philippians 2:12-13

I love these verses because they hold forth man's responsibility before God and God's sufficiency to accomplish all.  Followers of Jesus Christ are not saved by good works but we have been saved for them (Eph. 2:10).  We cannot rightly adopt a passive and careless view of our choices or conduct, assuming God will accomplish His will in our lives without our cooperation.  The work of God is not performed through mustering the strength of our flesh, but through faith and obedience to the Holy Spirit who works in us "both to will and to do for His good pleasure."  Our desire to obey God and the ability to do things which please God both arise from Him alone.

To "will" and to "do" are two distinct things.  We may desire to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, but completing the ascent is another matter altogether.  There are also things in life we do because we must, and we can approach and complete tasks devoid of all desire or affection.  A job can become a drudgery, a duty we actually despise.  Yet when it comes to pleasing God through good works, God works in us both to will and to do.  He brings these things together beautifully and makes pleasing our Maker possible and brings satisfaction to our souls.

On my son's cricket team, in batting it is a rare commodity to possess both the will and the ability to bat.  Virtually none of the boys are interested to open against the best bowlers.  Many forced into the role showed they were not able to score runs before losing their wicket!  But occasionally there will be a lad who has the will to be in and the ability to stay in.  When they succeed in a run chase or finish the day "not out," they are all smiles as they walk triumphantly off the pitch.  They had both the will and the ability to endure and succeed.  They are happy with their accomplishment, and I imagine their teammates and parents are glad too.  All men find satisfaction in a job well done, and those who hear "Well done!" from their heavenly Father are infinitely glad as well.

Praise the LORD when we work out our own salvation He works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.  That God would partner with men for His glory!