Readings for today: Numbers 36, Deuteronomy 1, Luke 5:29-6:11, Psalms 66, Proverbs 11:24-26
Today’s Psalm speaks deeply to my heart. “Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.” I love God. I love to praise God. I have dedicated my life to God. My life is rich and full and blessed as a result. I can look back on my life and see where God has helped me. Delivered me. Saved me. Strengthened me. I can see where He’s comforted me. Protected me. Healed me. Sustained me. Like the Psalmist I bless my God for these things.
However, the Psalmist goes on. What is he blessing and praising God for? Trial. Struggle. Suffering. “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs; you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water...” Do I praise God in the midst of the storm? Do I bless God when the cares and worries of this world seem overwhelming? Do I give thanks for the suffering? I wish I could say I do. When I reflect on my life there is a lot of pain and heartbreak. I have taken a lot of shots over the years. Suffered many wounds. I live in pain. There is no balm for what I feel. No pill I can take that will make it all go away. My soul aches and there is no cure.
I have asked God, “Why?” Why do I feel this way? Why can I not escape the pain? Why do I have to suffer so? His answer is always the same. “You asked me to break your heart with the things that break my heart. To give you eyes to see the world as I see it. I am answering your prayer. I am giving you my heart and it is a broken one. Broken for the sin and suffering and pain of the world.” So I am learning to give God praise. To bless God, as the Psalmist does, for the trials. “Yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance...Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!” (Psalms 66:8-12, 16-20)
The call to suffering is real, friends, for all who follow Christ. It is a call to self-denial. A call to crucifixion. A call to compassion which literally means “to suffer with.” We suffer as God suffers not for ourselves but for the sake of those we love. Those we live among. Those we encounter in our world. And the promise of the gospel is this...if we suffer with Christ, we will receive His glory. If we join Christ in His death, we will surely be joined to Him in resurrection. If we share in the sufferings of Christ, we will also share in His comfort. So praise Him, friends! Praise Christ! Bless Christ! Honor Christ! He is with you!
Readings for tomorrow: Deuteronomy 2-3, Luke 6:12-38, Psalms 67, Proverbs 11:27