Meekness and Suffering
Dear God, help me to be willing to go without my needs being met, rather than dishonouring your name with my words or deeds.
"Anyone would have gotten flustered trying to find a PIN and then losing the chance at work because someone else was getting in the way," my friend protested.
True. That is the natural and automatic response but I (and all other Christians, I believe) am being called to something supernatural. I'm being called to live not according to what's natural (the "flesh"), but to something higher. It is the natural that I'm trying to kill. I want to rise above the natural, the automatic, the thing that "anyone" would do.
What is suffering? Most people think of it in big terms. Martyrs suffer. People tortured for their faith suffer and we say to ourselves (or at least I have), "If I was in that situation, I too would be willing to suffer." But if I dishonour God by snapping at my husband because I feel crowded, if I can't handle and accept even the inconvenience or suffering of that, how in the world could I accept bigger suffering? I couldn't. I'd cave. My own comfort would come first.
I suppose, loosely defined (this is something I will probably be processing for a very long time), I suffer whenever I don't get what I want. I don't like suffering and so I do whatever I can to avoid it and when I CAN'T avoid it, I react in anger. Even the avoiding can be sinful.
For example, I don't want my church to fold. I'm hurting because of that possibility and so I want comfort. One means I use to comfort myself is with eating. Am I willing to suffer and do without what I want and choose to honour God instead? In this case, suffering might be remaining comfortless because to eat in the ways that would comfort me would break a vow I have made. Suffering would also include feeling very hungry because I'm doing without that food (even though, physiologically, my hunger might be sated from proper eating).
I suffer when my husband does something that really annoys me and, instead of telling him, even nicely, I choose to keep quiet and take the matter to God. Not that telling him is wrong at all times. Communication is important. But God has been telling me to keep quiet about some of these things so, despite my natural disposition to correct or inform him, I say nothing.
I'm reminded of one translation of 1 Corinthians 13. Love suffers long. I haven't. I am now learning how. And each day in my prayer room, I hold a crown of thorns I have and ask God to help me embrace suffering, to make me willing to share in the fellowship of HIS suffering. If I am faithful in small sufferings, I will be faithful in large ones.
Charles Stanley writes, "Amid your trouble, do you wait on the Lord, or do you quickly act to alleviate the pressure?" This is something God has been teaching me over the past few years. My counsellor used to tell me I needed to groan. Sit in the pain. Suffer, rather than trying to alleviate the discomfort.
"[Waiting] is not standing idly by; rather, it is a pro-active choice to wait in expectation...." I did a bit of a study the other day on Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth." I've never quite understood the term meek. Here's what I found:
"Meekness is therefore an active and deliberate acceptance of undesirable circumstances that are wisely seen by the individual as only part of a larger picture. ... The patient and hopeful endurance of undesirable circumstances identifies the person as externally vulnerable and weak but inwardly resilient and strong. Meekness does not identify the weak but more precisely the strong who have been placed in a position of weakness where they persevere without giving up." [Baker's Evangelical Dictionary]
"The meek are those who quietly submit themselves to God, to his word and to his rod, who follow his directions, and comply with his designs, and are gentle towards all men (Tit. 3:2); who can bear provocation without being inflamed by it; are either silent, or return a soft answer; and who can show their displeasure when there is occasion for it, without being transported into any indecencies; who can be cool when others are hot; and in their patience keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of any thing else. They are the meek, who are rarely and hardly provoked, but quickly and easily pacified; and who would rather forgive twenty injuries than revenge one, having the rule of their own spirits." [Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible]
I want to be meek.
"Anyone would have gotten flustered trying to find a PIN and then losing the chance at work because someone else was getting in the way," my friend protested.
True. That is the natural and automatic response but I (and all other Christians, I believe) am being called to something supernatural. I'm being called to live not according to what's natural (the "flesh"), but to something higher. It is the natural that I'm trying to kill. I want to rise above the natural, the automatic, the thing that "anyone" would do.
What is suffering? Most people think of it in big terms. Martyrs suffer. People tortured for their faith suffer and we say to ourselves (or at least I have), "If I was in that situation, I too would be willing to suffer." But if I dishonour God by snapping at my husband because I feel crowded, if I can't handle and accept even the inconvenience or suffering of that, how in the world could I accept bigger suffering? I couldn't. I'd cave. My own comfort would come first.
I suppose, loosely defined (this is something I will probably be processing for a very long time), I suffer whenever I don't get what I want. I don't like suffering and so I do whatever I can to avoid it and when I CAN'T avoid it, I react in anger. Even the avoiding can be sinful.
For example, I don't want my church to fold. I'm hurting because of that possibility and so I want comfort. One means I use to comfort myself is with eating. Am I willing to suffer and do without what I want and choose to honour God instead? In this case, suffering might be remaining comfortless because to eat in the ways that would comfort me would break a vow I have made. Suffering would also include feeling very hungry because I'm doing without that food (even though, physiologically, my hunger might be sated from proper eating).
I suffer when my husband does something that really annoys me and, instead of telling him, even nicely, I choose to keep quiet and take the matter to God. Not that telling him is wrong at all times. Communication is important. But God has been telling me to keep quiet about some of these things so, despite my natural disposition to correct or inform him, I say nothing.
I'm reminded of one translation of 1 Corinthians 13. Love suffers long. I haven't. I am now learning how. And each day in my prayer room, I hold a crown of thorns I have and ask God to help me embrace suffering, to make me willing to share in the fellowship of HIS suffering. If I am faithful in small sufferings, I will be faithful in large ones.
Charles Stanley writes, "Amid your trouble, do you wait on the Lord, or do you quickly act to alleviate the pressure?" This is something God has been teaching me over the past few years. My counsellor used to tell me I needed to groan. Sit in the pain. Suffer, rather than trying to alleviate the discomfort.
"[Waiting] is not standing idly by; rather, it is a pro-active choice to wait in expectation...." I did a bit of a study the other day on Matthew 5:5, "Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth." I've never quite understood the term meek. Here's what I found:
"Meekness is therefore an active and deliberate acceptance of undesirable circumstances that are wisely seen by the individual as only part of a larger picture. ... The patient and hopeful endurance of undesirable circumstances identifies the person as externally vulnerable and weak but inwardly resilient and strong. Meekness does not identify the weak but more precisely the strong who have been placed in a position of weakness where they persevere without giving up." [Baker's Evangelical Dictionary]
"The meek are those who quietly submit themselves to God, to his word and to his rod, who follow his directions, and comply with his designs, and are gentle towards all men (Tit. 3:2); who can bear provocation without being inflamed by it; are either silent, or return a soft answer; and who can show their displeasure when there is occasion for it, without being transported into any indecencies; who can be cool when others are hot; and in their patience keep possession of their own souls, when they can scarcely keep possession of any thing else. They are the meek, who are rarely and hardly provoked, but quickly and easily pacified; and who would rather forgive twenty injuries than revenge one, having the rule of their own spirits." [Matthew Henry Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible]
I want to be meek.
posted by Magdaleine at 8:16 PM
4 Comments:
I think that suffering can happen on several fronts. One might be that my "flesh" suffers because it doesn't get it's way. My flesh just isn't comfortable.
Another kind of suffering is when I make choices that come from convictions I hold. We chose to homeschool our children and there have been some pretty substantial events of suffering because of it. Careers weren't pursued or at the least held off longer than maybe could have been. We didn't have the financial garnering that might have been, but the "suffering" was worth the results for our home.
"Suffering for righteousness sake" is something I'm not sure if Western Christianity has experienced. I know that I haven't.
Probably my least favorite kind of suffering is that which is born of the fruit from choices. Sometimes I must endure the reaping of my own sowing. It feels like suffering. Sometimes I must endure the reaping of others' choices. It feels like suffering as well.
Above all though, I think that the key for me is peace. The peace of God for me bouys me through any kind of suffering. I feel the pain, but I feel the Father's heart as I walk in peace. The place of peace makes suffering more bearable.
Yadah, I guess I was lumping all suffering, regardless of the cause, into one. My respond to the suffering, whether it is because I don't get my own way, because I've made godly choices that result in pain and hardship, because of righteousness' sake (which I think fit with the previous cause) or because of the fruit of my wrong choices, still boils down to the same thing. What will I do with the suffering?
I've been reading "Extreme Devotion" by Voice of the Martyrs. I admire the Christians who are willing to be flogged, imprisoned for life, tortured or killed for choosing to stay faithful to Jesus. I've read a bit from that book every day for the last year and a quarter and am on my second round. You know, some Christians in persecuted countries AREN'T willing. Some have chosen to denounce Christ, spit on the Bible or say the required words of allegience to something or someone other than Jesus. Why? Because suffering hurts. Because they value their life or painlessness or comfort more than loyalty to their Saviour.
"Extreme Devotion" takes each story in the book (one for each day of the year) and applies the principles from the stories to North American life. It has shaped much of my thought about suffering in the past year though it's a topic that has always interested me. What if my country became a nation that persecuted Christians? What kind of Christian would I be? Would I be one of the ones who would cave in, selling out my Lord to save my comfort or would I stand firm? I would like to say I'd be one of the firm ones but how does one become such a person?
I submit to you that it is by making godly choices in the sufferings I experience now. For instance, as you began to feel the suffering that comes with the homeschooling you chose to do, you could have changed your mind and said the price wasn't worth it. You didn't. When we suffer from wrong choices, we still have the choice to respond in godly ways or not. Do we rail, runaway or "medicate" the painful consequences or do we endure? Regardless of the causes, regardless of the degree, in the end, do we chose to be patient and hopeful through whatever pain and suffering comes our way? Do we quietly submit ourselves to God, to his Word and rod? Do we continue to follow his directions, comply with his designs and remain gentle to all, even those who cause our suffering? Do I?
I agree with much of what you've said. Sometimes suffering as a result of our own sin is the consequences suggested in the sowing and reaping principle. Sometimes God rescues us and we don't have to go through the reaping time. Sometimes if He doesn't . . . we do. I have wondered if I sometimes am "sorrowful" because I don't get my way, rather than "sorrowful" because of my sin. I think that kind of suffering is the one that's not really glorifying to Christ. Then I have to determine if my suffering is because of my sin. Just a thought . . .
Hmmmm. I guess the way I'm thinking is that though I may be sorrowful about my sin, I still reap the painful consequences of what I did wrong. But in the midst of that pain, what do I do? How do I respond? Do I accept that pain, that suffering, or do I run away from it? Do I choose to honour God through the suffering of consequences or do I choose to multiply my initial sin by trying to escape the painful consequences? Suffering doesn't always come to us in ways that glorify Christ but surely once that suffering comes, regardless of how it comes, we have the opportunity to bring honour or dishonour to God depending on how we respond to that suffering, that pain. Would you disagree?
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