“In Everything?” ( 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

Sculpture – head of Jesus Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Rejoice always! Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

God tells us to “give thanks in everything.” Sometimes this seems impossible! But note : God doesn’t say give thanks for everything; instead He commands us to be grateful in everything! You may not rejoice that you are unemployed or unhealthy, but you can give thanks while you are without a job or in poor health. Your attitude makes the difference between defeat and victory in Christ!

The main idea is that God wills you to rejoice always in Christ, who is your ultimate circumstance! As you live in Him, gratitude naturally flows from your heart. Be victorious because He is your victory!

“God Proves Me As I Pass Through Fire” ( Job 23:10-11, WYC ) by Carley Evans

I don’t think Job says it much differently than “God proves me as I pass through fire” as I indicate via the title of this little note. Job must feel as if the fires of hell are descending upon him as his children, his servants, his animals die, and as his own body is attacked. Yet, he denies sin. He cries out:

¹⁰ But [God] knoweth my way, and he shall prove me as gold (and he shall assay me like gold), that passeth through the fire.

¹¹ My foot followed his steps; I kept (to) his way, and I bowed not away from it.

Job claims to follow God’s steps, to keep to His way, and to not stray from the truth. His friends protest, saying that can’t possibly be true; but God scolds them.

Job continues to maintain his innocence until God confronts with this: “Who are you to question Me?” God says to Job, “Brace yourself like a man; I question you, and you will answer Me.” (Job 38:3, NIV)

“Because They Suffer” ( Luke 13: 2, ESV ) by Carley Evans

Jesus warns that those who suffer are not worse sinners than others. He uses the example of eighteen who are killed when the tower in Siloam falls on them. He says these are not “worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem.” (Luke 13:4) Then Jesus twice tells us that “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:3,5)

Sin is sin, says Jesus. We all alike are sheep gone astray, and unless we repent and rely upon the sacrifice of Jesus, we die in our sin.

A woman is caught in adultery, and the Pharisees bring her to Jesus for judgment. The Pharisees challenge the Lord to follow the Law of Moses, which calls for the woman to be stoned to death. They rhetorically ask,”So what do You say?” (John 8:5) Jesus writes in the dirt. When He stands, He says to the Pharisees, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7) He writes in the dirt again. One by one, the Pharisees walk away, “beginning with the older ones” until Jesus and the woman are alone. (John 8:9) Jesus stands up, looks at the woman and asks her where her accusers have gone. He wants to know if anyone is left to accuse her. And she says, “No one, Lord.” (John 8:11)

Jesus tells her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.” (John 8:11)

Repent, or perish; sin is sin; all alike are gone astray. And, Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you.” I can hear Him say, “Why would I condemn you? I came here to earth to save you, not to judge you. My blood covers your sin. You suffer, but not any more than anyone else. Come; turn and follow Me.”

“Proclaim God’s Righteousness, His Alone” ( Psalm 71: 20, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

“God, who is like You? You cause me to experience many troubles and misfortunes, but You revive me again. You bring me up again, even from the depths of the earth. You increase my honor and comfort me once again.” (Psalm 71:19-21)

I “endure suffering as discipline. God is dealing with [me] as [a] son. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? But if [I am] without discipline — which all receive — then [I am} an illegitimate child and not a son." (Hebrews 12:7-8)

But,"You redeem me." (Psalm 71:23) Therefore, "my mouth tells about Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot sum them up. I come because of the mighty acts of the Lord God; I proclaim Your righteousness, Yours alone." (Psalm 71:15-16)

I "strengthen [my] tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for [my] feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.” (Hebrews 12:12-13)

“My lips shout for joy when I sing praise to [God] because [He] redeems me.” (Psalm 71:23)

“On The Tablet Of The Heart” ( Jeremiah 17: 1, NEB ) by Carley Evans

“The sin of Judah is recorded with an iron tool, engraved on the tablet of their heart with a point of adamant and carved on the horns of their altars to bear witness against them.” The witness is: “the heart is the most deceitful of all things, desperately sick; who can fathom it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

“In enmity [God] strung His bow; He took His stand like an adversary and with His strong arm He slew all those who had been His delight; He poured His fury out like fire on the tent of the daughter of Zion. The Lord played the enemy’s part and overwhelmed Israel.” (Lamentations 2:4-5)

“Arise and cry aloud in the night; at the beginning of every watch pour out your heart like water in the Lord’s very presence. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children. Look, Lord, and see: who is it that You have thus tormented?” (Lamentations 2:19-20)

Jesus says: “I Am the man who has known affliction, I have felt the rod of His wrath. It was I whom He led away and left to walk in darkness, where no light is. Against Me alone He has turned His hand, and so it is all day long.” (Lamentations 3:1-3) “I have become a laughing-stock to all nations; the target of their mocking songs all day.” (Lamentations 3:14) “Remember, O remember, and stoop down to Me. All this I take to heart and therefore I will wait patiently: the Lord’s true love is surely not spent, nor has His compassion failed; they are new every morning, so great is His constancy. The Lord, I say, is all that I have; therefore I will wait for Him patiently. The Lord is good to those who look for Him, to all who seek Him; it is good to wait in patience and sigh for deliverance by the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:20-26)

God’s people cry: “O Lord, turn us back to Yourself, and we will come back; renew our days as in times long past. For if You have utterly rejected us, then great indeed has been Your anger against us.” (Lamentations 5:21-22)

“Although they broke My covenant, I was patient with them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant I will make with Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will set My law within them and write it on their hearts; I will become their God and they shall become My people.” (Jeremiah 31:32-33) “For I will forgive their wrongdoing and remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34)

“For The Joy Set Before Him” ( Hebrews 12: 2, HCSB ) by Carley Evans

Jesus endures a cross and despises the shame associated with death on a tree “for the joy that lays before Him.” What is that joy set before Him? Yes, the joy is retaking His place “at the right hand of God’s throne.” But the other joy — the crucial joy — is becoming “the source and perfecter of our faith.” Jesus “endures such hostility from sinners against Himself” in order to save us from sin and from the wage of sin, that is — death. (Hebrews 12:3)

Because Jesus endures such pain and hostility in order to experience the joy of saving His people, we must “keep our eyes on Jesus” and “run with endurance the race that lies before us.” (Hebrews 12:2,1) As He keeps the joy in sight while He suffers on a cross, so we must keep the joy of being in Him in sight as we endure the troubles associated with life on earth. “In struggling against sin, [we] have not yet resisted to the point of shedding [our] blood” — that is true of many, if not most of us. (Hebrews 12:4)

“Just one thing: [we ought to] live [our] lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, working side by side for the faith that comes from the gospel, not being frightened in any way… For it has been given to [us] on Christ’s behalf not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for Him.” (Philippians 1:27, 28, 29)

He is the source of our faith; and He perfects it. Amen.

“In God’s Hand” ( Job 12: 10, NEB ) by Carley Evans

Job argues, “In God’s hand are the souls of all that live, the spirits of all human kind. Wisdom and might are His, with Him are firmness and understanding. If He pulls down, there is no rebuilding; if He imprisons, there is no release.” (Job 12:10-14) “Deceived and deceiver are His to use.” (Job 12:16) “Will you quibble with Him as you quibble with a man?” (Job 13:9)

 

Job warns his friends that God “is not a man as I am, that I can answer Him or that we can confront one another in court. If only there were one to arbitrate between us and impose his authority on us both, so that God might take His rod from my back, and terror of Him might not come on me suddenly. I would then speak without fear of Him; for I know I am not what I am thought to be.” (Job 9:32-35)

 

Job laments that “man born of woman is short-lived and full of disquiet. He blossoms like a flower and then he withers; he slips away like a shadow and does not stay; he is like a wine-skin that perishes or a garment that moths have eaten.” (Job 14:1-2)

 

Job pleads, “I tell you, God Himself has put me in the wrong, He has drawn the net round me. He has walled in my path so that I cannot break away, and He has hedged in the road before me.” (Job 19:6,8) “Pity me, pity me, you that are my friends; for the hand of God has touched me. Why do you pursue me as God pursues me? Have you not had your teeth in me long enough?” (Job 19:21-22)

 

That Job is in deep despair is evident; he knows he is essentially innocent of wrongdoing and yet has lost all  for no good reason he can fathom. He only knows God has set him as His target. He is weary of the disloyalty of his friends; and longs not to have been born. Nevertheless, Job hopes for “one to arbitrate between” himself and God; someone who can “impose His authority on us both, so that God might take His rod from my back.”

 

Job says, God “decides, and who can turn Him from His purpose? He does what He determines, that He carries out; His mind is full of plans like these. Therefore I am fearful of meeting Him; when I think about Him, I am afraid; it is God who makes me faint-hearted and the Almighty who fills me with fear.” (Job 23:13-16)

 

Yet, Job maintains his innocence. He says to his friends,”God forbid that I should allow you to be right; till death I will not abandon my claim to innocence. I will maintain the rightness of my cause, I will never give up; so long as I live, I will not change.” (Job 27:5-6)

 

Then, surprisingly, God Himself speaks to Job. God asks, “Is it for a man who disputes with the Almighty to be stubborn? Should he that argues with God answer back? (Job 40:2) “Dare you deny that I Am just or put Me in the wrong that you may be right?” (Job 40:8)

 

Job finally understands. He answers God, “I know that Thou canst do all things and that no purpose is beyond Thee. But I spoke of great things which I do not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. I knew of Thee then only by report, but now I see Thee with my own eyes. Therefore I melt away; I repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2-6)

“Joy In Hope, Patience In Affliction” ( Psalm 27: 14, NEB ) by Carley Evans

“Wait for the Lord; be strong, take courage, and wait for the Lord.”

I can’t think of more comforting and yet challenging words than these. We are reminded that God acts; He is not idle. But the call to wait for the Lord, to be strong and take courage also implies that something difficult, even painful has entered our lives. We are staggering; we are fainting from woe. We can barely eat; we do not know the comfort of sleep. We each cry out, “I am wearied with groaning; all night long my pillow is wet with tears, I soak my bed with weeping. Grief dims my eyes; they are worn out with all my woes.” (Psalm 6: 6-7)

The comfort is that “though [our] fathers and [our] mothers forsake [us], the Lord takes [us] into His care.” (Psalm 27:10) In the Lord, “[we] find refuge.” (Psalm 7: 1) Yet, often we are left feeling abandoned, crying out: “When my prayer comes back unanswered, I walk with head bowed in grief as if for a brother; as one in sorrow for his mother I lay prostrate in mourning… O Lord, how long wilt Thou look on at those who hate me for no reason?” (Psalm 35: 13-14, 17)

We must remain “joyful in hope, patient in affliction” writes Paul. (Romans 12:12, NIV) This joyful hope as we wrestle with pain and a feeling of unanswered prayer is the essence of our faith, our belief in the essential goodness of our God. Without this faith, we are unable to “be strong” or to “take courage.” Without this faith in God’s perfection, we do not “wait for the Lord.”

Know that God is good, that He loves us beyond measure, beyond comprehension. Like the psalmist, we each must say: “But for my part I trust in Thy true love. My heart rejoices, for Thou hast set me free. I sing to the Lord, who grants all my desire.” (Psalm 13:5-6)

“Salt And Light” ( Matthew 5: 11 – 12, NEB ) by Carley Evans

“How blest you are, when you suffer insults and persecution and every kind of calumny for My sake. Accept it with gladness and exultation, for you have a rich reward in heaven; in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.”

 

Jesus isn’t saying that we should provoke unbelievers into persecuting us. We are not to seek “every kind of calumny” but to “accept it with gladness and exultation” when it comes our way, as it is bound to now and again. Most of the time the insults prove to be remarks against our God and Savior not against us. Unbelievers usually think Christians are stupid, naive, or at our worst — narrow minded.

 

More likely Jesus is saying that a natural outcome of being a Christian is insult and persecution because: we are salt; salt stings the wounds. We are light; light exposes the dark. No one enjoys pain; no one who remains in sin wants to come into the light and be exposed. Therefore, a natural consequence of living for Christ is suffering abuse from those who do not believe. Accept it, but don’t deliberately seek it. Jesus says that is unnecessary for “in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.”

 

Suffering for Christ is most evident in countries like China, where Christians are actively abused. These Christians “have a rich reward in heaven.” Those of us who will never suffer this kind of “calumny” must pray for those Christians who do. We must remember that they are blessed beyond our understanding. They are truly salt and light.

“No Other Defense” (Job 19: 25, NEB) by Carley Evans

In the distress of being utterly abandoned by his friends and family, Job cries out in great hope and faith, “But in my heart I know that my vindicator lives and that He will rise last to speak in court; and I shall discern my witness standing at my side and see my defending counsel, even God Himself, whom I shall see with my own eyes, I myself and no other.” (Job 19: 25 – 27)

The last person to speak on Judgment Day — on that day — is Christ, our Redeemer and “Defending Counsel, even God Himself.” Jesus is our one and only witness and defender. He witnesses to our faith and defends against our weakness. No other is necessary.