Expectations

I am talking like a madman – I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. 

2 Corinthians 11:23

Is it possible that God allows us to endure darkness, pain, suffering and challenging times so that we might grow in faith and so that others might see God’s light shine through us?  Is it possible to experience joy during the challenging times? Through God’s holy word we see the answers are yes, yes and yes.

When other people see you continuing to worship, praise and thank God during your times of darkness, they see your faith, they see tangible evidence of your solid foundation built on God, they see His light, peace, comfort and rest flowing through you, and many of them will seek God because of that experience.  Among a myriad of other reasons, Paul describes his suffering so that we might change our theology relating to suffering to see it, not as punishment for sin, but as a tool for our growth, our witness, and the revelation of God’s glory, to better understand God’s purposes for us through suffering, to help us trust in Him, and so that we might adjust our expectations.

If we build up an upcoming event in our minds in anticipation, we might be disappointed with an otherwise wonderful event.  If we expect life to always be filled with comfort and pleasure, we might be devasted by the difficulties of life that are common to everyone and even more crushed by extraordinary troubles.  However, when we see seasons of struggle as periods during which God is molding us for His glorious purposes, purposes we otherwise could never accomplish, we might experience joy through it all.

I am not suggesting we should deny our pain, hide from it, pretend it is not there, or gloss over it, not at all.  We need to acknowledge it, cry out to God alone and with others, receive help from those God places in our path, pursue God through it, and discover God’s holy presence, comfort, and even joy in uniquely new ways.  And as we lean into God during the dark times, He supports, sustains and empowers us, and some of those who see your pain and response to it will see God’s glory flow through it all.  Others will see God’s holy light through your response to the darkness as God’s light shines through you.

We should each ask ourselves what is my purpose?  Why am I here?  We routinely say, and God’s holy word teaches, that our purpose is to glorify God.  But what does that mean in our personal context?  What do we each expect out of today, tomorrow, this year, my life, and how will we respond when the circumstances of life take us in directions and to places we never anticipated?  Specifically, how will we each respond when God either places us or allows us to be placed in a season of suffering?

I wonder, when Paul started out on his new life serving Christ Jesus, what did he expect?  He had been persecuting Christians and he was traveling to capture more when he met Jesus, so perhaps he expected a life of suffering.  But maybe not.  Whatever his expectations in the beginning, his life of ministry was filled with conflict, pain and suffering, and during and through his affliction he experienced joy. 

Challenges in life often prepare us for something better.  Our daughter-in-law’s recent graduation from nursing school was a joyous occasion.  She was so happy and her classmates were celebrating and it was joyous because they had worked so hard to accomplish a goal that once seemed lightyears away, and after maintaining the discipline of hard work day after day for so long, they crossed the finish line.  We often celebrate after times of struggle, after we conquer the challenge, after victory – the exhilarating combination of accomplishment and relief. 

Paul describes joy resulting from persevering through challenges.  He also describes the continuing nature of challenges he faces, small victories along the way, and experiencing joy during and through his affliction.  His letter to the church in Corinth known as 2 Corinthians is loaded with detailed discussion of affliction, challenges, struggles, and joy.

Paul begins 2 Corinthians discussing his suffering and God’s comfort to those who suffer, and he gives a few reasons why.  Paul writes,

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God….  We do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced in Asia, for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself.  Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death so that we would rely not on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He who rescued us from so deadly a peril will continue to rescue us; on him we have set our hope that he will rescue us again, as you also join in helping us by your prayers, so that many may give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.  2 Corinthians 1:3-4 & 8-11

Paul and his companions suffered such severe affliction they were on the verge of death.  God rescued them, but not until they had experienced the challenges and change they needed.  Paul often uses the words “so that” just before answering our question “why?”  Why does God allow suffering?  He allows it (1) so that we will experience God’s consolation and be able to console others with God’s consolation; (2) so that we rely on God not ourselves; and (3) so that many will pray for us and give thanks for us and be blessed.  God allowed Paul and his friends to suffer, and through their pain their lives were improved.  It was difficult and challenging and painful, but through it all they changed and grew closer to God.  Ultimately God rescued them from the deadly peril, but not until the proper time.

Later in the letter, Paul returns to the topic of affliction.  He describes a variety of different forms of suffering that God allowed him to endure, and he does so by presenting his resume of sorts.  He describes details of his suffering for the Gospel of Christ Jesus, and he presents his suffering as qualification, the reason listeners should trust that his message is truly the Gospel from Christ Jesus.  He writes,

I am talking like a madman – I am a better one: with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death.  Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.  And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?  2 Corinthians 11:23-29

Two paragraphs later Paul describes a special form of suffering God allows him to endure, and through it Paul provides a fourth reason for suffering.  He refers to it as “a thorn.”  God tells Paul he would continue to be tormented by a thorn to help Paul stay humble.  He writes,

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.  Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”  2 Corinthians 12:7-9

Paul suffered horrifically, and he explains that God allowed him to suffer so that 1) Paul would trust God rather than himself, 2) Paul would experience God’s comfort and be able to comfort others in the same way, 3) many would pray for him and God’s glory would be revealed through the entire situation, and 4) Paul would stay humble.  God uses us in our weakness so that everyone will see God’s glory through it.  God employs humble people into His holy service, not the proud.  God uses suffering as a tool to help us grow closer to Him and to reveal His glory through us and our situations.

In his other letters we see that Paul suffered in a variety of other ways also.  As Paul remained imprisoned in Rome, he saw his days dwindling, he knew his end was near, he asked Timothy to bring him his coat, books and parchments.  He longed for basic necessities, like warm clothing and a book.  He writes,

 Do your best to come to me soon, for Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.  Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me in ministry.  I have sent Tychicus to Ephesus.  When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments.  Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will pay him back for his deeds.  You also must beware of him, for he strongly opposed our message.  2 Timothy 4:9-15

Paul continues mentioning that he also suffered the pain of being abandoned by everyone except God.

At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them!  But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.  The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.  2 Timothy 4:16-18

Everyone abandoned Paul in his time of need, but God was with Him.  God gave Paul the strength he needed to continue his mission.  God rescued Paul, but God did not release Paul from prison.  Paul knew he had been rescued, but the rescue may not have taken the form many of us might have expected.

While Paul discusses his affliction in detail and he mentions grieving over his decision to correct his friends in Corinth through an earlier letter, he also drops references to joy across the letter, like breadcrumbs leading him home.  He says that he works for his friends’ joy (see 2 Corinthians 1:24), and he desires that his joy might be their joy (see 2 Corinthians 2:3).  In chapter 7, Paul returns to discuss his earlier controversial letter, and the grief they shared because of it, in more detail.  He writes,

For although I grieved you with my letter, I do not regret it. Although I did regret it (for[ I see that that letter caused you grief, though only briefly), now I rejoice, not because you were grieved but because your grief led to repentance, for you felt a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us.  For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death.  For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter.  So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong nor on account of the one who suffered the wrong but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God.  In this we have found consolation.  2 Corinthians 7:8-13

Paul rejoices because his friends repented.  They stopped, turned and grew closer to God.  Later in the letter he mentions his impoverished friends in Macedonia who possess few material belongings, yet who give joyously and generously to others in need.  Paul writes,

We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia, for during a severe ordeal of affliction their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.  2 Corinthians 8:1-2

We see the concept of joy in a variety of contexts.  We see joy following accomplished goals, repentance, Godly change, growing closer to Him, and we see joy even in the midst of affliction, pain, struggle and the challenges of life.  Paul rejoiced over his friends’ joy even while enduring his thorn and recounting the torture he endured, and his friends in Macedonia rejoiced during their affliction because they were able to give something out of their extreme poverty.

Joy through affliction is as counter intuitive as it is significant because our response to events we encounter is driven by our view of life, our view of our purpose, our vision of future dreams, and our expectations.  May you continue growing in faith.  May you lean into God during your challenging times.  May you know God’s comfort, peace and rest, may Christ Jesus continue to transform you into His holy image, may you allow God to use you in your weakness.  Amen.