Monday, May 12, 2014

Crisis Moments

Failure. Disappointment. Loss. Suffering.

The trials of life always seem to bring us to a crisis. For some, it's a time of drawing nearer to the Savior, a deepening of the relationship, a strengthening of the soul. For others, it's a time of turning away, of anger, of denial. Why the difference?

Blinded by self-love some "lose" their understanding of the cross. That God the Father would send His Son willingly and purposefully to die for wretched sinners is indisputable proof that God is love. That God the Son would willingly leave Heaven's glory and willingly offer Himself up on the cross for our sins is indisputable proof that God is love. That God the Spirit would woo totally unworthy, helpless sinners to believing faith in the love of the Father and the sacrifice of the Son is undeniable proof that God is love. And yet, when suffering comes,some convince themselves that the immutable God has suddenly changed and no longer loves them or certainly doesn't love them as much as He is obligated to do. Love you more than the cross? God is love. It is not that He sometimes loves and sometimes doesn't. He always acts in love.Nothing that comes into our lives has not first passed the test of His love for us. Ask all the great men of faith: Job, Abraham, Joseph, the prophets, John the Baptist, Paul, the other Apostles. Suffering is not proof that God doesn't love us, but that He does. And can our suffering compare to His? The physical agony of the torture of the Crucifixion? The emotional trauma of weeping over His beloved Jerusalem, the agonizing prayer in the garden, the betrayal, the desertion by His closest friends, the people of the "apple of His eye" so quickly turning from shouts of "Hosanna" to vicious shouts of "Crucify Him"? And the unfathomable spiritual suffering of "My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?" Every bit of that suffering was because He loved you. How can anything that comes into our lives cause us to doubt that God is love? The only answer can be that we have no sense of our own sin, of our own depravity--and in light of who we are, His great love.
And sometimes, I believe, that we falter because we are unprepared. No one who is not saturating himself in the Word of God is ready for the inevitable storms of life. To not daily put on the whole armor of God is to go into the daily battle prepared to fail, conditioned to doubt the Captain's wisdom. What soldier can endure hardship if he is not fully arrayed in the Spirit's power and trained in the effective wielding of the Sword. Shieldless, he is helpless against the arrows of the Accuser. Swordless, he is incapable of resisting the onslaught of the Enemy. And then to blame the Captain, to doubt His wisdom.
Struggling with suffering in your life? Plead with the Spirit to renew a right spirit within you. Plead with the Spirit to open your eyes and to refocus your spiritual sight on your first love--the wondrous cross where your loving Savior offered Himself up for you. Died in your place. "O, what love that He should die for you!"
Struggling with suffering in your life? Are you going into battle without your armor, without the might and power of the Spirit to enable you to stand victorious in the fiercest heat of the spiritual warfare? Saturate yourself in the Word. Each day; because it's a daily battle.

"Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me; help me walk from day to day, with its shadow o'er me. Near the cross! Near the cross!"

"Conquering now and still to conquer, rideth a King in His might, leading the host of all the faithful into the midst of the fight; see them with courage advancing, clad in their brilliant array, shouting the name of their Leader, hear them exultingly say: 'Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race, yet to the true and the faithful victory is promised through grace.' "

"Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil . . . having done everything to stand firm."

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