Suffering and Rejoicing...

Hey ya'll! (I have a lot of southern roommates).

It's been awhile, but I promise to be better about posting myself as I'm adjusting to my new schedule. At any rate, I've really felt my world being rocked lately and God's been teaching me a lot, and this morning has been incredible already.

I guess I've always had a skewed perception on what it means to suffer and how we all go through it and how we are intended to handle it. Numerous times in the Bible we find that it says that we are to rejoice amidst our suffering. And to be completely honest, I never feel as though thats possible. Or if I "rejoice" its usually fairly sarcastic and forced and never really the feeling that I'm really experiencing.

Not only that, but often times if I find that I'm not rejoicing in a time of suffering then I find myself feeling horribly guilty, as though because I feel unable to be joyful and happy and bask in God's grace that I am failing as a Christian. So the natural response, for me at least, is that I suppress the feelings that come with suffering, I ignore the grief, fight off the weeping, and convince myself and everyone else that I'm fine because God is good and that I am feeling joyful in his presence and through the circumstances I find myself in.

But that is not at all what is meant by rejoicing through your suffering.

I think I first was mistaken by believing that rejoicing was on some level just an emotion or a feeling or an action. It is far beyond any of that. If rejoicing were just one of these then it wouldn't match up with what we've been taught about it by the word. Philippians says we are to rejoice always. It is impossible to maintain an emotion always, especially one such as joy. Things happen to us all, terrible things happen, and if they don't happen to you, look around at the world for five minutes and see the pain and destitution there and try to be joyful.

Look at Job, he suffered immensely (understatement) but there are three words that blow your mind as you look at the response in the Bible to his reactions upon learning about everything that happened to him: he sinned not. Job just learns that everything he has has been taken away from him by all accounts freak circumstances, and his response is to rip his clothes, shave his head and fall to the ground, and I can only imagine that the state of his heart was so hurt and that he was weeping uncontrollably and feeling the sorrow that comes with loss, but through all this "he sinned not" (Job 1:21).

Even with all those emotions, Job did not sin in them. Instead he was able to treasure and hold firmly onto God's presence within his own life. True rejoicing extends beyond circumstances and emotions to a core, firm resolve in treasuring our Father. Even Christ wept at the sight of the world around him, an he was perfect, he didn't sin.

Lastly, the sermon I heard this morning was on Habakkuk 3: 1-19, and I'll try to do it justice briefly. Habakkuk for 15 verses recounts the Exodus and the sufferings of his people and there seems to be no resolve to all of it until 16-19. In 16 he shows the fear he is physically experiencing and the effects of the sufferings on his body, but the closes is by showing that there is something that can keep him firmly fixed and trusting. And in 18 and 19 he shows us what that is: God.

I think 19 is just so cool. "He makes my feet like a deer, He enables me to go on the (literally- my) heights." The example used in the sermon was of a mountain goat, who can walk with ease amongst the roughest terrain on a mountain top where one small misstep results in going down. And though the ground is more and more perilous the higher up the mountain, if you can walk on it, it is also safer from predators and the like. So the mountain goat, who's feet and grip on the rock has been made firm is safe.

When suffering comes into our lives, we can't stay in the same spot on the mountain. We either fall, or climb higher. And by climbing higher we are trusting in the Lord's ability to stabilize our feet so that we may endure the rougher terrain. And though our legs may be shaking and hearts throbbing in pain, we maintain our firm hold on the path because of Him.

Therefore, with assurance, we can feel sorrow and pain, weep and scream, and be real without ceasing to rejoice by treasuring our Father's presence.

For me, this is now providing a peace that is the result of true rejoicing. I can allow myself to feel hurt and sorrowful and weep if I need to without feeling guilty for not being the ever joyful Christian. And I can strive to climb higher up the mountain by being humbled and impassioned by the pain in my own life and in the world.

And if you haven't listened to it recently, or even if you have, listen again to How Deep the Father's Love for Us, it seems to bring everything full circle for this.

You guys rock,
Sean