Steady On
“Daniel, go on your way until the end. Your body will rest in the grave. Then at the end of the days you will rise from the dead. And you will receive what God has appointed for you.” – Daniel 12:13, NIRV
“When the powers of darkness have done their worst against the kingdom of God, and the truth of God has been set at a final devaluation, God will act.” – Sinclair B. Ferguson
“The assurance that God has a purpose, that He uses the sufferings of His people to fulfill it, is all we need to know in order to trust Him fully.” - Sinclair B. Ferguson
“God does not ask for comprehension, but rather for humility before the mystery- the amazing mystery that God can take even sinful human actions and work things out for good….though prospering in the present, the wicked will get their due, and, though suffering in the present, the godly will get their reward. God will see to it.” – Tremper Longman III
“Do you believe God is Sovereign?” “Yes.” “Do you believe God is loving?” “Yes.” “Then why do bad things happen to people who love and serve God?” Maybe you’ve never had this exact conversation before or maybe it’s only ever been internal. But, it is one of the massive questions of this or any other age. How does suffering fit into the arc of history? How do we explain it? How do we live in it? Is there a way to explain why Daniel, a man who is reassured of his status as beloved and highly valued dies in exile? What of Daniel 12’s prediction that the worst suffering is out ahead of the people of God?
What we begin to realize is that our grasp of current reality is not the only important factor. Even more so, the working of God in history is more often than not, a mystery to us. And, this side of eternity, that is part of the design. In other words, it isn’t a flaw that the people of God suffer. But it’s also not a flaw that we cannot explain or work out all the reasons why.
As I stated in the message this week: “A faith-filled life is one in which we cannot see it all or know it all; that’s it’s design. Our part is to live faithfully in the time God gives us. And, to remind ourselves that the best is yet to come- in the forever that follows earth’s little while. So, let us live faith-filled lives. Let us risk all to follow Jesus in humble obedience. Let us point others to Him, not as an Explainer of all the answers but, as the only One trustworthy of all of life’s questions.”
Part of what I think is important for followers of Jesus is to recalibrate our understanding of what results come as a follower. Often, the Gospel is over simplified into: accept Jesus as your Savior and your life is about to get so much better. And I think I know what, for the most part, the bearer of that gospel is trying to say: there are many benefits to following Jesus- eternal life paramount among them. And, in that sense, they are even understating it. So many good things begin with our surrender to Jesus and our new birth into God’s family. But, NOT EVERYTHING will get ‘better’ in your life as a follower of Jesus. Hard things will still come. Deep pain will still be a part of our lives. Sometimes, even BECAUSE we are following Jesus things will be more difficult. Often, the follower of Jesus looks to the world as if they are losing. But, that only rings true from the worldly perspective. And this is why we must not be given to earth bound evaluations of our lives and circumstances. We must embrace a heavenly perspective and evaluation. If we do not, we will surely injure our faith greatly along the path of life in a broken, evil world. Daniel knew heaven’s perspective and evaluation of him. It didn’t save him from questions or even sadness. It did keep him from giving up when it was hard and not going according to his plan. And so, we too can be helped by a heavenly perspective and evaluation.
Questions for Application:
In the chaos and hardships of life, how will you keep a heavenly perspective and evaluation?
How comfortable are you with mystery? What can you do to reinforce the reality of God having control and God having reasons that our beyond our understanding?