Overstating miseries, overlooking divine possiblities

 

Sometimes we overstate our miseries. That is what Naomi did also.

It is true that he had become a widow, and she lost her sons as well. She is too to old get married again and have a husband or children. She had two words to describe her misery. She says to the townspeople who had come to welcome her back to Bethlehem: “I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?” (Ruth 1:21).

A victim of self-pity, she calls herself empty. However, she is not empty; she had Ruth with her. In addition to her company and care Ruth later fills Naomi’s life with joy, security and happiness. Naomi failed to see that life will flourish again with that young woman who has left her kindred to follow her. In her distress she over stated her misery.

Another word that she used to describe her also shows how she overstated the pain of her life. When the women of her village called her Naomi (which in Hebrew means “sweet” or “pleasant”) she retorted that she is no more sweet but bitter (Hebrew, “mara”). She even changed her name! She is not saying that she is bitter towards anyone, but her life has no joy, it is a bundle of bitter experiences.

She thought that three tragedies has wiped out all joy from her. I can sympathize with her. One small discomfort could suck dry all our happiness. How much more three deaths in a row? She is justified in some sense. But she seems to have ignored the truth that sorrow is not there to stay forever. God being on her side, every mourning will turn into dancing. The psalmist puts it this way: “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psa 30:5, ESV).

However, we have no excuse to whine as Naomi did. Because God has assured us through his apostle that, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV). When there is no one in sight, the invisible God is there. He fills our cup until it overflows, leaves none of us empty and dry.

In times of extreme suffering the promises of God strengthens the believer: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12, ESV).

To overstate our troubles, we need to close our eyes toward the God of possibilities.

(Photo courtesy: First Presbyterian Church, La Grange)

For some it is shame but for others it is fame!

The world is after fame. The greatest goals are to be famous and rich.
There is a way of being known though it may not make you rich. Let me explain.

Paul begins his letter to the Romans with thanksgiving and prayer. He does so in most of his letters. The reason for thanksgiving is that their ‘faith is proclaimed in all the world’ (1:8). Here, 'faith' is not the dogma or the act of believing. Faith here means how one struggles to keep what one has come to believe as true.

We don’t know how the believers in Rome were famous for their faith. It is clear from the latter part of this epistle that Paul knew many of them by name (Rom 16:1-16). We may guess that many of the believers or even the church collectively had to struggle to keep their faith alive in hostile circumstances. Their battles to keep their faith might have become known in all the churches all around the world. Note that Paul later commends them also for their obedience that had become famous all over the world (16:9). In similar ways, the church in Thessalonica was also known around the world among the believers for their faith (1 Thess 1:8).

Being known for the steadfastness of faith is highly commendable. We are familiar with the inspiring stories of the courage of the Christians in persecuted countries. Many of them who followed Jesus to the point of their death or imprisonment are famous—not for their contribution to art, literature or sports like many famous people. But they are known for their integrity and steadfastness of faith. They held on to Jesus and hated their own life. The churches in Rome and Thessalonica and many other places rose to fame through ways that for the world were shameful. Imprisonment, suffering and public execution are shameful by the world's standards. But their faith that made them uphold Christ turns out to be something to be remembered for ever.

Rejoicing always

At least some part of Paul's final exhortations to the church in Thessalonica is quite challenging; especially the one in 1 Thess 5:16-18. 'Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.' Though challenging, we cannot run away from it, because we are bound by it. It is the will of God for us, or what God demands from us.
Is it possible to 'rejoice always'? There are circumstances in life, actually most of the time, which drives us to sadness and sorrow. Everyone goes through disappointments, sorrow, and sadness even though for brief periods. Though the good Lord may spare us for long and deep valleys of depression, rejoicing always includes those brief periods as well. 
Rejoicing always, in spite of long and short spells of sadness is possible only if we take it as the command of God. It is not a suggestion but imperative on us. We are under order to rejoice! We have no choice other than being joyful in spite of all the adverse circumstances. 
Rejoicing always is a major theme of Paul's life. His life was full of tragic and challenging experiences: hardships of life, imprisonments, ailments, opposition. However, he kept his life in Christ upbeat.
Paul penned the advice 'rejoice, rejoice and again I say rejoice' (Phil 4:4). This often-quoted Bible verse was written in prison as most scholars agree. However, we have much more concrete evidence in the Book of Acts (Acts 16:25-33). When Paul and Silas were shut behind the bars in the city of Philippi they did not spend the night planning a jail-break. But they were praying and singing. What kind of songs were they singing? Luke, the writer of Acts is clear that they were not singing a song for deliverance but they were singing hymns to God. Hymns are songs that adore God. In the midst of their suffering, physical and emotional hurt, humiliation and imprisonment they were not thinking of freedom and justice but of the glory of God. 
For a godly man like Paul, rejoicing always came very naturally. Thus he has the right to write that it is the will of God for us to do the same. But from my experience, I can only say that that is still an art that I am yet to master.

Processing pain and suffering.

Growing up on the country-side in a farm, accidents were regular events in my life. Sometimes, it was a thorn that got stuck on my feet when I explored the farm barefoot, or a broken arm when I fell off the branches of a tree that I tried to climb up. The most difficult part of life is the process of healing. Sometimes, my older cousins acted as surgeons who removed the thorn with a needle. Sometimes I had to be rushed to the hospital to put the bones back together and a cast which lasted for weeks. Enduring the pain was part of the healing process. Without endurance, there is no healing and recovery.
Suffering comes with two choices. Either get out of it through the shortest route or endure it until healing. One of my relatives chose the first. She hurt her finger when cutting vegetables. Everyone advised her to go to the doctor but she refused. She knew that the doctor will give her an anti-septic shot, tabs and probably stitch it up. Moreover, the injury did not appear to be big, the pain had stopped as the bleeding stopped as well. However, it got complicated. She had cut a nerve on her finger. For the rest of her life, she was not able to move that finger. If she was willing to endure, life would have been better for her.
The issue in the Book of Hebrews is more than hurting a thorn that stuck on the feet or a finger-nerve that was hurt. But it was life and death issues. It was persecution of the politically weak and socially insignificant minority of Christians somewhere in the Roman empire. Their property was confiscated, many of them were arrested and imprisoned and some were even physically tortured.
The writer of this epistle encourages them to hang on! To endure it and endure it more. The writer said, you are suffering but you are still alive, so go ahead suffering until death! That is what Hebrews 12:4 says: 'In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.'
What is the secret of enduring pain and suffering? The secret of enduring pain and suffering is to process it as the discipline and not as punishment. Though discipline and punishment may sound synonymous in the English language they are not strictly so. Punishment may make us remorseful, guilty and even ashamed of our actions. We can go through the pain of punishment if we accept our part in it. However, there are times when we suffer for reasons that are not of our own. You can call it innocent suffering, or at least the pain for which we have no explanation. How do we process such situations?
This is why imagining pain as the discipline is important. The difference between discipline and punishment is evident. Punishment assumes that a wrong is committed. The goal of punishment could be correction but need not always be so. It is most of the time the natural consequence of the mistake; every wrong act has to be punished either to stop it repeating, or to warn others not to do the same. However, discipline is not punishment.
Discipline has to be understood more as a pedagogical method. It is more close to training a person than punishing a person. Discipline equips a person, sometimes ironically to face worse situations. We learn through discipline. Thus when suffering is considered as preparation for enduring harder realities of life, it becomes easier.
I once met a young man carrying a heavy backpack. He told me that he is carrying some heavy rocks in that backpack! Every day, he adds more stones to make it heavier than the previous day and walks longer carrying it. He was doing some strength training. To develop his own strength he endures more and  more pain.
Discipline becomes a lighter and enjoyable when we know the reason for it. Discipline becomes more enjoyable not only when we know the reason for it but also when we realize who is behind it. The Bible uses an earthly model or us to understanding it. Our earthly parents do disciple us. Though the discipline is painful we still 'respected them' since we knew that the purpose of their action was our good. So, the Bible asks, 'Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits land live?'(Heb 10:9).
God does lead us through pain and suffering out of his fatherly concern for us. What is his fatherly concern for us? Discipline is lighter when we discover the motivation behind it. It is motivated by love. That is what the figure of the father suggests. The father disciplines the children he loves. 'For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Heb 12:6).
Love is not the only reason, but it also has another long-term goal, that is our holiness. God's act of disciplining us, passing us through pain and suffering is to make to purify us, or holiness. Achieving new levels of holiness is almost irreversible act. Through the process of pain of being disciplined we learn new ways of knowing God and his moral standards. Knowing God and him becoming more and more real to us is the greatest achievement in life. Though it is difficult, suffering has greater benefit when we know that God is behind it and we are in God's plan. That realization makes pain and suffering lighter and enjoyable.

Heat is not That Bad!

Summer temperature reached 43.3-degree Celsius (109.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in Pune this summer. Though the average summer temperature doesn't go above 38 degree Celsius, I heard a lot of people complaining about the summer heat. They say the cold weather is better! All that you have to do is to wear many layers of clothes to keep you warm. My friends who have to spend almost six months of the year in below freezing temperature have a different opinion.

Heat is a metaphor in the Bible. It is a metaphor of extreme suffering. The psalmist who underwent extreme suffering describes it as being wax melted by the heat. He complains, 'I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast' (Psalm 22:14 ESV).

Another psalmist uses a similar metaphor to describe his self-inflicted pain. 'For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away throughmy groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer' (Ps 32:3,4 ESV).

Everyone seems to agree that heat is not good. The heat of suffering particularly. It brings anguish and pain. It drains the strength, it drains the sap. However, it has a positive side.

Heat purifies. The goldsmith heats up the precious metals in a crucible until they melt. In the molten stage, the gold separates itself from the impurities. It gains a new shine! Sometimes God raises the heat in our lives so that we may be pure! The gold has no right to know why the impurities are removed by this painful process. Enduring the process is difficult, but the hope of purity and the new shine it is going to have helps with patient enduring.

Though it may look paradoxical, heat reshapes. As a child, I have watched the village blacksmith heating up a piece of iron until it is red-hot and beat it up to a new shape. Then he dips it in water to temper it. Again to the furnace again to make it red-hot. The iron goes through the process repeatedly: heated up, beaten, and tempered in the cold water. Then after a few hours, the blacksmith holds the iron to admire his creation. It is a piece of art now, though the process was painful.

The iron has no right to know what it is going to be. It simply has to trust the creator. It just has to believe that it is going to change the shape, and then there is going to have a new use. Heat brings with it new hope and purpose.

Why Elihu blew a fuse?

Elihu was a patientl listener to the arguments back and forth between Job and his friends. However, it came to a point were he blew his top! ‘Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job's three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong’ (Job 32:2-3).

It is not an acceptable behaviour in ancient societies for young people to speak in the presence of the elders, leave alone criticise them. Elihu had reserved the most disrespectful, caustic comments about the whole thing. The reason for his frustration is not that the debate between Job and his friends has been the poorest show on earth but they proved themselves to be fools, though they were widely accepted wisemen! He burst out, ‘I am young in years, and you are aged; therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you. I said, “Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom”’ (Job 32:6-7).
That is only a rather gentle introduction to sharp criticism of wisdom of aged that is to come. He said, ‘It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right’ (Job 32:9). That statement flies at the face of the values that the ancient world cherished. There was no Google those days to consult. Wisdom was oral, passed on from one generation to another. The older the person, the wiser he would be, because wisdom is accumulated by age. This is what the young man Elihu is dares to deny.
What is important here is that, Elihu is not denying the wisdom of the wisemen or the old. He points out to another source of wisdom which neither Job nor his friends have realized. That is the Spirit of the Almighty God which dwells in human beings. He argues, ‘But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand’ (32:8). Before we take a closer look at Elihu’s statement we need to do see why Elihu blew a fuse!
The secret of Elihu’s outburst is evident in the structure of the book itself. Job has lost everything: his wealth, his children and his health. He has moved from the honourable place he had at the city gate to the trash dump in the city. His friends wise in every way (the three came from the major seats of learning in the ancient world) comes to visit him. They argued only one thing: Job is a sinner and that is the reason for his suffering. Ask God’s forgiveness and he will be fine. That is exactly what Job could not accept. He didn’t hear the conversation between Satan and Yahweh in the heavenly court where Yahweh swore that Job is righteous in every way. But he had the inner conviction that he is not a sinner as his friends tries to argue. There are three rounds of arguments between Job and his friends. They will speak one after another and Job replies to each of them in each round. They used their wisdom and reasoning to convince Job but he kept justifying himself.
The friends were tired. Their arguments became shorter and shorter as they move from one round of arguments to another. The friends speak in the order as Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. However, by the second round Zophar seems to have given up. He has no speech in the third round. By the end of the third round the other two also gave up. The three friends ‘had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.’ (Job 32:3). Now, did Job win the argument? Not at all. Because the rebuttal to his positions comes from God who speaks ‘out of the whirlwind’ in chapter 38. Elihu is only a transitional figure between human wisdom (of the three friends and Job) and divine wisdom. God then unleashes a barrage of questions at Job in his speech. Questions that have no answer. What is God trying to tell him? Its simple: there are hundreds of questions for which human minds have no answer! Suffering of the innocent is just one the myriad of such questions. Keep quiet!
Then finally, God condemned Job’s friends and gives Job the privilege to pray for them. The verdict is out now. The friend who were experts in traditional wisdom are wrong, Job who justified himself is wrong. All of them except Elihu who thought they can find answers to all the mysteries of life are wrong. The friends were wrong because they depended on the wisdom that they gathered over the years. They could not think outside the box of traditional wisdom. Job was wrong, though he is righteous in God’s eyes he had no right to justify himself. It is God who justifies.
Elihu is right! Because he did not depend on the traditional wisdom nor one’s own self-confidence of being right but on God’s wisdom. That wisdom was available to him not from Google or encyclopedias but by the indwelling of God’s Spirit in him. Before he set forth this argument he disclosed that secret when he said: ‘But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand’ (32:8). The Spirit of God that dwells in him makes him restless. He said: ‘For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me. Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent; like new wineskins ready to burst. I must speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer’ (Job 32:18-20). The nearest parallel to this restlessness is in Jeremiah. The prophet is filled with the Word of God that he is so restless until he get it out of his chest! Jeremiah laments: ‘If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot’ (Job 20:9).
Then after Elihu has spoken and relieved himself of the great burden that the Spirit of God has placed in his heart, be breaks into one of the great doxologies we find in the Bible, the great praise of God almighty in Job 36-37 at the end of which God takes his place on the stage to speak out of the whirl wind and take the debate to its conclusion.
We just learn one lesson. Human wisdom has its limits. Even those who are righteous in God’s own eyes have no right to justify themselves. The source of wisdom is God and God imparts this to human beings through indwelling of his Spirit. All other wisdom and reasoning is an endless merry-go-round going round and round in vain and comes to an end when we are tired of speaking/thinking! The real source of wisdom is the Spirit of God which dwells in everyone who believes.

Good Friday sans Pretensions

I just don't know why they call it Good Friday. It was a very bad Friday for the mother, siblings, disciples, friends and followers of Jesus. It was the day when Jesus whom they loved so much died at a very tender age at the hands of the Roman army as a criminal. Death brings an end to everything. Their sorrow was much deeper because they had no clue of what is going to happen on the third day. Though he had told them and though they have seen him bringing back dead back to life, they never imagined that he will be back to life. So with no ray of hope, their sorrow was even thicker.

While the people at the foot of the cross on that fateful day were genuinely sad, the people who were observing Good Friday ever since were simply trying to pretend to be sad; because they knew rest of the story already. On Good Friday, some people walk the stations of the Cross enacting the suffering of Christ. They have processions where they enact scenes from what happened to Jesus on that day by taking up the roles of Jesus, Simon the Cyrene, the soldiers or the crowd. Some were fasting on that day. They abstained from food till evening and some would drink bitter juices to identify with the suffering of Jesus. Some devotees allowed themselves to be flogged and even nailed to a cross for a while. Still they were pretending because they knew Easter is just another day away.

However, Good Friday is more than pretensions. Good Friday is a reminder of the place of suffering in Christian faith. On that day 2000 years back Jesus died a terrible death. It is a reminder that my salvation is not cheap but was very costly. It also reminds that there is suffering in Christian life because it begins with the sufferings of Christ. It explains why Christians in many parts of the world face persecution. There is no Christianity without suffering.

We wear a mask of sorrow on that day for the simple reason that we were taught that way. However, for every believer who has experienced the great liberation there is a smile behind that thin veil of sadness. He suffered pain, shame, and ridicule and died. I am not any way sad but rejoice that his death was on my behalf. Why should I be sad when I know that his pain brought me healing and his shame is the reason for my dignity? I am only proud and grateful. Yes, the adjective "Good" is not only grammatically correct but experientially too. It was for my good that bad things happened to him.

Handling Abusive Surprise

All these years my work always involved dealing with youth who have left their old ways and made a commitment to follow Christ. Just as old habits die hard, so also the old friends. They have to keep the old companies for various reasons. They live in the same neighbourhood, they are the same college and there could be various ways they share their spaces. There are times of conflict as their conversion brings in new moral demands different from that of their friends. For example, a new believer in Christ who was a chain smoker finds it difficult to keep the friendship of his fellow smokers. Peter wrote to first generation Christians who were in a similar situation: "They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you" (1 Peter 4:4).

Unable to enjoy the company of the new believer, the friends begin to abuse that person. Many of us who had to part with sinful ways of life when we embraced the new life in Christ may still remember some hurting abusive words that we had to endure. However, the encouraging thing is that this abuse is the result of their surprise. Friends who shared their sinful ways with us are surprised that one of them could break away with those ways and start a new life! If our lives have caused that surprise then the abuse can be ignored.

However, this surprise and the abuse may not last long too. Moreover, it may have positive results as this story about a young soldier that I read long time ago illustrates. A young man who lived a very bad life joined the army and there he accepted Jesus as his personal saviour through the army chaplain. A few months later he had to go home and he was afraid that his old friends waiting for his return might drag him back to his life before Christ. His Chaplain had a very good advise for him. He told him not to keep his conversion a secret and let his friends know about it.

As he landed in the railway station he met one of his friends who offered him a cigar as he always used to do. This young man not only politely refused it but also told him that he is a new creation. The friend laughed at him and hurled insults at him as he walked away. Then he meets another friend who invites him to have a drink in order to celebrate his return. He not only refused it but also told him why as a follower of Christ he should not do that. The news spread in his small town that he is different. The prostitute whom he used to visit spotted him in the market and hurled insults at him. As he walked past the pub people came out and made painful comments about him. But nobody dared to force him to get back to the old ways. They had given up on him; that was a new freedom! However, it had a cost: abusive surprise.

If we can give our sinful companions a surprise, then the abuses are worth it. What is important is to shock (or embarrass) them with the radical change in our lives.

When Life Totters and Leans

In contrast to his own vulnerability and the nothingness of his enemies, stands the tall, strong, stable rock: God himself. That vision of God, the source of our strength should be what keeps us moving forward.
Life can be sometimes very cruel. The psalmists who penned the 150 psalms of the Old Testament expressed their pain and anguish in metaphorical language. How does one express the vulnerability and instability of ones life in times of opposition? The psalmist who composed Psalm 62 compares it with a leaning wall and a tottering fence. His life is like a wall that is about to collapse or a fence that is about to fall (Ps 62:3). He is unable to stand the winds and currents that are against his life. To add to his misery he has enemies who are trying to take advantage of his vulnerability. These are people who are trying to usurp him. Probably, the psalmist could be a ruler who is loosing popular support among his own people. His position is too vulnerable. The people close to him may betray him. Though they say good words (bless), they may not mean it. They may betray him because they find him as a liability. There are instances in the past where people have betrayed their ruler in order to find favor with their political enemies. They may think that it is better to give their ruler in the hands of their enemies and escape destruction instead of fight the enemy under the leadership of a weak ruler who may not be able to protect them from the enemy. The ruler is anyway a leaning fence, may fall and it is not wise to lean on such a leaning wall!

When he asks his enemies the question how far will they try to take advantage of his vulnerability and weakness, he is not appealing to them for sympathy. Instead he will turn to God for strength. The metaphor he uses for God is a powerful one. He would describe himself as a leaning wall, but for him God is a rock: stable, dependable and unmovable in times of crisis. "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone: my hope comes from him. // He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. //My Salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my rock, my refuge" (Ps 62:6-7).
He also has a vision about his enemies. He would see human beings (whether commoners or royalty) as mere breath. The whole council of ministers may turn against him. However, he would consider him as a mere breath (Ps 62:9).
Then how does he resolve his worry? There is nothing in himself that gives him strength in times of trouble. At the same time he doesn't have to worry about his opponents since they are nothing to be reckoned with. In contrast to his own vulnerability and the nothingness of his enemies, stands the tall, strong, stable rock: God himself. That vision of God, the source of our strength should be what keeps us moving forward.

The Days of Antipas

"The days of Antipas" means not only a period of persecution but a period of perseverance as well. It signifies the days of believers who withstood the pressures from outside to surrender.

In the church in the city of Pergamum, there were some people who remained faithful to Jesus in the days of severe persecution. Apostle John calls these days of persecution "the day of Antipas" (Rev. 2:13). 
The Antipas mentioned here should not be confused with Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. Herod Antipas was a wicked ruler whom Jesus called "fox". He is the one who offered the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter to his daughter. He might have tried to kill Jesus and presided over Jesus' trial. However, the Antipas mentioned in Revelation 2 was the bishop of Pergamum, a pagan city in the first century AD. The name means "against all." There is a great contrast in the names--Herod was against all that was good, however, Antipas the bishop of Pergamum was against all that was bad.
Living in a pagan city and witnessing to the power of Jesus was not easy. The city of Pergamum was a center of pagan worship where sacrifices were offered to demons. That is why the Bible calls this city "... where Satan has his throne" (Rev. 2:13). An ancient writer, Simeon Metaphrastes records that the demons of this city appeared to the people there and told them that since the power of Antipas was casting them out they cannot live anymore in that city. The people approached the conservative governor of the city to restrain Antipas. However, Antipas refused to budge and had to pay a very high price of his defiance. The aged Antipas was thrown to the brazen altar alive and was roasted. His martyrdom is celebrated by some orthodox churches on April 11 every year.
Some members of the church of Pergamum "remained true" to the name of Jesus even in this difficult times. "The days of Antipas" means not only a period of persecution but a period of perseverance as well. It signifies the days of believers who withstood the pressures from outside to surrender. Believers in various parts of the world are going through persecution. We need the grace of God to turn this period of persecution to "days of Antipas", the days of those who withstand the pressure to surrender their faith.