Help for Those Who Suffer Part 2

I wanted to add something I wrote after originally posting: Help for Those Who Suffer 
last year:

As I was studying this morning, it reminded me of the above post, and of all of us who are going through some hard times right now. When the trials include bad health, because whenever we're sick or over tired, it's much easier for Satan, the world or our flesh to attack us and bring us down. Whatever the trials involve, when they come, they are difficult to deal with, and become more difficult when they continue for a long time. When those trials don't let up, but more trials seem to come one after another, it's a severe test of our faith. It also both shows us where we are in our spiritual growth, as well as causing our faith to grow tremendously if we'll allow it to.

I'm not saying this just because I've read and studied what God's Word says about it, but also because I've lived it. I went through some extremely severe trials that didn't let up for what seemed like an eternity, but was in fact well over a year. Then they only let up a little before another huge one hit, and on and on it went. I'm only saying this so that you'll know that I've lived it and therefore know God's Word is true and right, for I've proved it myself.

Many, many times throughout that long trial, I felt like I couldn't take it for another second, that I just couldn't continue on. I wanted to die. I wanted to give up. I don't know how many times I quite literally cried to the Lord and begged Him to ease things for me, telling Him I couldn't take anymore. But at the same time, through the Lord's mercy and grace, He helped me to hold on to Him and come through the ordeal much stronger in my faith then ever before. I want to share with you some of the scriptures that I have tried and proven through these trials.

Like everyone else, when trials came, I always thought of them as being "bad", and generally that mind set eventually includes thinking that God is against us, or at the least that He's disciplining us for something. I fell for Satan's lies about this too, so one day, I was pouring my heart out to God, reminding Him that I'd asked His help in searching my heart to see if there was any sin in me that I'd been unaware of, but hadn't found any. (I don't mean to say that I hadn't sinned, I had, but there was no unrepented sin) I told Him that now I was confused as I didn't understand why all these things were happening. Knowing that I could still be fooling myself, I finally broke down and asked Him for a sign. I only need a couple of fingers to count how many times I've done that, including this one, because I don't believe that it's something that we should be doing on a regular basis. But this was important. I needed to know if I was being disciplined or was out of His Will in some way that I was unaware of. Especially because of my position here - I was mortified to think that I might be misleading people and be unaware of it. So, I asked Him for a sign to show me if I was out of His Will or was sinning in some way and being disciplined. As I've told this story before, I'll simply say here that the Lord did give me the sign (which totally shocked me lol) and set my heart at peace. At the same time though, He had a lesson for me. He reminded me of what I already knew, but in the midst of the trial had forgotten: That He loves me and that He would never punish me for something I'd done that I was unaware of. Nor would He punish me for something in my past. My sins were paid for on the cross, all of them, not just some of them. And while we all have to deal with the consequences of our sins, God does not punish us for them, because He took our punishment out on our Lord on the cross. All of this came into my mind, complete with the scriptures as I was staring at the sign He's sent.

Just to be sure there's no misunderstanding, when I say we have to deal with the consequences of our sins, I'm talking about the things that naturally occur because of our actions. For example, if we sinned by being nasty toward someone, while the Lord forgives our sin and won't punish us for it, He does not erase it from everyone's mind. Therefore the person we were nasty too, is still not going to like us or trust us. If we cheated someone out of money, again while the Lord would have forgiven that sin, the person we cheated is still going to be angry at us. So the things that happen to us because that person is still angry, are the consequences of that sin. See what I mean? Our Father does not punish us for our past sins! I thought I knew that before all those trials, but I only knew it in my head. Now the Lord was making sure that I knew it in my heart. He loves us! So often we say the words that Jesus paid the price of our sins, without really thinking about what that means. But for every sin we committed or commit now, our Lord Jesus was punished for on the cross instead of us. That's what Jesus volunteered to do for us. He took our punishment for us, so we wouldn't have to fear being punished any more.

In Acts 14:22, we're reminded that we must go through many hardships (trials, tribulations, troubles) to enter the kingdom of God. The reason given for reminding us of this is to strengthen us and encourage us to remain true to our faith. Many folks get the wrong idea that when they become a Christian that life is going to be like a Sunday picnic, so they're totally unprepared when trials come. The Lord never, ever said that our lives would be easy or would get easier though. In fact, He said the opposite! He was very open and candid with people and always made sure they knew that following Him was not going to be easy. That's why He told them (and us) to count the cost before deciding it's what we want to do. He tells us though that although we will have trials in this world, that we can take heart and have courage in them knowing that He has overcome the world. (John 16:33) I used to wonder why knowing that would help. Now I know it's because of the first part of that verse which says that He's telling us this so that in Him we can have peace. During my trials I learned that I had to live that verse. I had to say "in Him" and when I did, I was at peace; but when I allowed my thoughts to wander and dwell on what was happening in my life - or "in the world", then I'd lose my peace.

I discovered that it was very much like what happened to Peter when Jesus came walking on the water to them. Peter wanted to walk on the water too, so Jesus told him to go ahead and walk to Him. He started out just fine, but as soon as he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink. He then immediately did the same thing we all do in those circumstances: he cried out "help!" And "immediately" Jesus reached out and rescued him. I love that word "immediately"! That's what Jesus does for us too. But see, Jesus didn't take Peter out of the water. He simply pulled him up over it so he was standing on it again and helped him walk back to the boat. Nor does Jesus rescue us out of our troubles. Instead, He helps us walk through them.

That's a big difference, and there's even more to it then that. Remember, Jesus said that we'd have His peace, and so Peter did as he walked with Jesus back to the boat. He had that peace only because he kept his eyes on the Lord and no longer was looking at the waves. He knew Jesus had hold of his hand, and he trusted Jesus not to let go. That's what we have to do when we're going through our trials. We have to know that Jesus has hold our hand, and that He's not going to let us go. We have to know that He loves us and that we're safe and secure right where we are no matter what is going on around us.

How can we know that though? Peter could actually see Jesus and feel His hand - we can't. Yes, but later, after Jesus ascended, Peter had to walk through his life the same way we do, and instead of weakening because he could no longer see Jesus, His faith was strengthened. Doesn't make sense does it? Perhaps not to the world, but to us it can. This is one of the things that going through trials teaches us. Well, since it's something we already know, the trials don't teach it to us, but instead they make it real. The trials take our head knowledge and turn it into heart knowledge. That's what happened to Peter.

Remember what Jesus said to Peter when he cried out for help? You'd think He would have congratulated him on how well he did. I mean after all, he did walk on the water part of the way before he started sinking. Or you'd think He would at least tell him it was a good try and he'd do better next time, wouldn't you? But instead, Jesus said, "you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Matthew 14:31) He wanted Peter to understand that fear and faith can't live in the same heart, because fear blinds us to God's presence. Notice too though that Peter's doubt did not stop the Lord from rescuing Peter. Again, He loves us! He's not going to let us down. He won't leave us or forsake us. He's right there with us all the time. The problem is that although He is there and will help us, doubt and fear prevents us from hearing and seeing Him. I don't mean seeing His physical body or hearing a physical voice. I mean that because of fear, we can't hear His still small voice within us, or recognize His help as being from Him, when it comes from other people or circumstances He's arranged. Fear, anxiety and stress causes us instead to see only the negative. Just as Peter's doubt and fear caused him to see only the waves and recognize only the danger of drowning.

So what does that mean for us practically when we're going through trials? It simply means that we have to remember that we must live by faith and not by sight. When our checkbooks show negative balances, and the phone is ringing because people want their money; when our body is falling apart due to disease; when the electricity is about to be turned off; when our children won't have anything to do with us, or aren't walking with the Lord, or both; when we're not capable of doing things that need to done at home or work due to illness or whatever; when it seems like everything that could go wrong has and is going wrong, that's when we need to remember that we live by faith, not by sight.

I've learned to see this world almost like an illusion, because we tend to see what we expect to see instead of what's really there. And also because we're only see a portion of what's really happening. Our physical sight can't see the things that are happening in the spiritual realm, and without that information we're only getting half of the picture. Worse, the part we're missing is the most important part of all! This always makes me remember the story in 2 Kings 6 about Elisha. In a nutshell, Elisha's servant woke one morning and when he looked out his window he saw that the city was surrounded by a huge army and he knew their purpose was to catch him and Elisha. So of course he ran and woke up Elisha, all upset asking what in the world should they do! I can just imagine the scene: Elisha sighing and saying a quick prayer that God would open his servants eyes so he could see the Truth. And the servant probably wondering what his eyes had to do with anything since his sight was perfectly fine. But then as the servant looked out the window again, he saw something entirely different! Instead of just seeing the huge enemy army that surrounded them, now he saw another, even larger army surrounding the enemy army! There was no doubt which army would be victorious either since the bigger one was made up of the Lord's warriors (angels)!

That's exactly what I have to remind myself of when things look bad, when they look impossible. I remind myself that I'm only seeing and experiencing half of the picture. The most important half of the picture can only be known and seen through knowing the Truth of God's Word. So I remind myself that in spite of appearance, God is in control and He loves me. That I'm His child and I can count on Him to cause everything to work for His glory and my good. I also have to remind myself that I really am "a child" and because of that, I'm not always going to know or understand the "whys" about why things have happened. Not because my Father wants to keep me in the dark, but simply because my brain is finite and His is infinite. So, like Job, I have to remember that I don't need to know why, I just need to know "who", and the "who" is my Father, who is in control, and who loves me. There is nothing He doesn't know, nothing has taken Him by surprise, and there is nothing more powerful then Him. So when He tells me that it really will all work out for my good, I can trust Him.

Lastly, I'd like to share one other important thing I've learned during these trials. It's simple really, but tremendously important. The worse the trials are, the harder they hit us and the longer they last, we're going to be tempted to give up. We're going to be tempted to isolate ourselves from other believers. We're going to be tempted not to pick up our bibles and tempted to not even pray. Satan's no dummy. He knows these trials get to us and wear us down, and he's going to take the ball and run with it just as hard as he can. If he can keep us away from God's Word, then He's going to win. There simply isn't anything more important on this earth then God's Word and without it, we don't stand a chance against Satan, our flesh or the world. It's through His Word that God strengthens us, encourages us, comforts us and teaches us and gives us all that we need to get through those trials. So if Satan can keep us away from it, we'll simply keep getting weaker and weaker spiritually, while at the same time, the trials will seem to be getting worse and worse because we'll be seeing them from a weaker position. My mind works weirdly I know, but it makes me think of the old Popeye cartoons. Without God's Word we're like Popeye without his spinach.

We may even be crying out to God to help us on the one hand, while on the other hand refusing to open His Word. God wants to help us, but He won't force us to accept His help, and His help is in His Word! I've come to realize, that the less we feel like praying, the more we need to pray. The less we feel like being in His Word, the more important it is for us to open our bibles and start studying with Him, and the less we want to be around other believers, the more we need to be around them. These are all times when we have to use self discipline to force ourselves to do what we need to do regardless of how we "feel".

Why is it important not to isolate ourselves? Because God also uses our brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage, comfort, teach, and guide us, as well as any number of other things. So again, by isolating ourselves we're refusing the very help we've been asking God for.

Remember too that our salvation is nearer now then when we first believed. The Lord is standing at the door and this age is almost finished. While we do have trials and are going through them right now even, we can know for a fact that they're limited. They will not last forever, and we can also know that when they're done, we'll come out of them shining with a blinding brilliance.

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6–7)

“Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:13)

“To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.” (Jude 24–25)