Busy day, recycled post.
If we expect the road of our life to be all freeway, or even all paved
sidewalk, we’re going to be disappointed. Jesus warned his disciples
that in this world they would have trouble. Why should we expect it to
be any different for us? Eventually, we’re all going to run into difficult circumstances and we may have to endure them for a long time. It’s the way of
this world and we are in the world.
Jesus didn’t tell
his disciples how hard things would be for them because he wanted
to scare them, but rather, because he wanted to prepare them for it. When persecution and
difficulty came, he didn’t want them to be blown away by it.
Do you remember Jesus’ words of warning?
In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world. (John 16:33 NET)
He told his disciples that they could expect to experience pain and hardship in the world, and that the reason they could face their trials
courageously was because he had been victorious over the world.
Did they remember what he said? What
happened the first time the disciples faced trouble after Jesus
ascended? How did they react?
It’s all recorded for us in Acts
4. Peter and John were held in jail overnight and then brought before
the Sanhedrin where they were threatened by the rulers in an attempt to
get them to stop preaching. When they were released, they joined
together with their brethren and prayed this prayer:
Master of all, you who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, who said by the Holy Spirit through your servant David our forefather,
Why do the nations rage,
and the peoples plot foolish things?
The kings of the earth stood together,
and the rulers assembled together,
against the Lord and against his Christ.
For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do as much as your power and your plan had decided beforehand would happen. And now, Lord, pay attention to their threats, and grant to your servants to speak your message with great courage, while you extend your hand to heal, and to bring about miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus. (Acts 4:24-30, NET)
It’s their very first
persecution, and you might expect that since they, of all people, knew the mighty power of the Lord, they would ask God to make the road easier for
them—to take this persecution away. But that isn’t what they asked.
Instead, they asked God to give them the courage to keep on proclaiming the gospel in the face of persecution.
Yep, they expected
trouble. And from the gist of the whole prayer, I’d say that there was more to it than that. They also viewed their trouble as God’s plan for them. Their prayer opens by affirming that everything comes from God and that he is sovereign over all creation. It continues with the recognition that not only had God foretold the crucifixion, but he was the one who planned it and the deciding power behind it. They acknowledge that Christ’s suffering was the centerpiece of God’s plan to conquer sin, and, I think, see this as a pattern for their own suffering. Their God (and ours) is a God who accomplishes his good purposes through suffering. So instead of asking that this threat be taken away, they accept it as God’s plan for them and ask him for the boldness they need to keep on speaking God’s message as they
face persecution.
Jesus had told them they could expect
trouble, but to be courageous. And what they ask for is courage. “I
have overcome the world,” Jesus said, and they knew that. They also knew that just as God had worked Christ’s victory over
the world through his suffering, he would also spread the news of
Christ’s victorious work through their suffering.
And likewise for us. As long as we’re here in
this world, we can expect hardship and difficulty, but we can face it with courage
because Christ has overcome the world. Our suffering is bringing
about the fruit of his victory by working God’s good purpose in our
own redemption and the redemption of the world. Our troubles help
conform us to Christ’s image and they make us better servants of the
gospel. In many cases, they work in the same way Paul’s imprisonment
did—they turn out to advance the gospel.
All our
troubles—and we’ll have them—work together for good purposes because
Christ has overcome the world. We’ll need our sturdy shoes, but we can
hike on knowing that the difficult trail is the best way to reach that
perfect end. We can take courage, and when we don’t have it, we can ask
for it, knowing that a prayer for courage in trouble is a prayer that
pleases God and one that he is pleased to grant:
When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God courageously. (Acts 4:31, NET)