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Rejoicing or Repenting in Suffering

Links for today’s readings:

Nov 10  Read: Ezekiel 41 Listen: (4:40)   Read: 1 Peter 4 Listen: (2:50)

Scripture Focus: 1 Peter 4.1-6

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body is done with sin. 2 As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4 They are surprised that you do not join them in their reckless, wild living, and they heap abuse on you. 5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

Reflection: Rejoicing or Repenting in Suffering

By John Tillman

Suffering while being a Christian does not automatically mean suffering for being a Christian.

Peter knew about suffering for Jesus and the gospel. He also knew about suffering for being a loudmouth, losing his temper, or caving to fear and betraying Jesus. Peter knew the difference between suffering for Jesus, suffering for our own sinful actions, and suffering the normal worldly things that bring suffering.

There are sufferings that all who live in this sin-damaged world share. Creation groans and so do we (Rom 8.22-23). There is no shame in this, but also no glory other than learning to rely on God in our sufferings. 

Peter encourages us to “rejoice” in suffering that “participates” in Christ’s sufferings and be unashamed of suffering for abstaining from the sinful norms of the world. Suffering for these purposes makes us blessed. The apostles rejoiced when they suffered for the name of Jesus (Acts 5.41).

However, there is suffering we should not celebrate. Peter condemns suffering for doing evil, harming others, and meddling in others’ affairs. This is suffering for doing wrong, not doing good (1 Pet 3.17). If we meddle in others’ affairs or harm others and suffer or are harmed in return, we are not suffering for Jesus. If we threaten others and are threatened in return, we are not in danger of martyrdom. If we say cruel or inappropriate things and are criticized, disciplined, or fired, we aren’t being persecuted. Consequences that are unconnected to sharing the gospel or pursuing personal holiness by abstaining from sinful actions aren’t persecution. The only purpose of this kind of suffering is to (hopefully) bring us to repentance.

When we claim suffering for doing wrong is suffering for Jesus, we do two wicked things. First, we bring shame on the name of Christ, for we are claiming our wrongdoing is on his behalf and in his name. Second, we short-circuit our own repentance and harden our hearts in unrighteousness. If we call the consequences of wrongdoing confirmation of God’s approval of our actions, we will never repent. We may spiral into more and more wicked actions, ending in judgment.

Peter says judgment begins with God’s household and those who misuse the name of Christ will suffer judgment. So when you suffer, be sober and alert of mind and humbly pray (1 Pet 4.7). Should this suffering cause celebration or repentance? Faithful celebration or repentance will bring you closer to Jesus.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Hallelujah! Praise the Name of the LORD; give praise, you servants of the LORD, Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good; sing praises to his Name, for it is lovely. For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. — Psalm 135:1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: From The Most Holy Place

God had blotted out the sins of his people. Every time we exit our times of worship and prayer, we can enter the world of our exile, repeating this message.

From The Most Holy Place
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Are We Soft About Suffering?

Links for today’s readings:

Nov 9  Read: Ezekiel 40 Listen: (8:21)   Read: 1 Peter 3 Listen: (3:30)

Scripture Focus: 1 Peter 3.8-9, 13-17

8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing…

13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.”  15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Reflection: Are We Soft About Suffering?

By John Tillman

Peter wrote to Christians he called “exiles” (1 Pet 2.11), even though most of them still lived in the cities and cultures they were born into. Their exile was a spiritual, not a political or geographical, reality. When they became followers of Jesus, they crossed a line of citizenship into the borders of a new kingdom. The kingdom they were born into became an enemy kingdom and they became exiles.

Perhaps this is why Peter encouraged them by quoting a section of Psalm 34. David wrote Psalm 34 about becoming an exile and suffering evil treatment in his own country, ruled by Saul. He fled to an enemy kingdom (1 Sam 21.10-14) and was surrounded by dangerous enemies.

Peter knew what it was like to grow up in a culture and country and find yourself labeled an enemy of that culture and country. He knew what it was like to be mistreated. So when he tells his readers (including us) to “repay evil with blessing” (v. 9) or to “suffer for doing good,” (v. 17) he knows what he is talking about. When Peter and the apostles suffered mistreatment for teaching about Jesus, they rejoiced (Acts 5.41). Do we?

Some Christians around the world have their churches burned down or bulldozed by the government. Some are jailed, deported, or killed for their faith. Recently, the United States has decided to refuse asylum to these Christians and leave them in their circumstances. At the same time, some Christians here loudly complain about our suffering.

Has Western Christianity (especially in America) gotten soft about suffering? Have we suffered so little, for so long, that we think being argued with is “suffering” and minor inconveniences are “persecution”?

I think Peter would not only ask us if we are actually suffering, but if what we call “suffering” is happening because we are “doing good” or not. Not every suffering we face is for the gospel. Sometimes, it is for having no tact or compassion.

It may be true that Christians in the United States and other Western countries will face greater opposition in the future. From how we act today, I don’t think we are ready.

Meditate on some of the challenging commands Peter gave his churches. What do they mean for our lives today?

Do good that wins people over and defuses slander. (v. 13 and 16)
Do not fear threats. (v. 14
Be prepared with hope-filled answers. (v. 16)
If you suffer, suffer for good, not evil. (v. 17)

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

“Because the needy are oppressed, and the poor cry out in misery, I will rise up,” says the Lord, “And give them the help they long for.” — Psalm 12.5

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: A Temple for Exiles

The very people who were banking on God protecting the temple because it was holy were the ones making the temple an unholy place.

A Temple for Exiles
Read more: Love One Another

Being a jerk is a conscious decision. We choose not to love someone. We choose not to speak kindly. We choose not to withhold insults.

Love One Another
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Transforming Despair to Hope

Links for today’s readings:

Nov 6  Read: Ezekiel 37 Listen: (5:07)  Read: Titus 3 Listen: (2:05)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Nov 7  Read: Ezekiel 38 Listen: (4:23)  Read: 1 Peter 1 Listen: (3:53)
Nov 8  Read: Ezekiel 39 Listen: (4:51)   Read: 1 Peter 2 Listen: (3:48)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 37.11-14

11 Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Reflection: Transforming Despair to Hope

By John Tillman

God did not create the image of the valley of dry bones. He borrowed it. Then transformed it.

The image of dry bones came from the exiled Israelites’ minds and mouths. “Our bones are dried up…” (v 11) God walked Ezekiel through a vision of the people’s self-conception. God transformed their hopeless image of despair into an image of hope.

Ezekiel’s vision held a personal message for him, a contemporary message for the community of exiles, and a timeless message for Christ’s church and each individual in it.

To Ezekiel, God spoke encouragement. Even if the people seemed dead to Ezekiel’s words, and hopelessly unwilling to listen and repent, he must keep speaking God’s truth to them. God’s Spirit would fulfill the promise of God’s words that Ezekiel spoke: “you will come to life.” (v 6)

To the exiles, God spoke hope. Their evaluation of their situation wasn’t wrong. They were as powerless as dead bones in a desert valley. They were a destroyed nation with armies, cities, and the temple laying in ruins. But God promised a miraculous recovery and return. God would bring them back to life and to his service.

The timeless message for Christians is partly built on the other two messages and chiefly built on the work of Jesus. All God’s promises, including to Ezekiel and the exiles, are “yes” in Jesus (2 Cor 1.20). We live in the time of fulfillment, when the wind of the Spirit is blowing.

Like Ezekiel, Jesus commands us to keep speaking God’s message—the gospel. It is not our words but God’s spirit that rattles people’s bones and raises them to life. But when we speak, especially when we speak God’s words, God’s Spirit moves. So speak.

Like the exiles, personal or collective sufferings and failures may cause hopelessness. World events may cause despair. We may say, “we are dry bones….”  What images of hopelessness are you holding on to?

Whether we suffer due to sin, like the exiles, or due to persecution, like the prophets, God’s spirit groans and endures with us now and will raise us after death. God says to us, as he said to the dry bones, “you will come to life.” This promise is both future and present, both individual and corporate.

Release hopeless images to Jesus, the firstborn from among the dead. Let him transform your despair to hope and bring your dry bones to life.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Bless our God, you peoples; make the voice of his praise to be heard;
Who holds our souls in life, and will not allow our feet to slip. — Psalm 66.6-8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Ex Nihilo In Ezekiel

Ezekiel gazed across the valley and saw only bones, not freshly deceased remains but signs of those who had long since suffered death.

Ex Nihilo in Ezekiel
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The Radical Procedure of the Gospel

Links for today’s readings:

Nov 5  Read: Ezekiel 36  Listen: (6:40)  Read: Titus 2 Listen: (2:01)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 36.26-27

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

Reflection: The Radical Procedure of the Gospel

By John Tillman

It’s lovely to think of God giving us a new heart and putting a new Spirit within us. But it is terrifying to admit to the diagnoses that would lead to such a radical procedure.  

Our familiarity with miraculous examples of modern medicine has muddied this concept for us. Ezekiel wasn’t thinking of a sterile operating room where doctors replace a ten-pound chunk of muscle. As radical as cracking open someone’s chest is, Ezekiel’s concept of God replacing our heart is more extreme.

The biblical language isn’t referring to the heart in either the medical or emotional sense. When the Bible talks about the heart, it refers to our complete “inner being,” not any one organ or one part. It refers to our central, inner self. It is our spirit, mind, and emotions.

In the Bible, the heart, whether of a country or one person, is that which is central and vital, without which, meaning and purpose are lost. This is the heart that Ezekiel says is irreparable and dead and must be replaced. 

A spiritually relevant question to ask would be, “How did it get that way?”

Israel’s heart was hardened by their determined pursuit of idols of wealth and power at the expense of the poor and the unfortunate. God repeatedly says through Ezekiel that they have caused “bloodshed” in the land. Ezekiel is clear that this means enriching themselves by directly and indirectly causing the deaths of the voiceless, the weak, and the powerless.

Repeated uncaring actions. Repeated justifications of wrongdoing. Repeatedly using legalism to escape our responsibility to others. Repeatedly taking advantage and accepting the benefits of advantages given to us. 

This repeated friction as we strain against God’s promptings creates calluses, roughening hearts intended to be tender. These heart-hardening steps tread the path to exile. These are the actions of those whose idols are leading them to be insensitive to God’s voice, to be unmoved by God’s spirit.

After the shockingly violent and bloody experience Jesus undertook to make this transplant possible, he quietly comes to his disciples to begin the procedure. There in the upper room, he intimately prays a simple prayer that would not be answered for nearly fifty days: “he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.’” (John 20.22)

May this prayer of Christ be made real in our lives. May our hearts be made sensitive enough to feel his breath, hear his voice, and move as he directs.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

My heart is firmly fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and make melody. — Psalm 57.7

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Choices and Hard Hearts

Hardened hearts happen in stages. Do we hear and obey? Our heart will grow softer…
Do we hear and turn away? Our heart will grow harder…

Choices and Hard Hearts—Readers’ Choice
Read more: Judging Our Hearts

The most often quoted portion of Matthew’s seventh chapter is probably it’s first three words: “Do not judge.” Most people stop there.

Judging Our Hearts
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He Heard That

Links for today’s readings:

Nov 4  Read: Ezekiel 35  Listen: (2:21)  Read: Titus 1 Listen: (2:24)

Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 35:13

You boasted against me and spoke against me without restraint, and I heard it.

Reflection: He Heard That

By Erin Newton

Some days I think about counting how often my kids say, “Hey mom!” followed by some request. It has now turned into a verb where I get tired and tell them, “Don’t hey-mom me.”

For me, I can usually predict what they want. I have been following their behavior, watching other people in their sphere, and foreseeing the next move. My request for a break in questioning is usually when I know the questions can wait. They’ll either figure out a solution or find the answer to their question on their own.

To my kids, I think they assume I’m ignoring them or that I somehow lost my hearing. Maybe they think I haven’t noticed what’s going on. It feels unjust to plead with someone who won’t answer and even more disheartening to feel invisible and mute.

In chapter 35 of Ezekiel, the prophet is instructed to speak against Edom due to their ongoing hostility toward God’s people. For centuries they spoke against Israel and taunted their God—and he heard it.

I imagine that for many generations (leading up to the time of Ezekiel), the people thought they were the only ones hearing Edom speak against God while he remained silent. I can imagine the frustration and desperation they had before a seemingly deaf God.

But he did hear. He was always listening. Nothing went unnoticed.

It’s hard to remember that truth sometimes. Even now, our prayers concerning the pain and suffering happening in the world and in our personal lives seem to go unnoticed. Is God delaying his answer? Will our patience and faith last? Do we have to spell it out for him?

Today, we are in desperate need of justice. We need wars to stop. We need politicians to stop their corruption. We need a way to make ends meet financially. We need healing or release from pain. We need help. We need answers. We need to know we are being heard.

Justice will only work if God can actually hear our prayers—even more, if God would hear what the oppressors are saying. Justice is best when the oppressed don’t have to beg for it to happen.

What encouragement it is to know that God has heard! Every mockery, every taunt, every prideful and blasphemous word—all has been heard. We honor God by bringing things to him in prayer, but we rest knowing he has already heard.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Morning Psalm

I will sing of mercy and justice; to you, O LORD, will I sing praises. I will strive to follow a blameless course; oh, when will you come to me? I will walk with sincerity of heart within my house. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the doers of evil deeds; they shall not remain with me. A crooked heart shall be far from me; I will not know evil. Those who in secret slander their neighbors I will destroy; those who have a haughty look and a proud heart I cannot abide. — Psalm 101.1–5

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: A Terrifying, Absent God

God With Us is here. Despite the dark nights and shrill winds that obscure our ability to hear God, we are not alone.

A Terrifying, Absent God
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