So, Why are We So Surprised?
Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”
Never was the need for Paul’s plea more evident than in what you are about to hear here in this PODCAST.
But, firstly, let’s take a look at Peter’s words from 1 Peter 1:7…
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
Sadly, far too often, we end up asking ourselves, “Why is this happening to me?” or even “Why is God doing this to me?”
I believe it’s this mindset that Peter and Paul are addressing in the above passages.
You see, when Peter refers to “these trials”, he is addressing fire, tests, and many other trials that Christ-followers are guaranteed to face… and not just physical or reputational attacks, but spiritual attacks as well.
Now, perhaps I am overstating, but I make the assumption that many Christians today perceive a God-blessed life as being a life without problems.
The truth is that we should be thanking God for the perceived blessings in our lives, AS WELL AS the tough (even terrible) times that we encounter.
Yet, we can really only grasp this when we submit ourselves to Jesus’ prayer: that God’s will be done, not ours. It’s only when we get our hearts to a place where we are ok with whatever the outcome that we will truly see an answer to our prayers. The peace of God that surpasses any human understanding is His actually answer to our prayers! Not our Christmas list of things that we want.
Don’t get me wrong – it’s not wrong for us to pray for a healing, for a better job, for a way out of a terrible situation, so long as it is wrapped and understood with the overarching desire for God’s will to be sovereign, not ours.
In other words, the key is to align our hearts and minds with the words penned by Horatio Spafford:
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well, with my soul
You see, I believe that history shows that the idea of a “God-blessed life” or an “answered prayer” as defined by “life handing us whatever we want” is utterly, uniquely a modern day, western, entitlement way of thinking. To go even further, I believe that this mindset is foreign to and even contradictory to the Bible.
Instead of looking at life’s terrible moments and wondering, “Why is this happening to me?”, we ought to look at life and say, “Why shouldn’t this happen to me?”
This is how Jesus, Himself, described a God-blessed life:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
22 Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
24 “But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. (Luke 6:20-26)
So, why are we so surprised when we suffer?
The not-so-great-news is that we, indeed, are going to suffer.
But, the great news is that, as committed Christ-followers, we will never, ever suffer without God’s purpose.