‘In this world you will have trouble.’ Jesus.
In the West, we ‘hear’ him saying, ‘In this world you will have peace and prosperity.’ Something rises up inside us at the thought of difficulties and hurdles and sicknesses and setbacks. To bolster this thinking, there are some televised church messages that affirm our hope that no trouble should ever come near our door. The corollary to this (demonic) teaching is that when those negative circumstances do plague us as believers in Jesus, it is because of sin in our lives, or that our faith is too weak. We’ve been led (astray) to assume the trouble Jesus was speaking of was only for his first disciples – certainly not for us!
Just imagine the Apostle Paul, circumcised when he was eight days old, a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin – a real Hebrew if there ever was one! A member of the Pharisees, demanding the strictest obedience to the Jewish law, so zealous he persecuted the church, so righteous he obeyed the Law without fault. Philippians 3:5,6 NLT. Then, at the pinnacle of his career ‘for God,’ God met him in love to ask why Paul is persecuting Him! At that moment, Paul’s world came screeching to a hideous, grinding halt, flipping him upside down, blinding him, humiliating him to the point of needing to be guided into town like a street beggar (Scripture leaves us to ponder the reaction of his posse that he brought with him from Jerusalem.)
Paul’s conversion was radically induced by God’s thunder-and-lightning, audibly voiced announcement just outside the city of Damascus, in full view of his followers. That road incident was but the beginning of many smaller cuts to Paul’s pride. As God changed the trajectory of Paul’s life by 180o he had to confront error after error, traditions which annulled the Word of God, overweening pride which was contrary to God’s plan. The pain and suffering had to have been intense. Then, his obedience to his calling caused there to fall on him the very persecution he meted out to the church! Attempting to overcome the flesh brought him to his knees in despair (Romans 7). But God, in His loving faithfulness, had told Ananias: “I will show him how much he is destined to suffer because of his passion for Me” (Acts 9:16, TPT).
Paul’s testimony says it best: “It’s because of God’s mercy that we have been entrusted with the privilege of this new covenant ministry. And we will not quit or faint with weariness. We reject every shameful cover-up and refuse to resort to cunning trickery or distorting the Word of God. Instead, we open our souls to you by presenting the truth to everyone’s conscience in the sight and presence of God. . . We are like common clay jars that carry this glorious treasure within, so that this immeasurable power will be seen as God’s, not ours. Though we experience every kind of pressure, we’re not crushed. At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option. We are persecuted by others, but God has not forsaken us. We may be knocked down, but not out. We continually share in the death of Jesus in our own bodies so that the resurrection life of Jesus will be revealed through our humanity (2 Corinthians 4, TPT).
Troubles in this world? Yep. Too much for God to overcome? Nope. Does Paul’s testimony call us to renewed faith and hope and action? You betcha! PD
