3)
Blessed be God, even the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all
comfort;
4)
Who comforteth
us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any
trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5)
For as the sufferings of
Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth
by Christ.
6)
And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation,
which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer:
or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7)
And our hope of you is
stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be
also of the consolation.
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be told this brings on contradictory feelings in many. Not only is this hard to
do, it is also hard for most to understand. Since Man is a creature who
believes things are directed at him personally, this simply does not make
sense. For one thing we, like to believe that we
really know "what's going on." We take an odd sort of
"comfort" in believing that someone cares enough about us to
persecute us.
The
whole "phenomenon" of this issue must be understood and related to
the question of who will be used by God. After all, it is we who have said that
we want to be used. If this is, indeed, what we desire, we will have to be
willing to allow our gaze to move from ourselves. You see, you can
"work" for no one unless you know what he is working for. Unfortunately,
all too often, we want to choose where, when and how we are used of God. Our
primary concern is that things work to our best advantage—not His. All
that is done now must be done to His glory and praise and not for our personal
gratification.
Whatever
confronts us is by the divine sanction of God and our responsibility to Him in all
situations is to "suffer it to be so, now." After all, "God
knows, God knows, God knows"—what I need to "do" and to be
taught.
So
with all of the confirmation we have of God's will and the confidence we say
that we have in Him, what do we do with what He allows? Generally, have a
problem. But, now is not the time to become faint, for as we near the end of
"time" as we know it, the devil becomes more determined to destroy the
saints and the Lord becomes more determined to save them. The only way any life
will be saved in these last days is for the individual to be determined to
praise God no matter what!
Much
of our problem has to do with what we think is supposed to happen for
us. For some reason, after we are saved, we expect that nothing adverse is
going to, or supposed to happen to us. Once it does, we want "it"
over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible. What we seem not to
understand is that the Lord never promised to bring us out, but He did
promise that He would enable us to bear it. It is the
"bearing," that accomplishes the goal of making us "better"
and it is the resentment that makes us "bitter." In that this is
God's plan and it is He who has authored the "rules," He will
provide comfort—and He will be that Comfort.
Though
the Lord indwells us that He might be able to guide and direct us, such control
is not automatic. The one He indwells must be willing to be under the direction
of the Spirit in order to fulfill His will. You see, one Whom
He directs through the Sprit can be used to win others to Him. For as tests and trails come, the correct reaction allows others to
see Him in us.
Everyone
will be able to win this "battle" if he only comes to accept that the
things that happening the life of the saint are about God—not him. Despite the
fact that it is us who are saved, this life is not a matter of what "I'm
going through" or "what I'm dealing with." Most of us
have asked God to use us and in order to do this, He must show others Who and what is within us. Why is it that after this, the
first thing we wish to do is complain? We can be as
"cool as a cucumber" when we accept that God has the solution to all
problems.
The
worst thing that one can do when going through "trouble" is to think
about it in all its many dimensions. Nothing about salvation is directly
related to us and even scripture says that it is for the consolation and
salvation of those watching us. As important as we might like to be, in salvation,
our importance will be gauged by our usefulness to and service of others.
Attaining
a grasp of not taking things personally will ensure that that we will be
steadfast and not change our attitude—about anything! Only by mastering
this will we be able to lead others to the knowledge
of Christ. They must see us trust God in trying times as well as in good.
Today's
world is not one of "depth" in anything. It seems almost as if we
avoid developing any. But even in natural lives, we see that people without
stability and depth are unsuccessful. In salvation, the man without depth is
one who will easily be carried away with "every wind of doctrine."
All
men must come to understand that no matter what, the Word of God will stand.
Redeemed Man alike must accept that disagreeing with it, refusing to accept it,
"hating" it will neither change its message
nor requirement.
God
is an instiller of esteem. He shows us how much trust and confidence He has in
us by "choosing" us to undergo tests. In that He does, He shows that
He expects us to "pass" them—not because it is "us" going
though or because He can find no one else. It is because He wants others to see
what He has invested in us and consequently, what He can do for
them.
We
need to begin to tell ourselves that "I will have stability, I will remain
saved and I need take nothing personally. All that I undergo, I undergo for
God, by His permission and under His authority."
A
"made-up mind" accomplishes many things in us. It will solve all
of our petty little problems. We will have the means by which to serve the Lord
under all circumstances and will find ourselves moved by nothing. We will
finally be in the place where nothing will cause us to lose our faith.
It
is never necessary to take anything personally. It is so important that we
come to understand and accept this. No matter how something looks, if it comes
to us, we can have confidence in the fact that it is going to work to the
glory of God. If it were not, He would have never allowed it to come.