Suffering

On Physical and Spiritual Healing

Ken

No doubt, Christ physically healed the sick because the Messiah was promised to be both a physical and spiritual healer. “When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses” (Matthew 8:16-17 NKJV). This is the NT demonstration of Isaiah’s prophecy. “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). 

Some argue that healing is not to be expected from Christ’s atonement, since all do not appear to be physically healed after receiving the New Birth. But, should the lack of physical healing stop us from trying, any more than the lack of someone repenting and receiving the Gospel stop us from attempting to give them the Gospel? Of course not. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9). 

Should the lack of casting out of demons stop us from trying again? No. Jesus corrected the clumsy attempt of His disciples, giving them valuable instruction to do better next time. “And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, Why could we not cast it out? So He said to them, This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:28-29). 

Should we have a greater expectations of physical and spiritual deliverance? Yes. If God’s Spirit is exciting us to pray for that physical or spiritual deliverance, then we should take that as an indication of His willingness to fulfill that request. “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

We need to be constantly in step with the Holy Spirit that we would be so inclined to pray according to His will. “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (8:27). 

We must remember that prayer is not an incantation to change God’s mind to act for us, though He is especially willing to act to defend His glory. “You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you” (Deuteronomy 7:21). 

If God will only do that which is conducive of His highest glory, why would He listen to the prayers of mere men, unless by His Spirit He placed the necessity for the prayer request in their hearts? “Thus says the Lord, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me” (Isaiah 45:11). 

What if our doctrine and experience falls short of others’ doctrine or experience? “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you” (Philippians 3:15).

Let us always be open to receiving understanding from the Word of God to improve our conduct. “These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). 

May God unite His people in a universal quest to follow Jesus. “For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps” (1Peter 2:21). 

And, if He should choose suffering for us in this particular instance and not healing, let us be willing to suffer. “And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2Corinthians 12:9). 

Life is growing more than dying. May Christ’s Church be  reinvigorated by healing and spiritual deliverance more than succumbing to the death all around us. “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2). 

Father, cause us to pray-on for spiritual and physical deliverance. We know You are “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2Peter 3:9), and “there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14). But, inspire us to “compel [others] to come in, that [Your] house may be filled” (Luke 14:23). Likewise, inspire us to pray for spiritual and physical healing, that You may be glorified for the deliverance. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen.

My Servant Jōb

Ken

We don’t say it, but it’s hard not to feel, it wasn’t fair for Job, a “perfect” man (Job 1:8 KJV) by God’s own estimation, to be subjected to all the pain, suffering, and deprivation he endured at the hands of the satan. But, doesn’t God the Judge determine what is fair? The same kind of thinking was voiced about the blind man in the NT. “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9:2-3). The Almighty never apologized to Job and said, ‘I did it to win a bet with the satan.’ After the Almighty responded out of the whirlwind, Job could only say, “Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3, 6). LORD, may we be as Your servant Job. Amen. 

Smyrna Was A Suffering Church

Ken

Smyrna was a suffering church. In Revelation 2 and 3, only Smyrna and Philadelphia were not rebuked by Jesus. “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Revelation 2:10 KJV). God’s appointed suffering is always measured (“tribulation ten days”) because He remembers our frame is dust.

Suffer Shame for His Name

Ken

Suffer shame for His name willingly, not for asceticism, but for love of Him. After being beaten for their Christian witness, the disciples “departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41 KJV). Whenever you are embarrassed for Christ, remind yourself to rejoice and take it willingly.

Suffering and Glory

Ken

Suffering as a Christian is not a strange thing, even with our constitutional forgetfulness and ignorance multiplying our sorrows. “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (1Peter 4:12-13 KJV). But, rejoice because those who suffer with Jesus will also be glorified with Him. No suffering, no glory.  

Embracing Suffering Doesn’t Mean Rejecting Overcoming

Ken

Just because we embrace suffering as God’s way of refining us, teaching us, and magnifying Himself, doesn’t mean we reject overcoming. On the one hand, Christ said, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33 KJV). On the other hand, He said, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (16:33). On one hand Paul said, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2Corinthians 12:9 KJV). On the other hand Paul said, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us” (Romans 8:37 KJV). Initially, Job defended his righteousness about his suffering. In the end, He confessed the Almighty’s rightness to choose, if and when he should suffer. “Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not” (Job 42:3 KJV). Is the Holy Spirit impressing you to suffer or overcome? He can do either. What has He given you to embrace for your circumstance? “Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth” (Romans 14:22 KJV).

Why Me?

Ken

Why me? Why am I suffering? Why did God choose Job to be the Poster Child for Suffering? Job may not have said it that way, but felt it. Yahweh already answered that question, even before Job asked it, in a conversation with the Enemy. “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth [hates] evil” (Job 1:8 KJV). The LORD is not afraid to refine us, even at the Adversary’s suggestion. “None like him” (1:8) indicates Job was the best the Almighty had “in the earth” (1:8). Job was “perfect” (1:8) in heart, which is the only perfection possible for any created being. He was “upright” (1:8) because he did right. He feared God more than the Adversary, where well trained troops are more afraid of disappointing their drill sergeant than they fear the enemy. He hated evil. Job’s testing proved: (1) “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2Timothy 3:12 KJV), (2) Suffering makes the greatest impression on us in a teachable moment, for even Jesus in His humanity “learned He obedience by the things which He suffered” (Hebrews 5:8 KJV), (3) In suffering’s refinement, “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10 KJV), (4) Yahweh’s conversation with the satan demonstrates there really is an Unseen Realm of Spiritual Warfare, where “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12 KJV). May Yahweh be magnified as He helps us, and we help each other, in our suffering to come forth as gold. Amen and amen.

What About Job?

Ken

When it comes to suffering, what about Job? Didn’t it prove that even good people have to suffer, and suffering was not necessarily a sign of God’s anger because we have done something wrong? Was Job wrong for expecting deliverance from his suffering? Weren’t Job’s friends condemned by God for attacking Job? Wasn’t Elihu not condemned by God because he attempted more to justify God than just condemn Job? Didn’t Job finally confess, “Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not” (Job 42:3 KJV) and repented? God is sovereign. We are earthly soldiers in a Cosmic War between the Almighty and the forces of Lucifer. If my suffering or death is needed for the Lord God Almighty to achieve His Final Triumph over the Wicked One, Thy Kingdom come, and Thy Will be done. And, if my deliverance will frustrate the wicked and encourage the godly, do unto me Lord, as You will. Amen and amen.

James 5 Commentary

Ken

Practical Christian Wisdom from the New Testament Book of James

Warning to the Rich (5:1-6)  

Verse 1: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you” (James 5:1 NIV). 

Is James condemning all rich people? No, as we read previously, he is condemning all those who are seeking to accumulate wealth irrespective of God or man. He describes whom he condemns — “you [who] boast in your arrogant schemes” (James 4:16 NIV). Why should they “weep and wail” (5:1 NIV)? He answers, “because of the misery that is coming on you” (5:1 NIV). To what misery does James refer? Jesus described the misery of more than one rich person, possibly because riches are associated with someone who has been blessed. The rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31) illustrates how a homeless beggar goes to his reward in Abraham’s bosom, and a rich man descends from his luxury into the fiery torment of Hades, both defying what many would expect as their outcomes. The moral of their story is not to seek the outward evidence of wealth as a signpost to Heaven, and not to reject the evidence of poverty, as a certainty of Hell. Both must pay heed to the claims of Scripture, without the benefit of miraculous events, to find their way to Heaven. “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31 NIV). The rich fool and his storehouse (Luke 12:13-21) shows us how foolish it is to place our confidence in earthly riches, as a sign of prosperity, happiness, and security. “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (12:19 NIV). God terminates the rich fool’s life with the epitaph, “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God” (12:21 NIV). 

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