The Right Way

[KenH]

"And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation." Psalm 107:7

When the Lord leads, we can follow. The path may be rough, but if the Lord upholds, we can walk in it without stumbling. Whatever the Lord bids, we can do if we have but his presence; whatever he calls upon us to suffer, we can bear if we have but the approbation of a good conscience and his approving smile. Oh, the wonders of sovereign grace! The cross is no cross if the Lord gives strength to bear it; affliction is no affliction if the Lord supports under it; trial is no trial if sweetened by his smile, and sorrow no grief if lightened by his love. It is our fretfulness, unbelief, carnal reasoning, rebellion, and self-pity which make a rough way a wrong way; but grace in its all-conquering power, not only subdues every difficulty without, but what is its greater triumph, subdues every difficulty within.

It is, and ever must be, one of the strongest principles of our faith, that every way must, in the end, be a right way if it be God's way. And is it not, according to the verdict of our own conscience, a right way to lead us forth out of the world, out of sin, out of self, out of pride and self-righteousness, out of evil in every form, into everything which is good, holy, gracious, acceptable, saving, and sanctifying; everything that can conform us to the image of Christ, who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and make us fit for the inheritance of the saints in light?

And what is the end of all this leading and guiding? "That they might go to a city of habitation"--the new Jerusalem, the glorious city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. There, some of our friends have gone before; there they dwell as citizens of that blessed city which is all of pure gold, like unto clear glass; a city which has no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of the Lord enlightens it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. This is the city of habitation where the saints will forever dwell; and the Lord is leading forth each and all of his wilderness wanderers by the right way, that he may bring them in the same way into his eternal presence, and to the enjoyment of those pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore.

- J.C. Philpot, Through Baca's Vale, March 24

 

[KenH]

"The cross is no cross if the Lord gives strength to bear it; affliction is no affliction if the Lord supports under it; trial is no trial if sweetened by his smile, and sorrow no grief if lightened by his love."

This sentence in the devotional above reminded me of a couple of stanzas from John Newton's hymn, "How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours":

Content with beholding His face,
My all to His pleasure resigned,
No changes of seasons or place
Would make any change in my mind:
While blest with a sense of His love,
A palace a toy would appear;
And prisons would palaces prove,
If Jesus would dwell with me there.

Dear Lord, if indeed I am Thine,
If Thou art my sun and my song,
Say, why do I languish and pine,
And why are my winters so long?
O drive these dark clouds from my sky,
Thy soul-cheering presence restore;
Or take me to Thee upon high,
Where winter and clouds are no more.

 

[Tenchi]

"The cross is no cross if the Lord gives strength to bear it; affliction is no affliction if the Lord supports under it; trial is no trial if sweetened by his smile, and sorrow no grief if lightened by his love."

I wonder if Jesus thought to himself as he bore his cross to Golgotha, "The Spirit gives me strength, so my cross is no cross at all; the Spirit supports me, so my affliction is no affliction; I know I am pleasing my Father, so my trial is no trial; my sorrow is lightened by His love."

Scripture paints rather a different picture:

Luke 22:41-44
41 And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and began to pray,
42 saying, "Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done."
43 Now an angel from heaven appeared to Him, strengthening Him.
44 And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground.

Matthew 27:46
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

2 Corinthians 1:8
8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life;

Hebrews 11:36-39
36 and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment.
37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated
38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised,

The will of God can be a very dangerous and very painful thing. Making suffering in pursuit of the will of God sound like a "bed of roses" trivializes that suffering and sets up Christians for great shock and confusion when, in pursuit of God's will, they endure tremendous pain, isolation, unjust condemnation and a brutal death.

It is a common practice for Muslims to murder infidels by sawing off - not cutting off in one quick chop - their heads with a knife. Try for a moment to imagine what it must be like to have someone saw through your neck with a knife 'til your head eventually comes off your shoulders. Do you honestly imagine you'd be thinking that the process was light and easy, the whole excruciating, gory business a sweet thing?

I heard a terrible story, given by an eyewitness, of two Christian Ukrainian men in the recent war who were doing charity work near a battle-zone who were captured by Russians. They were tied to chairs and then beaten to death with baseball bats. The sounds of their bones cracking and their screams of pain filled the facility where other prisoners of war were being held, burning indelibly into the mind of the eyewitness who was recounting their horrendous end.

And so, I read Philpott's quotation above and consider the horrors these Christians have suffered for Christ's sake and feel a little sickened by his words. God is not absent in our suffering. But our suffering is called suffering because we are actually suffering - and, sometimes, very awfully. It turns out, God does not evaporate our pain, our sorrow, our humiliation, our isolation, and our fear when we wish desperately that He would. Instead, He allows a demonic Muslim to saw off our head, or a devilish Russian to smash our body 'til we're dead, or to linger for months in devastating pain while cancer eats away our brain, or pancreas, or stomach, or to lose the one we love most in this world - our spouse, child, friend, or parent.

Christians in the West, largely kept from the horrors of suffering that often afflict their brethren in other parts of the world, treat suffering for Christ far too lightly. And so, we are very ill-prepared for what, I think, will shortly arrive as God's judgment of the West picks up speed and fullness. I wonder how many will, in the suffering to come, think on the sort of thing Philpott wrote and be helped by it.

 

[KenH]

Making suffering in pursuit of the will of God sound like a "bed of roses" trivializes that suffering and sets up Christians for great shock and confusion when, in pursuit of God's will, they endure tremendous pain, isolation, unjust condemnation and a brutal death.

And so, I read Philpott's quotation above and consider the horrors these Christians have suffered for Christ's sake and feel a little sickened by his words.

Not being trivialized at all. Philpot is echoing what the apostle Paul wrote:

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Tenchi, do the words of Paul, "light affliction", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

Furthermore,

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:10

Tenchi, do the words of Paul, "I take pleasure in infirmities, etc.", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

Furthermore,

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. - Romans 8:18

Tenchi, do the words of Paul, "sufferings...not worthy to be compared", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

Furthermore,

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. - James 1:2-4

Tenchi, do the words of James, "count it all joy", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

 

[Tenchi]

Not being trivialized at all. Philpot is echoing what the apostle Paul wrote:

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

Tenchi, do the words of Paul, "light affliction", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

No, because Paul's words and Philpott's are very different. In view of "an eternal weight of glory," Paul could consider his temporary ("but for a moment") suffering "light." But this is a comparative statement, not a promise that God would make a Christian's suffering actually, in experience, "light," or "easy" or, as Philpott wrote, "an affliction that is no affliction." Paul is expressing thinking akin to that of someone who has brain surgery in order to remove a tumor. They know that, ultimately, they will be permanently free of the damage and pain of the tumor, and are willing to undergo very painful and destructive surgery as a result. "It'll be worth it," they think, which is essentially what Paul is saying in the quotation above. But neither Paul suffering for Christ's sake, nor the person undergoing brain surgery, actually thinks that because it will be "worth it," the pain they must endure is easy, or light, or trivial.

Furthermore,

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. - 2 Corinthians 12:10

Tenchi, do the words of Paul, "I take pleasure in infirmities, etc.", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

Again, no. Because Paul does not here speak of suffering in the manner in which Philpott did. Paul could take pleasure in the midst of the things he endured, not because they had been made pleasurable ("a trial sweetened," as Philpott wrote), but because of the thought that, because of them, he would experience God's power resting upon himself. It was this experience of supernatural power in which Paul took pleasure, not his reproaches, necessities, persecutions and distresses. All these things remained painful, dangerous, and distressing, though in the middle of it all, God empowered Paul to continue.

Furthermore,

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. - Romans 8:18

Tenchi, do the words of Paul, "sufferings...not worthy to be compared", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

See above.

Furthermore,

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. - James 1:2-4

Tenchi, do the words of James, "count it all joy", sicken you as you said Philpot's do?

See above.

I notice that you've avoided dealing with the real substance of my last post. Why is that?