Devotions

Some people read the Book of Job and think that the driving question behind it is “Why does God allow suffering?”

The real issue behind Job, though, is “The righteous suffer, and we sometimes don’t know why.” The Bible openly admits that the righteous will suffer simply because of their acts of faith. “We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you” (1 John 3:12-13, ESV). “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).

As a missionary in the Middle East for many years, I saw believers endure persecution that would be unimaginable in the West, at least for now. A pastor swept off to jail where interrogators break his arms. A girl murdered by her own father for leaving Islam. It can become so easy to murmur in our hearts, “God, why do you allow this?” When we process this question outside of scripture, we will be tempted to bitterness and despair.

The righteous suffer for doing what is right. We deserve glory and get pain instead. It may feel bitterly unfair, and it is. That said, suffering helps to sever us from our umbilical cord to the world. I do not say this to make light of anyone’s suffering. Pain is never easy to address because it’s always complicated and deeply personal. However, it is also a stark reminder that we will only experience the blessings of heaven after death, not in this world. 

When we engage with suffering, especially when it’s for doing good, we may easily become overwhelmed. Meditating on scripture is never more important than at these moments. “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. …Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:7-8,11).

_{Mark Renfroe and his wife, Amy, have been involved in field missions work for 30 years. Mark served as the area director for Assemblies of God World Missions and currently serves as the chief missions officer for World Challenge.}

The Lord appeared to Abraham one day and gave him an incredible command: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1, NKJV).

What an amazing thing. Suddenly, God picked out a man and told him, “I want you to get up and go, leaving everything behind, your home, your relatives, even your country. I want to send you someplace, and I will direct you how to get there along the way.”

How did Abraham respond to this incredible word from the Lord? “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).

What was God up to? Why would he search the nations for one man and then call him to forsake everything and go on a journey with no map, no preconceived direction, no known destination? Think about what God was asking of Abraham. He never showed him how he would feed or support his family. He didn’t tell him how far to go or when he would arrive. He only told him two things in the beginning: “Go,” and, “I will show you the way.”

In essence, God told Abraham, “From this day on, I want you to give me all your tomorrows. You’re to live the rest of your life putting your future into my hands, one day at a time. If you will commit to do this, I will bless you, guide you and lead you to a place you never imagined.” Abraham is what Bible scholars call a “pattern man,” someone who serves as an example of how to walk before the Lord.

Make no mistake, Abraham was not a young man when God called him to make this commitment. He probably had plans in place to secure his family’s future, so he had to be concerned over many considerations as he weighed God’s call. Yet Abraham “believed in the Lord; and [God] counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).

The apostle Paul tells us that all who believe and trust in Christ are the children of Abraham. Like Abraham, we are counted as righteous because we heed the same call to entrust all our tomorrows into the Lord’s hands.

In Exodus 12, we see that on the door of every Israelite home, the blood of a lamb was stricken on the two side-posts and lintel. This was to protect God’s people from the passing angel of death. When the day came, a multitude of Israelites marched out of captivity, including 600,000 men plus women and children. “On that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:41, NKJV).

In the next chapter, “Moses said to the people: ‘Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place.’” (Exodus 13:3). God’s people were delivered by the Lord’s strength alone, not by human means.

In scripture, David declared, “God is my strength and power; he makes my way perfect… He took me in; he drew me out of many waters; he delivered me from my strong enemy for they were too strong for me. …He is a protector to all them that trust in him” (see Samuel 22:33, 17, 18, 31).

Our faith and strength may grow weak, but in our times of weakness God has given us marvelous promises to renew and strengthen us.

“For you have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued under me those who rose against me” (2 Samuel 22:40).

“The bows of the mighty men are broken, and those who stumbled are girded with strength” (1 Samuel 2:4).

“The Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace” (Psalm 29:11).

“O God, you are more awesome than your holy places. The God of Israel is he who gives strength and power to his people. Blessed be God!” (Psalm 68:35).

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in you… They go from strength to strength, each one appears before God in Zion” (Psalm 84:5, 7).

Beloved, do you believe our God is strong? If he is strong, no power can stand before him. Therefore, commit everything into his mighty hand of strength and power. He will make a way. Most of all, believe this word: “In the day when I cried out, you answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul” (Psalm 138:3).

Jesus tells us, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24, NKJV). Indeed, the scriptures tells us from cover to cover that once the Lord forgives our sins, he wipes them from his memory.

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake; and I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

“I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to me, for I have redeemed you” (Isaiah 44:22).

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: ‘I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,’  then He adds, ‘Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.’” (Hebrews 10:16-17).

Here is abundant good news for every Christian who’s ever sweated, striven or worked to mortify the deeds of his flesh in his own strength. Does this include you? How many promises have you made to God, only to break them? Here is your good news, reported in the book of Micah: “I, the Lord, will subdue all your iniquities.” God has given us image after image in these passages of how he wipes our sins from memory. He blots them out; he remembers them no more; he buries them in the sea; he “subdues” them, meaning he chases them down and captures them.

Isaiah even tells us God takes our trespasses and flips them over his shoulder. “But you have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for you have cast all my sins behind your back” (Isaiah 38:17). This means God will never look at our sins or acknowledge them again.

Now let me ask you, if God forgets our sins, why don’t you and I? Why do we always allow the devil to dig up some muck or mire from our past and wave it in our face, when all our sin is already covered by Christ’s blood? The cleansing, forgiving power of Christ’s blood is all-encompassing. It covers our entire lives!

If you are suffering, it may be that God is working things out for you in his own way. It is most often the sovereign work of our God unfolding a master plan known only to him. Through all the suffering of God's people, he is at work. Study your Bible, and you will discover these same patterns in the lives of all of God's people. In case after case, when God began to fulfill his promise, the roof seemed to cave in first!

Think of Daniel and the three Hebrew children. They gave themselves to a life of holiness and separation from the world and all its pleasures. Daniel pledged himself to a life of prayer, tears and intercession, but what did that get him and his three friends? Testing just before victory.

You don't go from the prayer closet to some mountaintop victory; you go to the lions' den. You don't go from consecration to a life of ease and blessing only; you go to the fiery furnace. These men were not afraid to face pain and suffering, because they knew it always ended in God having his way.

Think of Elijah. God gave him a glorious promise of a spiritual awakening in the land, an outpouring of abundant rain and a new day of victory for God's people. Look at all the confusion that broke out after the promise was given. Jezebel threatened his life, chasing him into hiding in the mountains. Wicked forces killed the prophets of God, and the land continued in wickedness and drought.

Can you imagine how confused Elijah must have been? “What kind of answered prayer is this? I'm left all on my own. Where is the Lord? Has his promise failed?” All the while God was doing exactly what he said he would do. The confusion would soon pass and the answer would be forthcoming.

Christ left his disciples a promise that could have seen them through all the confusion and pain, but they were too broken up in sorrow to remember. He had told them, “After I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee” (Matthew 26:32, NKJV). In other words, “Don't try to figure it all out. Don't question the time of confusion. It's not your battle. God is at work! When this is all over, I will still be going before you. Your shepherd will still be there.” What an encouraging word!