In Matthew 14, we find Jesus getting into a boat to leave for “a desert place apart” where he could be alone. He had just received word that John the Baptist had been beheaded and buried. And now he was so moved by this news that he felt the need to be by himself and pray.
Any discussion on suffering and trials must begin with the most troubled, distressed, despairing believer of all time. The man I’m talking about was a righteous, faithful, God-loving servant, devoted to prayer and worship. Yet, when sorrow and trouble overwhelmed his life, this same man began to sound like an atheist.
At the very height of his suffering, this servant concluded the following: “If I had called, and he [God] had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice. For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.”
"The word of the Lord came unto Jonah...saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord" (Jonah 1:1-3). We know Jonah's story. He's the man who tried to run away from God. The Lord gave Jonah a mandate to preach judgment to the city-nation Nineveh. But instead of warning Nineveh, Jonah fled.
If you claim not to have any enemies, I'd like to make you an offer. I want to sign you up to write a book explaining how you managed to get this far in life without having a single person oppose you. Your book would surely be a bestseller.
You could describe how nobody has ever been jealous, envious or hostile toward you. You could explain how no one has ever tried to interrupt your plans, wreck your goals or derail your future. You could tell how no one has ever injured you, kept you from a desire, or orchestrated a destructive offense against you.
Who do you name as your closest friends? Believe it or not, this question is a matter of great concern to the Lord. And that's because your friendships speak loudly — both to God and to the world — about the condition of your heart.
"He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me" (Psalms 18:16-19).
The Psalmist writes, "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes" (Psalm 119:71). You may wonder, as I have — what kind of theology is this? Is it actually good for me to be afflicted?
"Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe..." (1 Thessalonians 2:10).
That's a pretty powerful statement to make — to call on God as a witness to your holiness! Yet, without flinching, Paul boasted to the believers in Thessalonica:
"I and my co-workers lived blamelessly before you and before God. Our conduct was righteous and pure. God is witness to our holy behavior — yet you also are witnesses. You saw that we walked holy and blameless before God and men!"
"Help, Lord: for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men" (Psalm 12:1).
A seventy-five-year-old retired official of a large Pentecostal denomination was arrested recently in Houston, Texas. He was charged with soliciting a prostitute. He confessed he had been doing this for nearly forty years; yet in all that time he had never shed a tear of grief. At one time he had been a faithful servant of God — but for the past forty years, he had lived a lie. He failed God, ceasing to be godly.
Beloved, we are in a fierce war that is a life and death struggle for our faith. Satan is determined to shipwreck and destroy the faith of God's elect; and the stronger your faith, the greater will be his attack against it.
