[Biblemat] S) FINDING CONTENTMENT IN GOD'S GRACE

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is a study from my
files.  Use to the glory of God.

FINDING CONTENTMENT IN GOD'S GRACE

     ALL TOO EASILY FORGOTTEN IN OUR LONGING FOR
THE LOVE OF GOD ARE THE WORDS OF Prov. 3:12:  "For
whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son
whom He receives."  As a consequence we can feel decidedly
betrayed when we are called upon to suffer, sometimes quite
painfully, because we are God's children.  We may even begin
to wish that God did not love us quite so much.  But obvious-
ly pain has an important part to play in God's loving purpose
for His children, and there is much to learn from the life and
writings of Paul about how to deal with suffering, not just with patience but 
with thanksgiving and joy.

     Suffering was largely foreign to Paul's early life as a zeal-
ous Pharisee.  A staunch defender of the faith of his fathers
he was revered and respected, and on a fast track to becom-
ing one of ancient Judaism's most celebrated rabbis (Gal. 1:
14; Phil. 3:4-6).  Yet, as a Christian, pain and suffering of every sort 
dogged him relentlessly until his physically and
materially wretched life (2 Cor. 11:23-27) was ended by Caesa-
r's sword (2 Tim. 4:6).  Such is hardly the kind of life, and death, that we 
as Christians would choose.  Hardly the sort of
life we would call a model of God's marvelous grace at work.
Yet that is exactly how Paul saw it.  And in Paul's view of suf-
fering for the Lord's sake is found, without doubt, the reason
he was able to endure so much inward pain and outward con-
flict undaunted and without the remotest bit of self-pity or re-
gret.

     Second Corinthians is known for being the most open hearted of all 
Paul's epistles.  In this letter he speaks openly
and often of his suffering.  It stuns us a bit to read these cata-
logues of adversity (chs. 1,4,6,11,12) because they are so un-
characteristic.  Ordinarily Paul found it both uncomfortable
and unprofitable to speak about what he had suffered as an
apostle of Christ.  We might be made to wonder if too many 
battles have taken their toll on an old warrior but a careful
reading of 2 Corinthians will show that the very opposite is
true.  The truth is that  he saw his tribulations as expressions
of the grace of God, and he wanted the Corinthians to see that it was not 
only true for him but for themselves as well.
"And our hope for you is steadfast...that as you are partakers
of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation"
(1:7).

     Paul's overwhelming burdens in Asia, that made him des-
pair even of life, were seen as a blessing in all directions.  They taught 
him to trust God and not in himself (1:9).  They
comforted him because they were "the sufferings of Christ"
(1:5).  They prepared him to be a comfort to others who were
also going through the fire (1:4).  And isn't it remarkable that 
it was amidst such suffering that he was able to say quite
joyfully, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort" (1:3).

     In chapter four (vss. 7-11) Paul sees his outwardly pathet-
ic state as graphic evidence that the power of the gospel was
in the message not the messenger.  He viewed his patient en-
durance of hardships and privation as a means of proving his
selfless love for those he taught (6:3-10) and his suffering and distress as 
evidence that he was a true servant and apostle of Christ (11:23-33).  He was, 
he said, suffering and
dying with Christ so that he might live with Him (2 Cor. 4:10,
11; Gal. 2:20); and he rejoiced in it!

     It is near the end of his letter that Paul reveals an early
experience that is all likelihood shaped his remarkable  response to a 
lifetime of suffering (12:1-10).  Fourteen years
before, likely during his retreat in Tarsus (Acts 9:30), he had
been caught into paradise to hear wonderful things that he
was forbidden to utter.  But from those exhilarating heights
Satan had brought him down by some unidentified but very
painful "thorn in the flesh."  He evidently saw his infirmity as
a deterrent to his apostolic calling and earnestly besought the Lord three 
times to draw it out; and three times he was
refused.  The Lord's answer was "My grace is sufficient for
you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."  Satan's
aim was certainly malevolent but God's was gracious, to pre-
vent in Paul an overweening pride.

     Every since, Paul wrote, he had rejoiced "infirmities, in re-
proaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake" 
because it was in his weakness that he was
made strong (2 Cor. 12:10).  Paul realized as we all must that
until we are emptied of ourselves God cannot fill us, and, un-
til we know our own inadequacy, His great power cannot work
to transform and make us a blessing to others.  We have at 
last to realize that God's grace is sufficient for us even when
suffering comes that we do not understand and that He does
not take away.  Trusting in God's goodness and the love of His Son we can 
know as Paul did in the midst of pain that "all
things will work together for good" (Rom. 8:28) and that our
light and momentary afflictions are working for us "a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).  ---------
Paul Earnhart in Biblical Insights, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 2007.   </HTML>
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