But for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not reject us forever.
Why do You hide Your face
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
For our soul has sunk down into the dust;
Our body cleaves to the earth. Ps 44:22-25
Ever asked those questions? If you haven’t read the blog, “Do I offend you”? you should do that before reading this. Some time ago I heard a message preached by Pastor Cory Jordan that stimulated my thinking further on this subject.
Whenever we find ourselves asking the questions the sons of Korah (the worship leaders during Moses’ time) asked, and hurting the way they were, we always want to know “Why?”. It would be worth it to go back and read this dynamic, yet sad chapter in Psalms to see their pain. And of course they want to know why. After reading the chapter we know that they obviously have heard nothing from God, but they do know one piece of the truth that they were holding onto. This truth is important since we wind up often thinking that things happen to us because that’s “just life”, or all the bad stuff happens because we are sinful. These men knew that that is not true and they give us one clue in the whole 25 verses that show us what they understood. Can you see it in the verses above? Look for it now before you read the next paragraph.
Did you see it? It’s the first four words – “But for Your sake”. In other words they knew that their pain and hardship in this life happens because it serves God’s purposes. Another way to say it would be to hear God speak these words to you – “This pain that feels like it is going to kill you is what I need for you to endure…really, it is best for Me that you hurt like this.” WOW! On the one hand I hate that with everything inside me – “I don’t want to hurt period! Find another way to make things turn out good for you God!” But on the other hand I have grown to love and understand His glory enough that I want to rejoice with the apostles that I have been, “considered worthy to suffer shame for His name”. (Acts 5:41-42) But sometimes it is hard to get passed that negative emotion and see that this thing is “for His sake”.
So how do we accept this practically? What if the next time you find yourself hurting deeply (and not for sinfulness), you cry out with the sons of Korah; and what if you imagine the God of the Universe and Lord Jesus coming in to say…
“I really need for you to endure this hurt, its best for Me”.
Real spiritual maturity is coming to the place where that reason would be enough.
Is it?
P.S. It is still ok to cry out that last verse of the Psalm:
Rise up, be our help,
And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness. Ps 44:26
Apparently He has another “Sake”.
If I know that it is what God wants me to do, then I will, by faith, do it. I don’t have a problem with that. My walk with Christ is ever maturing.
The times in my life where I accepted the hurt because it was what my heavenly father wanted me to do have only served to make me stronger. However, I still struggle with the absolute – - am I struggling for Christ or for my own self centeredness.
When I experience times like that I have to remember to turn to the word of God and go to my quiet place to listen to him guide me.
Psalms is a good place.
WOW! If anyone had the right to ask God why, they did. In 44:8 They say, “Oh God, we give glory to you all day long, and constantly praise your name”. They realy knew the God of their ancestors intimately.
I think it’s important to note that they afirmed their faith before they said, starting in verse 17, All this (bad stuff) has happened despite our loyalty to you. We have not violated your covenant. Our hearts have not deserted you. Wake up and help us.
I think after afirming their faith, then asking God why, they bring things full circle and answer their own question. In verse 22 they say, “For your sake we are killed every day”. They knew the answer before they asked. They just needed to confirm it again.
I like Romans 8:18 from New Living Translation
And since we are His children,we will share His treasures-for everything God gives to His Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering. Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later.
Own the suffering.
“What we have here is a failure to communicate” That’s what it feels like sometimes where I’m living.What my heart knows,my mind doesn’t seem to grasp.I know that this is all in Gods’ plan,I know that he must refine all of us to serve his purpose, but,I still weep. I know our Fathers secrets are his, but sometimes I wish I could understand a bit better(I think,maybe not ,I don’t know)Maybe I lack spiritual maturity,but pain is painful , and horrible to watch. I’m here now, and love my Father with all my heart.Even in the worst of times I have trusted Him,but the weight is heavy on my heart.
suffering of any kind is horrible. It goes against our human nature and we want to retreat. We want to save others from the pain also. But our loving Heavenly Father must have something else in mind, other than making life hard for us. He doesn’t want us to figure out a way around the suffering, He wants us to walk through it with Him. He wants us to encourage others that are going through suffering as well, and lift up their arms as Aaron and Hur did for Moses in Exodus 17:12.
I think we are put into times of suffering so Jesus can be seen. (For His sake) Suffering develops so many things in us that could not be gained in any other way. In suffering we reach further for God, we go deeper with God, we are forced to walk out what we believe, our dependence on God gets stronger, our confidence in God grows, it’s a faith builder, it’s a time of encouragement and help from other Christians, and much more. Atleast it can be once you submit to it.
He gives us weights of suffering that we can’t carry humanly, so we will turn to Him and ask Him to help us carry them. We will be drawn closer to Him, and others that see this will be drawn to Him as well (for His sake). He will never give us something to carry that He is not willing to help us carry, or carry Himself. He has promised to never give us more than we can handle. Our suffering has to be a living suffering, a sacrifice of sorts, to be able to produce an eternal reward in heaven, as well as an earthly reward of knowing God more. It should cost us something. Look what His suffering and sacrifice cost Him, and look what it produced for us.
When you were a kid, did you ever have growing pains? Pains so bad they made you cry for a week? Well, I didn’t because I didn’t grow past “midget”. But, that’s another story. Point is, pain is proof that something is changing and growing. Even though we view suffering as a negative humanly, I think we can view it as a positive spiritualy. No doubt, it’s a hard pill to swallow either way.
I say it everyday as I get on I-75…