Nehemiah : WK 5 - MON
Suffering
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
A little over twenty years ago, Matt Redmond published the song "Blessed Be Your Name." At the time, it stood out to me as particularly profound because of its contrast to many other praise songs from that era. Halfway through its second verse, the lyrics say:
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
While most of the song celebrates the positive experiences of our journey with Jesus, it is refreshingly honest to acknowledge the likely presence of suffering in the Christian life. There is something disingenuous about listening to sermons on repeat that extol the theology that if you give the right offering and pray the right prayer, your prosperity is guaranteed and everything will be fine. Also, this perspective doesn’t square with human experience.
One point of Jesus’ parable about a wise man who builds his house on the rock in Matthew 7 is that the rains and floods come for both the foolish and the wise. God’s presence carries us through difficulties rather than around them.
We must prepare ourselves in both our personal lives and our faith community. Challenges are ahead. Should we even use the term suffering? If we aim to achieve anything worthwhile, the waters will rise.
In our story of Nehemiah, trouble appears every few verses. Long before Paul articulates it in 2 Corinthians 4, Nehemiah experiences it: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.” So we sing with full voice, “Blessed be your name, on the road marked with suffering.”
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
A little over twenty years ago, Matt Redmond published the song "Blessed Be Your Name." At the time, it stood out to me as particularly profound because of its contrast to many other praise songs from that era. Halfway through its second verse, the lyrics say:
Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name
While most of the song celebrates the positive experiences of our journey with Jesus, it is refreshingly honest to acknowledge the likely presence of suffering in the Christian life. There is something disingenuous about listening to sermons on repeat that extol the theology that if you give the right offering and pray the right prayer, your prosperity is guaranteed and everything will be fine. Also, this perspective doesn’t square with human experience.
One point of Jesus’ parable about a wise man who builds his house on the rock in Matthew 7 is that the rains and floods come for both the foolish and the wise. God’s presence carries us through difficulties rather than around them.
We must prepare ourselves in both our personal lives and our faith community. Challenges are ahead. Should we even use the term suffering? If we aim to achieve anything worthwhile, the waters will rise.
In our story of Nehemiah, trouble appears every few verses. Long before Paul articulates it in 2 Corinthians 4, Nehemiah experiences it: “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.” So we sing with full voice, “Blessed be your name, on the road marked with suffering.”
- What’s your favorite praise song and why?
- What difficulty have you been through that challenged your ability to praise God?
- What challenge do you need Jesus to help you through today?
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