Dust to Dust (W.o.W. Rewind)

 Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Genesis 2:7

History has proven that men are often more prone to arrogance than to humility. Thus, almost immediately after our Lord tells us of our role in creation (see Genesis 1:26-30 and last week's post), how being made in His image we are to rule over the world as His vice-regents, He humbles us by reminding us what we are truly made of... dust. We have been chosen by God to rule over this world not because of any inherent goodness or regal quality in us, but rather by an extra dispensation of His grace to us.

 

Psalm 103:13-16 makes the point this way,

As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 

Reading that passage you get the idea that David is saying that we are but dust. One breath of the Lord's nostrils and we would disperse to the ends of the earth. Thus, our loving Father is gentle in correcting us for He (better than anyone else) knows how fragile we are.

Again Ecclesiastes 3:18-20 frames the point slightly differently saying,

I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.

We are no better than the animals that God has set us over. We are both made from the dust and when we die we return to the dust the same as they do.

What does all this mean? Well...it means this: Humble yourself before the Lord and remember that you are but dust. All that you have, He has given you. You haven't earned any of it. He has freely given it all. So when you enter His presence in prayer or worship do so with a humble spirit. But in your humility never forget our great hope.

The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man (I Corinthians 15:47-49).

One day the Christian will be made like Christ. We are dust now, but one day we will have heavenly bodies. We will be made like Christ. That is our hope and to that end we strive to be increasingly conformed into His image day by day.

For further reading...

• II Chronicles 33:1-20: Check out how Manasseh humbled himself before God and how seriously the Lord took his humility.
• Ecclesiastes 5:1-2: Let your words be few.
• I Corinthians 15: Check out what our heavenly bodies will be like.
• Romans 8:29: Destined to be conformed into the image of Christ.

Matthias Waited

And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Acts 1:24-26

Have you ever been passed over for something that was then given to someone who didn't deserve it? Maybe it was a promotion at work that went to the kiss-up. Or perhaps your crush chose someone else over you, someone who just wasn't good for them. Whatever it was, I bet you've felt this way at least once. And if you are anything like me then you probably whined and complained and raged about the unfairness of it all. Well, the next time you feel this way, think about Matthias.

Scripture tells us that Matthias had been with Jesus and the twelve disciples from the very beginning, "from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us” (Acts 1:22). But in spite of that Jesus didn't choose Matthias to be one of the twelve. From all that we know, Matthias was a faithful follower with a good reputation who had followed Jesus for three and a half years right alongside the other disciples, yet he had been passed over...for Judas. 

I wonder if Matthias ever felt overlooked? Did he ever think Jesus had made a mistake not choosing him? We know that Judas not only betrayed Jesus in the end but that he also embezzled money from the ministry along the way (John 12:4-6). Did Matthias ever question Judas'  place among the twelve? If he did, Scripture doesn't mention it. In fact, this is the only passage in all of Scripture that mentions Matthias at all. He is never mentioned before or after his selection to replace Judas. So why does it matter?

Consider what Jesus said to the twelve disciples (including Judas) in Matthew 19:28: "Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Jesus said this before Judas was revealed as a traitor. At the time, Matthias could not have known that this saying would one day apply to him. He was overlooked on earth from a human perspective, but he was not unnoticed. Although he may have felt unappreciated for years, God had a special place reserved for him in eternity. On earth, Matthias wasn't chosen for a center stage role. He was called to work behind the scenes, to humble himself and faithfully follow the Lord while he waited for God to lift him up. He trusted that God saw his good deeds and that God would reward him in due time. And God did! 

So don't be discouraged if you feel underutilized or passed over or forgotten by God. He has a part for you to play and your reward is secure. Don't waste your time coveting someone else's role. If you will be zealously faithful in doing what God has called you to do, you can be confident that even if you feel passed over in this world you will not go unnoticed in heaven.

Face-to-Face

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And [God] said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you... But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 

Exodus 33:18-20

Can you imagine how glorious it must have been to get a glimpse of God? How amazing to have all of God's goodness pass before you. How is that even possible? God's goodness is without measure. How long did that take for all of His goodness to pass in front of Moses? What did it look like? What was Moses feeling? Did he get goosebumps? Because I do just thinking about it!

How unimaginably blessed Moses was, but I have something even better to tell you if you can dare to believe it. One day, believer, you will see more of God than Moses did on that day. Even Moses, wasn't allowed to see God's face and live. He only got a glimpse. But Scripture says that every believer will get not just a glimpse of God, but that we will stare long and hard into the very face of God (Revelation 22:4). In heaven you will see God face-to-face. 

This is what Heaven is all about. It isn't about clouds or harps or anything you've seen in a child's cartoon. It is God and man, living with one another without barriers. What a privilege. What a joy. What a thing to look forward to. God wants you to be close to Him. He wants you to know Him. He promises that one day the knowledge of Him will cover this earth like water covers the sea (Isaiah 11:9). That is what heaven is.

Even now, as we look forward to and long for that day, God gives us glimpses too. His Word reveals His character to us. If we will spend time gazing into the truth of the Bible we will know Him better. And His Spirit meets us in our times of prayer so that we may at least feel His glory until that day when we can finally see it. Don't take these gifts for granted. Stare deeply at God's revelation of Himself today and drink deeply of His spiritual presence. The Word and the Spirit will cause His goodness to pass before you and you will be blessed because of it.     

Choose Sides

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.”

Mark 8:34-38

During WWII the United States military drafted many men into the armed services. You can imagine that few men who were fit for duty and who actually wanted to serve in the military were turned down. One young man was. In 1942, two years after having been turned down, this young man sent a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt requesting to be allowed to serve. He had a particularly strong reason to want to fight in the war and the United States had an equally strong reason to doubt his motives. You see this young man's name was William Patrick Hitler. He was Adolph Hitler's nephew. Incredibly, after being cleared for service by none other than J. Edgar Hoover himself, William did go on to serve in the U.S. Navy from 1944 until he was injured in 1947. (William's letter and other details of this story can be read here on the blog Letters of Note.)

We all have to choose sides. This is no less true in the epic struggle between good and evil, between God and Satan. Jesus tells us that there is an associated cost no matter what side you choose. If you choose to follow Christ, then everyday you must take up your cross. You must die to your fleshly desires and choose to live for His kingdom and glory. No doubt this is a high price to pay, but the accompanying reward makes it worthwhile. Those who lose their life for Jesus in this world will preserve their eternal life in the next. They will gain an inheritance in Heaven with the Son (I Peter 1:3-5).

On the other hand, if you choose to live for yourself in this world, then you can fulfill all your lusts and fleshly impulses. You can serve the gods of money, self, sex, drugs, or men's approval. But this will be a pitiful comfort when you lose your soul for eternity. Having chosen Satan's side in this world, your eternal fate will be tied to his in the next. Those who reject Jesus will spend an eternity in torment in the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:7-15). Additionally, there are those who claim to follow Christ, but whose behavior betrays them. If you are ashamed of Christ and do not obey His commands, you will lose your soul.

This world and the next are at odds. You simply can't have both. You must make a choice, one that will require you (like William) to turn your back on old ways of living, on friends, and even on family at times. Think carefully about your choice and count the cost but remember you are not guaranteed tomorrow. I urge you to choose Christ now by faith, believing that what you gain far outweighs anything you give up.

For further reading...

• I Peter 1:3-5- Consider the inheritance we gain as believers.
• Rev. 20:7-15- Consider the fate of those who reject Jesus.

God Made it Worse

Stephen was "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit," well respected in the first church (Acts 6:5). He was one of seven men chosen by the church and charged with ministering to the believing Greek widows. But Stephen did more than simply distribute food. He performed miracles and spoke with wisdom (Acts 6:8-10). It wasn't long before he was opposed by a faction of the Jews. When this faction could not refute God's wisdom that Stephen taught, they resorted to a familiar tactic. They trumped up false charges against him and brought him before the Sanhedrin just as they had done to Jesus (compare Acts 6:8-14 to Matt. 26:59-61). When Stephen rebuked the religious leaders for killing Jesus, tempers in the Sanhedrin began to boil over. Then God did something interesting...He made it worse.

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him.

Acts 7:54-58a

God not only allowed Stephen to die, He practically caused it. Why would He do that? One of His followers was in trouble, and far from coming to the rescue God made it worse. And how do we reconcile God's actions in this passage with Romans 8:28? "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." The Christian calling is in line with God's purpose for the world and our individual good. Often this means suffering for the faith. From the early church up to today this has been a reality of the Christian life. The Bible itself does not hide this. Jesus is Christianity's first martyr. Stephen is martyred shortly thereafter. Paul and others of the apostles are imprisoned, beaten and whipped. Though the Bible does not record it church history tells us that many of the apostles and other early believers suffered and died for their faith. The simple truth is that God's best for His children has always been in heaven. He blesses us here on earth as well, but our greatest blessings were always going to come in heaven.

So how did this work out for Stephen's good? The good that it worked for Stephen wasn't in this life. Stephen's reward is in heaven. The Bible assures us that all those who suffer faithfully will receive their reward in heaven (Matthew 5:11-12 & Mark 10:28-30). God's vision gave Stephen the strength and wisdom to stand strong until the end, to die a good death in defense of the gospel. He enabled Stephen to endure his stoning with peace and forgiveness in His heart. He accomplished the purpose for which God called him and for that Stephen will be blessed.  

Still why would God allow Stephen to die? How does it further His purposes to see one of His followers die? Acts 8:1-4 is instructive.

On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Because of the persecution that broke out against Stephen and the church as a whole, the gospel was taken out of Jerusalem and preached in many surrounding areas. Christianity spread and began to grow as a direct result. The early church father Tertullian has been quoted as saying that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." It certainly seems that in the case of Stephen, he was right. Had Stephen not suffered the church might have remained primarily restricted to Jerusalem. So in the end we can see that God can work even the suffering of His saints for their good and for the furthering of His kingdom in the world.

Is the Lord allowing a trial in your life right now? I wish that I could tell you that believers always beat cancer or they never go bankrupt, but I can't. What I can tell you is that God is with you in your trial, just like He was with Stephen. God has promised that all things work together for the believer's good either in this life or in the next. And God always keeps His promises. Persevere under your hardship! Resist the urge to strike out at God and blame Him. Instead, consider how it might be used by God to further His purposes in the world. Bear up under it with peace and joy looking forward to your reward in heaven. God is aware of your suffering, and you can rest assured that He has not allowed it to happen for no reason. 

(*I praise the Lord for our 200th blog post! And I thank my wife, Stacy, for tirelessly editing these posts over the past three years and ten months. She is a great blessing to me and to every reader of this blog.)

For further reading...

• Acts 7- In this passage Stephen responds to the charges brought against him with a masterful summary of the Old Testament from Abram's call (Genesis 12) to Solomon's building of the temple (I Kings 6 & II Chronicles 5:1).
• Matthew 5:11-12 & Mark 10:28-30- Rewards for those who suffer in the name of Jesus.
• A Share in His Sufferings- Read another WoW blog post on suffering. 
• Entitled- Do you have an entitled attitude before the Lord? Read this WoW blog post to find out. 

YOLO!

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

We use phrases like "you only live once" and "you only get one life" to remind us to live life for all it's worth, to take that once in a lifetime trip, and to seize the day. The truth is we never know if we'll have tomorrow. But what if we stopped thinking "you only get one life" and shifted our thinking to "you only get one eternity"? What if we focused less on squeezing every last bit of enjoyment out of this life and focused more on squeezing every bit of enjoyment we can into eternity?

I'm not saying it's wrong to be able to mark several big items off your bucket list. It's not that any of these things are wrong in and of themselves. What I am asking is "Is there a better more eternity focused way to spend our time and money?" The people I most look up to aren't the best travelled or most cultured. The people I really want to be like are men like George Muller. He poured all of his energy, time, and money into orphanages which helped raise more than 10,000 orphans in his lifetime and schools which helped educate over 120,000 children.* Muller simply trusted God to provide the money for these ventures. He never once asked anyone for a donation. He opted instead to leave room for the Holy Spirit to inspire people to give. 

I look up to the men and women who surrendered to a call to the mission field when that meant a life sentence. I don't know if you know this, but there was a time in history when missionaries leaving for the field would literally pack all of their belongings in a pine casket and board a ship to their final destination. They recognized that they were moving there for the remainder of their lives, which were often far too short due to disease or hostile locals. Sometimes these missionaries even wrote last letters to their relatives before they left. (To learn more about this and to read some samples of these letters and some modern day versions go to thelastletter.org/wall.)

As I think about these people I wonder... if I ever do save up enough money to take that once in a lifetime trip- what's really the wisest use of that money and time? Should I say to myself, "I only live once so let's take this big trip and tick this item off my bucket list? Let's enjoy life while we have it?" Or does it make more sense to say, "I can build an orphanage in Ghana for the same amount of money and help provide care for children who need to hear the good news about Jesus. I could enjoy the rewards for the way I spend this money for all of eternity!"? 

It's really hard to do, but I want God to continue working in my life to make me the latter type of person. I'm not saying that I will never do anything nice for my family, but I would rather spend my time and energy storing up treasure for eternity.

Perhaps David says what I am trying to get at best in Psalm 17:13-14 when he describes the wicked in part as "those of this world whose reward is in this life." May the Lord remind us all this week that our reward is not in this life like the wicked. We do not live to make the most of this life. Rather we live this life to the uttermost in order to make the most of eternity.

For further reading...

• Luke 12:13-21- What Jesus has to say about storing up things for yourself if you are not rich toward God.
• Luke 3:7-14- John the Baptist's definition of "fruit that is in keeping with repentance."
• 2 Corinthians 8:1-15- Paul's advice for giving.

* This info is widely supported but the Wikipedia entry on George Muller is the most concise way to come about it.

God Among His People

But will God really dwell on earth with humans? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!

II Chronicles 6:18

King Solomon asked this piercing question as He dedicated the great temple he had built for the Lord. I must admit that it is an apt question. As a whole, the human race is hopelessly corrupt, selfish, and debase. Would a holy God live among us? 

Solomon's question is answered in several places throughout Scripture, notably in Ezekiel 37 and Revelation 21. In Ezekiel 37 God reveals His desire to do nothing less than dwell among His people in the sanctuary of His temple.

...I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’” (Ezekiel 37:26-28)

In Revelation 21 the apostle John is given a glimpse of what this will look like in heaven as he hears a loud voice coming from the throne of God proclaiming...

“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. (Revelation 21:3)

It turns out that God's desire to dwell among His people and exist in close relationship with us is a central pillar of His great plan for us. It has been ever since Adam and Eve first rebelled against Him and broke the close relationship that they enjoyed with Him. Since that day God has been working to regain that relationship with His people. 

How can we ignore a God who desires closeness with us like this? How can we ignore a God who paid such a high price (the blood of Christ) to make this closeness possible? Yet, we do. We ignore the Word that He labored to put into our hands. We take it for granted and let it gather dust on our shelves. We refuse to enter His throne room in prayer, even though Jesus purchased that right for us with His precious blood. We refuse to give Him our whole hearts in worship, choosing instead to offer a sacrifice of half-hearted praise. For far too many of us dwelling with God with face-to-face nearness in heaven will feel like meeting a stranger for the first time.

Take some time today and "dwell" with God. Sit in His presence. Sing His praises. Read His Word and apply it to your life. Pray. Lift up your requests and listen to the leading of His Spirit. You will not regret time you spent with your Lord. 

For further reading, here are some passages you can "dwell" with God in today.

• Psalm 46- Be still and know that I am God.
• Ezekiel 37- The Valley of Dry Bones.
• Revelation 21- A glimpse of Heaven.

Let 'em Laugh

He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him.

Mark 5:39-40a

We've all been laughed at. Getting a good laugh when you are going for one can lift your spirit and cause your confidence to soar. The same laughter - when directed at you as the butt of the joke - can crush your spirit and lay your confidence in the dust. Yet notice Jesus' response in this passage. He simply shuts their laughter out (v. 40). 

By this time Jesus was a known miracle worker. So much so that the girl's father believed Jesus could save his daughter's life if he could only get Him there in time. Yet, even Jesus the great healer, when He suggests that death isn't the ultimate reality for this girl, is laughed to scorn. How much more will the world laugh at you and I if we dare to take seriously the Bible's teaching on the resurrection! In a culture dominated by scientific logic, what could be more final than death? There are no observable phenomena after death, therefore death is the end. Praise God that it isn't so! 

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. (I Thessalonians 4:16-17) 

This is THE great hope of the Christian faith. Though this world is hopelessly marred by sin so that even young children get sick and die, it is not our final destination. No! Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us. In the resurrection we will experience the world as God always meant it to be. As Paul says, "if only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied" (I Corinthians 15:19).

If you take Jesus' teaching on this subject seriously and order your life around it, then there is little doubt that you will be ridiculed. And yet, what difference does that make? Their laughter did not prevent the little girl from rising when Jesus said “Talitha koum” (v. 41). Neither will their laughter prevent you from rising on that day. On that day, dear believer, you will be vindicated for believing in the resurrection and you will enjoy the rewards you have laid up before yourself in the kingdom (Matthew 6:20). So, let them laugh, but continue to work all the more diligently knowing the time is short. Let them laugh, but proclaim the truth. Let them laugh, but serve God faithfully. Let them laugh, but pray for their souls. Let them laugh, but continue to believe in the great hope of the resurrection of all the saints in Christ Jesus our Lord. Let them laugh, but fix your eyes on the joy set before you and never, ever, ever change your course. 

For further reading...

• I Corinthians 15- Where o death is your sting?
• I Thessalonians 4:13-18- When the trumpet sounds.
• Revelation 20:11-22:5- The New Heavens and the New Earth.

A Moth Eaten Heart

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:19-21

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." For the longest time when I read that closing line I only saw half the point. I saw the more obvious half. The passage aims to convince us to spend our time and energy building spiritual wealth instead of physical wealth- wealth that will be there to greet us in heaven instead of wealth we must leave behind us as we pass through the portal of death. It reminds us that earthly treasure can be stolen (by thieves) or destroyed (as by moths or rust). It stands to reason that if I set my heart on earthly goods and they are stolen or destroyed, then my heart will be grieved and I will have suffered a great loss. This is the obvious half of Jesus' point. 

What I only just realized the other day is that there is another implication here that I have missed all along. If my heart is with my treasure and the treasure is stolen, then my heart is stolen also. If my heart is with my treasure when it is eaten up and destroyed by moths or rust, then my heart likewise has been eaten up and destroyed. When we set our hearts on the things of this world, we run the risk not only of losing our treasured possessions but of losing our very hearts. I am speaking of course not of the organ pumping blood in your chest but of that part of you that goes to the very core of who you are. When you choose to treasure, love, and put your hopes in the things of this world you become corrupt in your very nature. Riches, the approval of men, fame, sex, and power- these things (and all the others that our world has to offer) have a way of eating away at a person's soul just like moths or rust eat away at a fine garment or a precious metal. Little by little, what we set our heart on changes us. We serve the things which we love most, and when we bend the knee to the gods of this world, they corrupt and destroy who God intended us to be: worshipers of Him alone.

If the threat of suffering such great loss isn't enough to motivate you, then consider this. The Bible reveals to us that this world is not our home. We are merely pilgrims passing through on our way to eternity. The great heroes of the faith are described as understanding this well. 

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16)

In the same vane I Peter 2:11 says, 

"Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul."

So imagine for example a family who lives in destitute poverty. Their house is in shambles. It does not keep them safe from criminals nor does it keep them warm in the winter. Year round they struggle to survive, scrimping and saving so that one week out of the year they can take an extravagant vacation. They fly off to some exotic location and are waited on hand and foot by the best attendants money can buy. For seven days they live in the lap of luxury only to return home and live in poverty again for another 358 days until the next vacation.

Doubtless there are those in our world that do choose to live their lives this way. There are certainly those who order their spiritual lives like this. We choose to live in luxury while on this journey toward eternity, spending all our time and energy on fleeting pleasures that we can enjoy while on the trip, only to step out into eternity in destitute poverty. Choose the better way. Heed the Lord's advice. Spend your time, money, and energy wisely storing up treasure in heaven and in so doing protect your own heart.

For further reading...

• I John 2:15- These two loves are mutually exclusive.
• Acts 5:1-10 (especially verse 3)- Ananias and Sapphira.
• Proverbs 4:23- The wellspring of life. 
• Ecclesiastes 5:10- This too is meaningless.
• Handling Money God's Way- A Word on Wednesdays guest post from October 2012

A Father's Discipline

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord...Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you...He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 5, 16

When we suffer we must remember that God is a loving Father who disciplines us for our good. Sometimes this discipline is in response to our sin, a punishment. Other times it is discipline in a different sense of the word like a father teaching his son the discipline he needs to work hard and hold down a job. Sometimes God "disciplines" us in preparation for the good future He has in store for us. So it was with the people of Israel. As they walked through the dessert and hungered for food it wasn't discipline for some sin they had committed, rather it was preparation for the future. God was teaching them to look to him alone to supply their needs. God did this "so that it might go well with them" in their future. He knew that if they were to fight for the Promised Land and drive out the nations who were much stronger than they were, then they would need to have perfected the skill of trusting Him and looking to Him to supply their needs. 

It is the same with us. It is very easy to get frustrated with God when difficulty comes into our life, but the truth is that these challenges often cause us to grow in new ways. These challenges actually end up providing an opportunity for us to build up the endurance, strength and wisdom we will need in the future. We must remember that God is preparing us for a bright future just like He was the Israelites. Not only does He have plans for each of us here on earth (Ephesians 2:10), but He is also leading us to a "Promised Land" of our own - Heaven. Until the time that we receive this promise in full, He is working in us to conform us more and more into the image of His Son. He is purifying us from sin and teaching us to find our joy in nothing other than Him. But we can rest easy knowing that all the tests that He allows in our life were put there so that "in the end it might go well" with us (Romans 8:28). 

When was the last time you thanked God for difficulty in your life? Today take a moment to praise God for his Fatherly discipline in your life? 

For further reading...

• Romans 8:18-30- Predestined to be conformed into Christ's image.
• Genesis 50:19-20- See what Joseph said about all the suffering he had to endure in life.
• Matthew 4:1-11- See how Jesus used this passage to encourage Himself when He was experiencing a difficult time of His own.