I feel that the Lord has allowed me more tribulations than most. I have without question brought heaps of trials upon myself, but not all. One of my favorite books of the Bible is James. He wrote: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance . . .
Pure joy? Are you kidding me?
Endurance has several synonyms: fortitude, resolution, patience, durability, strength, survival, staying power, and stamina to name a few.
Even though the foregoing traits are highly desired, I consider this verse to be one of the most incredulous in the Bible. It is in fact a paradox. I am admittedly mere flesh and confess that when in the midst of fierce battles going on in my life I would gladly trade the “endurance” gleaned from it for a “trial free” existence. I’m not even a little jovial when I endure trials and tribulation, much less joyful. But it is true that I lean on those experiences whenever I face a new one, and it helps me get through the day when my next one rears its ugly head.
The Jews have a saying, “whoever rejoices in afflictions that come upon him, brings salvation to the world.”
Wow! Selah . . .
There is the Duggar family who had the wildly popular reality television show centered around raising their 19 children in a Godly fashion. They are strong Christians and espoused as much publicly. The Progressives and their attack machine Media Matters hate them for being Christians and went after them with a vengeance when it was discovered (through the illegal release of sealed juvenile justice documents) that one of the kids when he was 12 or 13 snuck into his sister’s bedroom and inappropriately touched several of his sisters while they slept. His sisters didn’t even wake up and didn’t know that he had done anything.
Not long after the touching episodes, the boy was convicted by God and his conscience by what he’d done and he confessed his sin to his parents. They sent him away to live at a Christian counseling facility for rehabilitation and when he returned home they felt led to report it to the police. The police gave him a stern lecture, but did not arrest and/or file charges against the boy. He asked God and his family including his sisters for forgiveness which they allowed, and the Duggars felt the matter was settled. Indeed there has not been another episode in the boy’s life since.
This occurred some 12 years ago and he has not had an incident since that time and is now happily married. He recently spoke out against gay marriage and of course instantly became a target of Media Matters. His juvenile records were illegally released to the media and the fire began to spread and they are currently trying to destroy him and his family (and I might add are being quite successful at it).
He is accused of being a hypocrite and judging others while he obviously has problems of his own.
Hmmm . . . God is the one they should attack, because this boy is merely verbalizing what God’s Holy word the Bible states. Homosexuality is indeed a sin just like adultery, lying, coveting, and so forth. Fortunately God forgives sin and in fact that is why Jesus died on the cross. He forgave this boy just like He will forgive anyone who confesses their sins and turns from them. The boy is not judging them; that will be God’s job.
I suppose this kid and his family are easier targets than almighty God, so this young man is now enduring trials and tribulation of mammoth proportion. If we were to ask him, I doubt he would say he is joyful about his sin being exposed to the world via a vicious lynch mob, but this will teach him endurance and in the end it will yield big rewards.
This week I’m heading to Atlanta for an important Jesus Alliance meeting that is designed to launch our campaign to send out 1 billion pro-God messages each year. When this movement begins to pick up momentum, I have no doubt that as the founder that I will become a target. The way I look at it I’ll be in good company; Jesus became a target as did all of His disciples. In fact they were all beaten, thrown in jail, ridiculed, and eventually martyred.
Yikes!
Now comes James telling us to consider it all joy when undergoing trials because it yields endurance. I think I’m going to need endurance for this one. Fortunately for me I’ve already written a book admitting my sins and the hypocrite argument will be a wee bit thin. Nonetheless they will go after my character, finance or whatever else they can make up. So I will need that endurance gained over a lifetime of trials and tribulation knowing that in the end I will be victorious through Jesus.
A friend used something in a sermon the other day that is poignant to the situation. It is Winston Churchill’s famous address at the Harrow School in 1941 when his entire nation was facing being annihilated by Hitler and his horde. His courage contributed mightily to saving his nation when they faced evil as we face it today in this country. He wrote:
“Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our school history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.
“Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer.”
Don’t give up! Pray for the Duggars and the Jesus Alliance!
Matt. 5:11
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
June 8, 2015 – Click here to listen