May 8
(Psalm 44:9-22 NIV) “But now you have rejected and humbled us; you no longer go out with our armies. {10} You made us retreat before the enemy, and our adversaries have plundered us. {11} You gave us up to be devoured like sheep and have scattered us among the nations. {12} You sold your people for a pittance, gaining nothing from their sale. {13} You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, the scorn and derision of those around us. {14} You have made us a byword among the nations; the peoples shake their heads at us. {15} My disgrace is before me all day long, and my face is covered with shame {16} at the taunts of those who reproach and revile me, because of the enemy, who is bent on revenge. {17} All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant. {18} Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. {19} But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals and covered us over with deep darkness. {20} If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, {21} would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart? {22} Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
(Hebrews 11:36-40 NIV) “Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. {37} They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated -- {38} the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. {39} These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. {40} God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
If we buy into the idea that those who love God will always be blessed with trouble free lives, we have bought into a lie. Jesus told us that we would have trouble in this world and would suffer, not just because of our faith, but for simply being alive. We can be faithful to the Lord, be on the right path, be filled with truth and light, and still be overtaken by enemies and beaten down. Being a Christian is not so much about earthly blessing as it is about faithfulness and perseverance. The best of believers have spent time in the fires of trial and trouble. Who are we to think we can completely avoid what some in every generation of saints have endured? Your time of testing will come. There need not be a reason. Just living near the cross can bring pain. Persevere. Keep the faith. Even when it feels as though you’ve been forgotten and forsaken, God is with you. -- Friar Tuck’s Word of the Day
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