Boast in tribulations?

This year I'm reading through the Bible according to a plan on one of my wall calendars, so most days there are 3 or 4 chapters to read.  I hate to admit that many days I read straight through without paying too much attention.  I mean, who really needs to know all the names of David's mighty men, or the brief sad histories of kings of Israel who all "did evil in the sight of the Lord"?  

This plan usually has 2 or 3 Old Testament chapters and 1 New Testament chapter.   Yesterday I didn't do the reading, so today was going to be a catch-up day.  But I barely got into Romans 5 before I was arrested by the phrase in verse 3  "we boast in tribulation".  It's good to read different translations.  I had never before read one that used the word "boast" here.  Google shows me that other translations instead of "boast" use "glory", "rejoice" and even "exult".  God's Word Translation says "We also brag when we are suffering."  The Contemporary English Version says "We gladly suffer..."

We do have the example of the apostles who were beaten and threatened in Acts 5, who then "departed from the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name" (verse 41).  Also, Paul and Silas, in Acts 16, who had been beaten (they didn't just kid around when they beat their prisoners) and then thrown into the "inner prison" (read filthy, stinking, suffocating.  You don't even want to imagine what the bathroom arrangements might have been).  Not only that but their feet were fastened in stocks.  No shifting of positions to lie on your side.  It had to be beyond painfully uncomfortable.  So, they moaned and complained, right?  No, no.  But "at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners heard them" (verse 24,25)  So, no whimpering but out-loud praying and praising.  Totally remarkable.  

Jesus did say in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are you when men hate you and when they separate you from their company and insult you and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for indeed your reward is great in heaven" (Luke 6:22,23).  Eric and I used to wonder whether "leap for joy" meant you would leap because of joy, or to get joy.  Either way, it wouldn't be the natural response.  But when did Jesus ever expect His followers to respond according to their natural inclinations?

Back to Romans 5:3..."we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works endurance."  Lines up with James 1:2,3:  "Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience..." or "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."  There are those who say, "Don't ask for patience because that means you're asking for troubles."  I say to that, "Wrong!"  We already have patience as a fruit of our spirit.   And trouble and trials are just a part of life here on this fallen earth.  If we respond to our trials and sufferings with joy and praise, we develop or exercise the patience that we already have so it can mature and be perfected.  

In an earlier blog, I told of a man my father-in-law saw being tortured in Russia who just smiled through it all, and later testified that he had felt no pain, that God had been faithful to His promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13, that with every temptation, He would also "make the way of escape that you may be able to bear it."  Then I questioned if I would be able to stand for my faith in the day of torture, and concluded that I have grace for every struggle that now comes my way, and I can choose to stand in that grace and grow and mature and be prepared for whatever may come.  

So I'm asking myself here too:  would I be able to praise and sing if I was beaten and imprisoned, or tortured?  But I'm thinking, here too, when we encounter any trial, tribulation, trouble or test in our day-to-day life, if we fight off that natural tendency to complain and sink into self-pity and look for sympathy everywhere, and if instead we pray with thanksgiving, rejoice, count it joy, sing, leap for joy, whatever it takes, we will develop our patience, perseverance and endurance.

God is faithful.  Always.  So you and I can boast in our tribulations!

Diet and Exercise

Do you cringe when you read that title?
Why is it that so often we choose what is not good for us?  We know what we should do and put it off, sometimes forever.  We all know that a good diet and exercising are what out bodies need to be strong and healthy but often lack the necessary motivation.
The same is true when it comes to faith.
Jesus said that faith like a mustard seed could move mountains.  But what is it about seed?
It could be that Jesus chose to compare faith to a seed because of the power in the seed.  Have you ever driven along the endless curves of highway #1 in Ontario?  It's rocks and curves and rocks and curves.  Occasionally you see where a tree is growing out of sheer rock.  Some seed actually managed to take root in a dip or a little crack in the rock.  As it slowly developed, it in some cases even split a huge boulder with its force.
In his second letter, Peter addressed "those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ."  Seriously?  Faith like Peter's?  Peter, who grabbed the hand of a man who had been lame from birth and raised him to his feet as he commanded him to "rise and walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth" and then accompanied the healed man who was now "walking and leaping" into the temple (Acts 3:2-10)?  Peter, who raised Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36-41)?  Peter, whose shadow was reputed to heal the sick (Acts 5:15)?  His readers had "like precious faith"?
Yes.  And so do we.  "God has dealt to each one a measure of faith" (Romans 12:3).  We all have that seed.  We think we have little faith because we haven't been feeding it and exercising it.
A newborn baby has exactly the same number of muscles as the strongest body builder has.  It just needs for those muscles to be fed and exercised in order to develop.
With what should we be feeding our faith?  What diet does it require?  Answer:  the Word of God.  "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17).  That word "hearing" in the Greek means a constant ongoing hearing and hearing and hearing, not just having heard at some point.  Faith needs to be fed regularly to grow strong.  When you read your Bible, take a little bit at a time, ask the Holy Spirit to teach you what it means for you, and then go back and think about it several times during the next 24 hours.  Meditate on it.  Make it a part of you.
And then there's the exercise.  Find a promise of God for your situation.  Sarah "judged Him faithful who had promised" and received an impossible miracle (Hebrews 11:11).  Abraham became "fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform" (Romans 4:21).  Start by asking for the little needs in your life, a parking spot when you're in a hurry, an opportunity to speak to someone, a reminder to do something, protection when you drive, whatever.  As you find Him faithful to keep every one of His promises, your faith will grow to where you can believe, like Sarah and Abraham, for what is absolutely impossible in the natural.  Anything for which you have a Word promise.
Now, faith has to be combined with patience.  God's timetable is usually not the same as ours.  But if we keep our eyes off the clock or the calendar and expect that God is at work even when we don't see the evidence with our natural senses, we can lean back and watch as He works it out.
The language of faith is praise.  So, while we practice patience as we stand in faith on His promises, we will thank Him in advance for what He is going to do.  "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:6,7).
Okay.  Let's get busy feeding ourselves with a diet of God's Word regularly, and exercising our faith so that we turn into spiritual giants!