Act 14:22 …and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Psa_89:9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
A stormy sea is anything but steady waves. Choppy waters they call it when the wind picks up and suddenly a smooth surface gives way to the rising of white caps. The harder the wind blows the higher the white caps rise as the water rocks back and forth, from side to side, in no real discernibly predictable pattern. Fierce winds work upon the sea increasing the size of the waves until like bath water under the bouncing body of a small child the waves are so high they can be threatening. Wildly water is going everywhere until suddenly it's no longer fun, but scary and fear rises. In that fear the frantic bouncing grows even more wild, causing even more waves, more fear and only when safe hands pluck the child up from the bath out of the raging, fearful sea of bathwater does the child's heart begin to still and it clings to its savior in desperate gratitude so incredibly grateful to have been saved from the monster that rose around them, a monster they made themselves. Unlike a child in a tub, the sea under the onslaught of high, gusting winds is not the fault of anyone who finds themselves out there, tossed into the sea where no ceasing of bouncing would end the storm surrounding them.
There are storms of strife we cause ourselves, where stilling of our own minds would ease the huge threatening waves. Then there are storms of difficulty we have no hand in creating yet there we are, caught out to sea in the worse possible storm ever.
Storms unfortunately can last for days, and sometimes while a storm may ease off, it returns with a vengeance. Day after day in a season of storms, respite is fleeting at best. Such a life longs for the peace of a calm sea unable to find such a thing, believing it no longer exists. The battering of the waves, the beating of each slap of water, the power of the water trying desperately to take you under where, yes, it is calm. The deeper you go beneath the tumultuous surface the calmer the waters become and yet, suddenly you can't breathe and long for the air above- now, the stormy, raging waves would be welcome if only to gasp the air around their presence. The fierce fight to live in a sea of storms is brutal. The desperate relief as the waves start to abate as the winds grow calm, a blessing.
Now, to make it to shore for even a little while, to rest without fighting the waves. You know the solid ground you've landed upon can give you that respite you so desire, and if you could but live upon the solid ground out of the oceans deepest, stormiest waters, what a life that would be! Rains will still batter you, but you won't be fighting the dark depths rising upwards reaching with unseen hands to pull you under. In the fiercest of storms upon the land you will find remnants of being lost at sea, but shelter is more readily had.
Most would opt for a storm upon land over a storm upon a sea. Even if some storms rip and tear at the land you are on. There are no storm shelters upon the water so vicious, no ship is safe in its midst. Upon land there are more opportunities to survive a storm.
Who am I kidding? Why am I fighting to prove that there is safety anywhere during the worse of storms at sea or on land, in rainfall or snowfall, in tornados or hurricanes, in floods or dry blowing, unforgiving sand. In droughts stealing all water, where a raging river would be welcomed. The land offers no real guaranteed safety from storms.
In the world - which includes the land and the sea- there will be….
Tribulation.
We can't escape it, no safe place exists. Not even all the money in the world can give you relief from tribulation. Oh, and before you start dwelling on how you'd like to live the life of the rich and suffer their tribulations over those of the poor, yeah, well in the end that money answer can't keep you from the grave. Ah, now you say you'd happily go to the grave after living a life of luxury. Perhaps. Rich people fear the death they cannot avoid just as much as poor people. All their riches can't keep them from the horror of realizing they can't take a single penny with them, and not a single penny can keep them from death.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know… you want a life of ease riches can buy- in better health, better living conditions all around and I don't blame you. You are desiring the future wonders of a life without pain, without tears, without sadness, without upset….without so much sorrow and…
Tribulation.
You'll never find that life here. At most, even the rich are given just snippets (longer snippets) of that life. Our minds allow us to imagine that existence. We conjure up images of world peace and harmony, where everyone is helping each other to live the best life they can. That image bursts into our reality and the disillusionment fills us. Oh, what a depressing disillusionment it is.
We live our best life, we grab the good when it's there, we avoid the bad when it forces itself upon us… we endure until the inevitable end.
What we need to realize is we can obtain that life the snippets allude to as being reality. Your most joyous moment becoming a joyous eternity.
You doubt the reality, but living in hope of that reality is the only possibility of obtaining the reality.
Don't live for this temporary life. Wait in hope for the eternal life.
The grave doesn't guarantee that eternal life though so many believe it does. There is only one guarantee for eternal life- believing in the Savior. His very title- Savior should be a clue. Faith in Him and that He offers eternal life, He offers salvation NOT from our lives of tribulations upon this sin-filled, sin-degraded world, but from this temporary life. No matter what existence you were born into, or led into, or put yourself in, through whatever circumstances that occurred- good, bad, and all areas in between-- this existence is temporary. That idyllic world, that perfect existence, the wondrous comprehension that encompasses the word- peace- it will be a reality.
Doubt if you must, no one can believe for you, it's something you must do yourself. The work of God- is believing in the Son.
Is it too hard to live a life for God? It's not TOO hard, but it is very hard because it's such a narrow road to walk and evil forces all around us seek to tear us off that narrow road using any and all means to do so. The most evil of all says it's impossible, God says, no it's not… look at my servant Job. Then God proceeds to reveal just how AWFUL it is to live under the onslaught of the evil one, and then rewards the faithful Job, for enduring, for remaining on that narrow path suffering extremes but not cursing God.
No one wants to endure as Job through such horrific suffering, yet don't we all want to endure as Job through any suffering that is our lot to bear? Easy to say when I'm not suffering extremes as so many others are. Could it be a life of ease has its own horrific temptations in that you could be drawn away into deception without even realizing you're lost? Tribulations come in so many, many shapes, sizes, ways, beyond numbering.
In this world we will have tribulations.
Jesus Christ our Savior has overcome the world.
Jesus leaves HIS peace with us, and it's not the kind of peace the world says we are looking for. When our hearts are troubled in ANY way, for ANY reason- we are to look for that peace ONLY Jesus can give to us and it's not a worldly peace without tribulations. It's HIS Godly peace in tribulations. If our hearts are afraid, it's our SAVIOR GOD'S peace we are to concentrate on, NOT on the things terrifying us.
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
You maybe drowning in this world of tribulations, but remember also-- so many are dry drowning because they don't live in a storm and recognize their peril.
Pray to recognize that in whatever state you are in- a raging, unending sea of agony- or happy, happy trouble free days- there is great danger if you are not living for eternity's promise through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Psa_89:9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
A stormy sea is anything but steady waves. Choppy waters they call it when the wind picks up and suddenly a smooth surface gives way to the rising of white caps. The harder the wind blows the higher the white caps rise as the water rocks back and forth, from side to side, in no real discernibly predictable pattern. Fierce winds work upon the sea increasing the size of the waves until like bath water under the bouncing body of a small child the waves are so high they can be threatening. Wildly water is going everywhere until suddenly it's no longer fun, but scary and fear rises. In that fear the frantic bouncing grows even more wild, causing even more waves, more fear and only when safe hands pluck the child up from the bath out of the raging, fearful sea of bathwater does the child's heart begin to still and it clings to its savior in desperate gratitude so incredibly grateful to have been saved from the monster that rose around them, a monster they made themselves. Unlike a child in a tub, the sea under the onslaught of high, gusting winds is not the fault of anyone who finds themselves out there, tossed into the sea where no ceasing of bouncing would end the storm surrounding them.
There are storms of strife we cause ourselves, where stilling of our own minds would ease the huge threatening waves. Then there are storms of difficulty we have no hand in creating yet there we are, caught out to sea in the worse possible storm ever.
Storms unfortunately can last for days, and sometimes while a storm may ease off, it returns with a vengeance. Day after day in a season of storms, respite is fleeting at best. Such a life longs for the peace of a calm sea unable to find such a thing, believing it no longer exists. The battering of the waves, the beating of each slap of water, the power of the water trying desperately to take you under where, yes, it is calm. The deeper you go beneath the tumultuous surface the calmer the waters become and yet, suddenly you can't breathe and long for the air above- now, the stormy, raging waves would be welcome if only to gasp the air around their presence. The fierce fight to live in a sea of storms is brutal. The desperate relief as the waves start to abate as the winds grow calm, a blessing.
Now, to make it to shore for even a little while, to rest without fighting the waves. You know the solid ground you've landed upon can give you that respite you so desire, and if you could but live upon the solid ground out of the oceans deepest, stormiest waters, what a life that would be! Rains will still batter you, but you won't be fighting the dark depths rising upwards reaching with unseen hands to pull you under. In the fiercest of storms upon the land you will find remnants of being lost at sea, but shelter is more readily had.
Most would opt for a storm upon land over a storm upon a sea. Even if some storms rip and tear at the land you are on. There are no storm shelters upon the water so vicious, no ship is safe in its midst. Upon land there are more opportunities to survive a storm.
Who am I kidding? Why am I fighting to prove that there is safety anywhere during the worse of storms at sea or on land, in rainfall or snowfall, in tornados or hurricanes, in floods or dry blowing, unforgiving sand. In droughts stealing all water, where a raging river would be welcomed. The land offers no real guaranteed safety from storms.
In the world - which includes the land and the sea- there will be….
Tribulation.
We can't escape it, no safe place exists. Not even all the money in the world can give you relief from tribulation. Oh, and before you start dwelling on how you'd like to live the life of the rich and suffer their tribulations over those of the poor, yeah, well in the end that money answer can't keep you from the grave. Ah, now you say you'd happily go to the grave after living a life of luxury. Perhaps. Rich people fear the death they cannot avoid just as much as poor people. All their riches can't keep them from the horror of realizing they can't take a single penny with them, and not a single penny can keep them from death.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I know… you want a life of ease riches can buy- in better health, better living conditions all around and I don't blame you. You are desiring the future wonders of a life without pain, without tears, without sadness, without upset….without so much sorrow and…
Tribulation.
You'll never find that life here. At most, even the rich are given just snippets (longer snippets) of that life. Our minds allow us to imagine that existence. We conjure up images of world peace and harmony, where everyone is helping each other to live the best life they can. That image bursts into our reality and the disillusionment fills us. Oh, what a depressing disillusionment it is.
We live our best life, we grab the good when it's there, we avoid the bad when it forces itself upon us… we endure until the inevitable end.
What we need to realize is we can obtain that life the snippets allude to as being reality. Your most joyous moment becoming a joyous eternity.
You doubt the reality, but living in hope of that reality is the only possibility of obtaining the reality.
Don't live for this temporary life. Wait in hope for the eternal life.
The grave doesn't guarantee that eternal life though so many believe it does. There is only one guarantee for eternal life- believing in the Savior. His very title- Savior should be a clue. Faith in Him and that He offers eternal life, He offers salvation NOT from our lives of tribulations upon this sin-filled, sin-degraded world, but from this temporary life. No matter what existence you were born into, or led into, or put yourself in, through whatever circumstances that occurred- good, bad, and all areas in between-- this existence is temporary. That idyllic world, that perfect existence, the wondrous comprehension that encompasses the word- peace- it will be a reality.
Doubt if you must, no one can believe for you, it's something you must do yourself. The work of God- is believing in the Son.
Is it too hard to live a life for God? It's not TOO hard, but it is very hard because it's such a narrow road to walk and evil forces all around us seek to tear us off that narrow road using any and all means to do so. The most evil of all says it's impossible, God says, no it's not… look at my servant Job. Then God proceeds to reveal just how AWFUL it is to live under the onslaught of the evil one, and then rewards the faithful Job, for enduring, for remaining on that narrow path suffering extremes but not cursing God.
No one wants to endure as Job through such horrific suffering, yet don't we all want to endure as Job through any suffering that is our lot to bear? Easy to say when I'm not suffering extremes as so many others are. Could it be a life of ease has its own horrific temptations in that you could be drawn away into deception without even realizing you're lost? Tribulations come in so many, many shapes, sizes, ways, beyond numbering.
In this world we will have tribulations.
Jesus Christ our Savior has overcome the world.
Jesus leaves HIS peace with us, and it's not the kind of peace the world says we are looking for. When our hearts are troubled in ANY way, for ANY reason- we are to look for that peace ONLY Jesus can give to us and it's not a worldly peace without tribulations. It's HIS Godly peace in tribulations. If our hearts are afraid, it's our SAVIOR GOD'S peace we are to concentrate on, NOT on the things terrifying us.
Joh 14:27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Joh 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
You maybe drowning in this world of tribulations, but remember also-- so many are dry drowning because they don't live in a storm and recognize their peril.
Pray to recognize that in whatever state you are in- a raging, unending sea of agony- or happy, happy trouble free days- there is great danger if you are not living for eternity's promise through Jesus Christ our Lord.