Joy In The Suffering

The word "CHAMPION" is used three times in the Bible.  Each time, the word is used to describe Goliath.  (Here are two of them:  1 Samuel 17: 4; 1 Samuel 17:23)

Didn't he look like one?  A real champion.  Physically intimidating.  Vocally aggressive.  Don't most people do that even today?  You know - they look at a person's "stats" and "presentation" to determine if he is a champion.  It's all about what humans can observe with their eyes and
hear with their ears    ➠     Goliath: The Champion.

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"On the road marked with suffering, blessed be Your Name.  

On the road marked with suffering, blessed be Your Name."

We have been taught by the world that strength is in the apparent victor - the muscle-laden champion. Yet, for just a moment . . . if you would, please consider the strength found in those who suffer for the cause of Christ.


➻A bloodied and beaten body hanging from a cross didn't appear victorious at all to the onlookers.
(Yet in His suffering, Christ brought salvation)  STRENGTH
➻An imprisoned Paul with lacerations from his last beating looked a lot like a defeated man.
(Yet in his suffering, he wrote to all Christians throughout time)  STRENGTH

Christians are called to be led of the Lord's Spirit no matter the suffering that seems to engulf us.  Sometimes the suffering will feel much like a swarm of killer bees that you can't swat away fast enough, but even with that tremendous anguish, the name of the Lord is to be praised.

 "From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, the Lord's name is to be praised" (Psalm 113:3). 

 I don't say that lightly.  The trials and tribulations of those who suffer for Christ are the most intense battles ever fought.  The pressure is excruciating and debilitating.

How is it possible to minister to others while we are suffering?  It was about a year ago that the Lord answered a prayer by directing me to Psalm 113:3.  The prayer directly related to my concerns that I had in being able to successfully serve Him in the way He has called me to serve Him.  I understood, in part, what He was saying to me, but it took literally until today to understand it on a much deeper level.

There are times of tremendous trials in a Christian's life, and if we are not careful, we might believe Satan when he whispers that the suffering hinders us or causes a delay in the Christian being able to "do the work" God has called the Christian to do.  Satan would have us to think that we need to break free of the trials so that we can run full speed in serving the Lord.  However, the Word teaches us that we are not to seek to avoid our trials.  We can't go over them or around them.  No, the Christian is called to go through them.  (James 1: 2-4)

Did Paul postpone sharing the Gospel when he was suffering?  Or did he work the work of Christ DESPITE the anguish he faced?  Did Paul walk around angry at God because he was suffering so much when all he really wanted to do was spread the Gospel?  Or did Paul rejoice in his sufferings and continue to spread the Gospel?

2 Thessalonians 1: 4-5

 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:
Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer:

We strive to make it to the mountaintop because we just can't stand the suffering of the valley, but it is in the valley of suffering where the Christian will share his strength with those who need it - just as Christ did, just as Paul did, just as David did, just as John did, just as all of the nameless Christians have done throughout history through today and into tomorrow.  We mistakenly think the victory is up at the top, but for a saint of God, the victory is IN the valley.  That's where the fruit of the Holy Spirit is grown and birthed.  That is where the strength of the Lord forges us into vessels fit for the Master to use.

From the rising of the sun to the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised.

David gathered five smooth stones from a brook (1 Samuel 17:40)

By definition, a brook is a stream found in valleys.  In valleys.  By definition, stones are made smooth by the amount of time they spend in the water that washes over them.  Those stones must have spent a lot of time in that valley's brook.

Here's my favorite verse describing the Champion Goliath:

1 Samuel 17:52
Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.