Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.
Rather fitting description for what you watch on TV and experience in our culture. And if you fill your daily thoughts with that ... how sad the LORD must be trying to get through the mess of what is left of our minds. And if that is your actions ... be prepared for the smack down.
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.” So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.
Many times the suffering of others has been to our grace. The powerful speaker at the front of the church is many times the person who has suffered greatly and came through the other side. And I can understand things without having to experience it by understanding those people that HAVE experienced it.
Yet, I can't imagine being told before hand that you are about to suffer as a lesson for others. It is one thing to be prepared that God may call you for that kind of suffering. But, to be told that you were going to lose what you love before it happens? That would be hard. Even Christ prayed that the cup would pass from him.
But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
Suffering is suffering. It isn't that you should actually rather feel joy. You are suffering! But, intellectually we can understand we are sharing the same pain, the same loss, the same sufferings as Christ. And in that we can rejoice.
There is nothing wrong with being sad and in pain. There is nothing wrong in trying to see the LORD's good in it. It is a hope that can get you through some of the darkest hours of your life.
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