Walk with Him Wednesday

Ann has asked if, for the next 3 weeks, Walk with Him Wednesday participators would share about The Practice of Suffering…. 

• What does it mean to pick up a cross? 
• How do we walk through hard times? 
• How do we participate in the sufferings of Christ?  

Like her, I'm very much looking forward to the different Scripture studies, stories, and encouragement I know I will read as a result!

Frankly, suffering is not something with which I can claim great familiarity. My idea of suffering is eating rice 5 days a week and meat only twice. My idea of suffering is trying to sleep in 100+ degree weather when the power is off and I can't flip on an AC. My idea of suffering is not being around when family and dear friends get married, have babies or are very sick. My idea of suffering is watching my little one sleep, hooked to an IV because she is sick with malaria and who knows what else... again. 

So while I can lay claim to living through inconveniences and scary moments, I really have no clue what suffering... persecution... heartbreaking but chosen sacrifice... really is.

Yet I live in a country where I am surrounded by suffering. Just this week there are  thousands who've lost everything due to flooding, there are regional cholera epidemics, harvests will once again be poor in several areas - not due to drought this year but due to the overabundance of rain, malnutrition and starving will continue until the harvest, locusts are threatening areas where the harvest could be abundant, malaria is having a heyday this year, tensions and political situations in most of the neighboring countries abound, there are hundreds of thousands refugees, and those who've chosen to follow Jesus do so at great personal and community cost.

As I said, I know very little about suffering. My friends here are experts.

Last weekend we received the following in a letter:

As in much of the Muslim world this past week, there have been some demonstrations in Niger over the YouTube trailer, The Innocence of Muslims. Most of these protests have been in Zinder, far in the eastern part of Niger. Several churches have been attacked. Local authorities and a Muslim leader were quick to respond and disperse the crowds and put out fires, so damage and looting have not been too extensive. Threatened pastors were able to escape.

[A prominent Nigerien church association] met and decided to urge Christians not to let these events push them toward hatred. 

"Our struggle is not against flesh and blood." 

Instead of living in fear or making useless comparisons between Christianity and Islam, it was decided the churches should continue to proclaim the gospel and look to the example of the persecuted apostles in Acts 5....

Please continue to pray for the Muslim world, for people to understand the difference between independent film makers, Western governments and Christians, and for safety and wisdom of Christians and missionaries in Niger [and elsewhere in the world]. Pray that in all things, God would be glorified and that His gospel would continue to be proclaimed through loving witness.

Just this year, in our corner of the world, religious violence continues in northern Nigeria. Christians fled their homes and towns and are now living as refugees when fundamental Islamists took control of the northern Mali. One of our friends who works with Tim in the studio reading portions of the Scripture so that they can be recorded and distributed talks about how precarious his boutique location in the market really is... that a wrong word to the wrong person could result in a loss of livelihood and his ability to care for his family. A dear friend's husband sent her away after she was baptized, stopped providing for her and refused to even speak to her or of her with their children. Nigerien colleagues who've lost everything in the recent flood waters are now needing to leave the schools where they've sheltered, but have nowhere else to do. Local news reports reveal how international aid sent in to help those victims has been squandered and pilfered away by officials who should know better.

I live surrounded by people who suffer in very necessary for life, basic ways... those who I call my brothers and sisters in the Lord have often lost the very community that might be able to ease that suffering in the tiniest bit.

What, then, does Acts 5 have to say about suffering?

Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life.”

At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people.

When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedrin—the full assembly of the elders of Israel—and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there. So they went back and reported, “We found the jail securely locked, with the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside.” On hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests were puzzled, wondering what would come of this.

Then someone came and said, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people.” At that, the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force, because they feared that the people would stone them.

Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.”

Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men! The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them: “Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men. Some time ago Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered. Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

This passage clearly has much to teach on what it means to practice suffering, for Christ. It looks like it is a timely place for me to spend some time over these next few weeks. I could start sharing about how it is speaking to me, right now, in this moment, because it is; instead, I'm going to let those thoughts mull for a bit and leave you with the bold-faced words so that Holy Spirit can give you His commentary without my yattering interfering at all.

They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people the full message of this new life...” 

They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.