JULY 27, 2017

“Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” 
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations

PSALM 50-52

 10Create in me a pure heart, O God,

and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

11Do not cast me from your presence

or take your Holy Spirit from me.

12Restore to me the joy of your salvationand grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.(46:1-3)

ACTS 27:1-25

21After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. 22But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me 24and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ 25So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. 26Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island.”

JOURNAL 

Paul is a prisoner on a boat headed for Rome where he will stand trial and a storm comes up and threatens to destroy the boat. Paul encourages those on the ship. Here I see Paul, not bemoaning his fate or looking for a way out but rather accepting God's path and being willing to endure the storm. 

Paul a prisoner, is encouraging those keeping him captive. Man o man...scripture really hits me right between the eyes any time I want to feel sorry for myself. This whole idea of joyful suffering is so foreign in our world...yet it is what we are called to do. It is easier and much harder than it seems. Easier in respect to the fact that once you accept it...you get encouragement and energy to keep going in ways you never imagined. Yet it is harder sometimes to trust that God will keep sustaining. The fear of the unknown and how things will play out is a monster that is hard to sometimes face. 

Also accepting the fact that God may allow things to get harder. I see it throughout scripture...when someone is at their breaking point...sometimes things get even more difficult, yet if they cling to God..they ultimately get the courage to keep going. 

 There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. 36Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were put to death by stoning;^e they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

39These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

HEBREWS 11:36-40