The Pain that Leads to Hope

March 25 – April 6, 2020

Worship in WORD

4 Sing to the Lord, you saints of his; praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. NIV	4 Sing to the Lord, all you godly ones! Praise his holy name. 5 For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime! Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning. New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved_
4 Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. 5 For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.  KJV	4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment,  and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. ESV

I. Personal/Public Purpose - Title

II. Personal Praise: vs. 1- 3

III. Public Exhortation: vs. 4 - 5

IV. Personal Plea: vs. 6 - 10

V. Personal/Public Praise: vs. 11 – 12

In our pain averse age, our prayers often take the form of asking for protection and comfort and healing. This is right for us to do. However, we know that God’s people are not exempted from trials and tribulations, or sickness and death. We acknowledge that God has

... delivered us out of the tyrannical rule of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we are having our liberation, procured by the payment of ransom, the putting away of our sins (Col. 1:13)(from The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth S. Wuest Copyright © 1961 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. All rights reserved.)

Therefore, having become “friends of God” ( see Rom. 5:11 NLT), we are now the enemies of satan (see 1 Peter 5:8). We WILL have tribulation in this world as our Lord promised in John 16:33 (I referred to this in my “Worship in Witness” portion of my March 8, 2020 blog entry).

But verse 5 comes as a surprise to us. It speaks of trouble not brought by the enemy. We are praising the Lord for His holy name in verse 4, but we are jolted by the two words that follow the conjunction “For” that begins verse 5. These two words are, “His anger.” Whose anger? The devil’s? David’s enemies’? That’s what we might expect. But no, it is the holy anger of God.

Verses 4 and 5 are at the epicenter of this psalm. The sickness or trouble that was the focus of the first three verses finds their ultimate source in verse 5. God was the cause, as well as the cure of David’s plight. However, God is not a capricious deity, nor an abusive father. God’s discipline of His children and His punishment of the wicked is just because He is a righteous God.

In relationship to His people, He is also a good Father, disciplining us for our good.

⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. ¹¹ For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Heb 12:7-11 ESV

And so we see what the purpose and outcome of our discipline is. The holy God whom we praise does so that “we may share in His holiness” (v. 10). Discipline is the soil in which God plants His holiness in our life to grow an orchard of “the peaceful fruit of righteousness” (v. 11).

https://dailyverses.net/images/en/niv/hebrews-12-11.jpg

* Note: Following Worship in Song, I have included below some further commentary insights concerning Hebrews 12:7-11

Worship in Witness:

Scripture declares that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23; see also 1 Kings 8:46).” One way of translating the word “sinned” here (a(marti/a – hamartia), is “missing the mark.” Like an archer whose arrow misses the bulls-eye and a runner who fails to finish the race (falls short), so all humanity has been unable to attain the glory that formerly resided in Adam, which had been bestowed by God (see Ps 8:5). When we aim for holiness and run with righteousness, we are fulfilling that for which we were designed to be. However, it is never attained by the flesh.  No, God is at work in His children – those who have been born again and have confessed Jesus as  Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead (see John 3:1-21; Romans 10:9; Phil 2:12-13) – to transform them into the image of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28-30). He is accomplishing this through the Holy Spirit, by whom we are being transformed into Christ’s likeness (2 Cor 3:18).

This is our hope, our confident expectation:

¹ Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:1-2 NIV

And note what follows these verses:

³ Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
Rom 5:3-5 NIV

All pain, all suffering, all disappointments, every heart-ache, and every chastisement has a purpose – to lead us to hope in God and our eternal destiny (see Rom 5:20 and 2 Cor. 4:17) and form Christ in us.

Father,

May I see these things through Your eyes.

May I trust Your word and Your promises.

May I yield to your Spirit in transforming me into the image of Your beloved son.

Help me to keep my eyes on my Savior and not the storm.

Help me to focus on Christ and not my circumstances.

Help me to look to my Lord and not my lot.

In Christ’s Name. Amen

Worship in Song: Blessings by Laura Story

We pray for blessings; we pray for peace

Comfort for family, protection while we sleep

We pray for healing, for prosperity

We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering

And all the while, You hear each spoken need

Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom, Your voice to hear

We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near

We doubt Your goodness; we doubt Your love

As if every promise from Your word is not enough

And all the while, You hear each desperate plea

And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us

When darkness seems to win

We know the pain reminds this heart

That this is not

This is not our home

It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops

What if Your healing comes through tears

And what if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near

What if my greatest disappointments or the aching of this life

Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy

And what if trials of this life-

The rain, the storms, the hardest nights

Are Your mercies in disguise

Writer(s): Story Laura Mixon

Lyrics: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/laurastory/blessings.html

Video: https://youtu.be/Cd6J6Wgnv4M

*↓ For Further Study ↓

Hebrews 12:10

11. Now no chastening, etc. This he adds, lest we should measure God's chastisements by our present feelings; for he shows that we are like children who dread the rod and shun it as much as they can, for owing to their age they cannot yet judge how useful it may be to them. The object, then, of this admonition is, that chastisements cannot be estimated aright if judged according to what the flesh feels under them, and that therefore we must fix our eyes on the end: we shall thus receive the peaceable fruit of righteousness. And by the fruit of righteousness he means the fear of the Lord and a godly and holy life, of which the cross is the teacher. He calls it peaceable, because in adversities we are alarmed and disquieted, being tempted by impatience, which is always noisy and restless; but being chastened, we acknowledge with a resigned mind how profitable did that become to us which before seemed bitter and grievous.

(from Calvin's Commentaries, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright © 2005-2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hebrews 12:3-11

12:3-11 It's true! He does it because he loves us! Discipline from the Lord should be accepted joyfully, as an opportunity for growth. God's discipline of a sinning Christian does not imply condemnation but rather confirmation, demonstrating that we belong to him (12:5-10). The real question is not simply how many mistakes a Christian makes but how much he or she learns from those mistakes. The psalmist spoke of how "happy" the person is whom God disciplines (see Ps 94:12; 119:67,71,75).

(from Willmington's Bible Handbook by Harold Willmington Copyright © 1997 by Harold L. Willmington. Produced with permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hebrews 12:9-17

If we are God’s children, we will not look on suffering as a punishment. Chastening it may be, but not the penalty of sin. It is administered by our Father. Don’t look at the intermediary links in the chain, but remember that Satan could not go beyond the Father’s limit in the case of Balaam or Job. See Num 22:31; Job 2:6. It is only for the present; it will soon be over; it is intended to free us of dross and is therefore to profit; it will yield peace, and righteousness, and true holiness. Look on and up-the harvest will repay.

(from Through the Bible, by F. B. Meyer, Biblesoft formatted electronic database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hebrews 12:11

Oh, what melodious music there is in those two words to ears and hearts that are divinely taught to appreciate it! “Nevertheless afterward” —

(from Spurgeon's Expository Notes. Biblesoft Formatted Electronic Database Copyright © 2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hebrews 12:1-11

Christians should not faint under their trials. Though their enemies and persecutors may be instruments to inflict sufferings, yet they are Divine chastisements; their heavenly Father has his hand in all, and his wise end to answer by all. They must not make light of afflictions, and be without feeling under them, for they are the hand and rod of God, and are his rebukes for sin. They must not despond and sink under trials, nor fret and repine, but bear up with faith and patience. God may let others alone in their sins, but he will correct sin in his own children. In this he acts as becomes a father. Our earthly parents sometimes may chasten us, to gratify their passion, rather than to reform our manners. But the Father of our souls never willingly grieves nor afflicts his children. It is always for our profit. Our whole life here is a state of childhood, and imperfect as to spiritual things; therefore we must submit to the discipline of such a state. When we come to a perfect state, we shall be fully reconciled to all God's chastisement of us now. God's correction is not condemnation; the chastening may be borne with patience, and greatly promote holiness. Let us then learn to consider the afflictions brought on us by the malice of men, as corrections sent by our wise and gracious Father, for our spiritual good.

(from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database. Copyright © 2000, 2003, 2006 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hebrews 12:11

[Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous] It does not impart pleasure, nor is this its design. All chastisement is intended to produce pain, and the Christian is as sensitive to pain as others. His religion does not blunt his sensibilities and make him a stoic, but it rather increases his susceptibility to suffering. The Lord Jesus, probably, felt pain, reproach, and contempt more keenly than any other human being ever did; and the Christian feels the loss of a child, or physical suffering, as keenly as anyone. But while religion does not render him insensible to suffering, it does two things:

(1) it enables him to bear the pain without complaining; and

(2) it turns the affliction into a blessing on his soul. "Nevertheless afterward." In future life. The effect is seen in a pure life, and in a more entire devotedness to God. We are not to look for the proper fruits of affliction while we are suffering, but "afterward."

[It yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness] It is a tree that bears good fruit, and we do not expect the fruit to form and ripen at once. It may be long maturing, but it will be rich and mellow when it is ripe. It frequently requires a long time before all the results of affliction appear—as it requires months to form and ripen fruit. Like fruit it may appear at first sour, crabbed, and unpalatable; but it will be at last like the ruddy peach or the golden orange. When those fruits are ripened, they are:

(1) fruits of "righteousness." They make us more holy, more dead to sin and the world, and more alive to God. And they are

(2) "peaceable." They produce peace, calmness, submission in the soul. They make the heart more tranquil in its confidence in God, and more disposed to promote the religion of peace. The apostle speaks of this as if it were a universal truth in regard to Christians who are afflicted. And it is so. There is no Christian who is not ultimately benefited by trials, and who is not able at some period subsequently to say, "It was good for me that I was afflicted. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept thy word." When a Christian comes to die, he does not feel that he has had one trial too many, or one which he did not deserve. He can then look back and see the effect of some early trial so severe that he once thought he could hardly endure it, spreading a hallowed influence over his future years, and scattering its golden fruit all along the pathway of life. I have never known a Christian who was not benefited by afflictions; I have seen none who was not able to say that his trials produced some happy effect on his religious character, and on his real happiness in life. If this be so, then no matter how severe our trials, we should submit to them without a complaint. The more severe they are, the more we shall yet be blessed—on earth or in heaven.

(from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997-2014 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.)