Good Morning Friends,
Some of my relatives out of the West were what you might call cowboys and my relatives in the Midwest were farmers. So, when we relocated to Collier County back in the 1960’s the town of Immokalee was not so foreign to my father. Still the situation, in terms of human rights, seemed dreadful. The situation was no laughing matter. All the cowboys’ good judgement born out of the experience of making bad judgments was not all that helpful. Still, my dad knew it was never a good idea to slap a man who is chewing tobacco, and to never kick a cow chip on a hot day, or to squat with your spurs on. But laughing at the problem was like changing a dirty diaper. It seemed to help for a time but was not a lasting solution to the challenge. Something more was needed, especially for those that would become known as the dreamers. So, my dad took a stand when it came to certifying the safety of migrant housing. Many did not like what he did. The experience that followed prompts today’s question. So, When Things Seem Impossible How Do You Endure?
Scripture: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Let the believer who is lowly boast in being raised up, and the rich in being brought low, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.
James 1:1-11 (NRSV)
The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.
Mark 8:11-13 (NRSV)
He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'”
Luke 16:31 (NRSV)
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Romans 5:3-5 (NRSV)
Message: Well maybe you might look for a white flag to wave when faced with an unmanageable situation. But that is not what Mark and James are getting at in today’s lectionary scripture. Life is full of what seem like impossible situations at the time. Only in retrospect do we see that we must introduce the Jesus factor…the Holy Spirit into the impossibility. We must feed the dog in us we want to win. People are rarely looking for the truth in these situations but something to transform the impossibility into a possibility. When we come to the eighth chapter of Mark, Jesus has encounters with three different groups in a single day. First, He must deal with a likely mix of 4,000 very hungry Jews and Gentiles; then He confronts some skeptical Jewish Pharisees. Finally, He must deal with the spiritual dullness of His disciples. There is a measure of impossibility in each encounter and Jesus is the only solution, and his sign is one of sacrifice and love and the way of faith. Friends, the miracle of Christ’s resurrection is the sign we must look for when faced with impossible situations, but we must understand its application. We have physical needs, social and emotional needs, but our greatest need is to fill this sense of spiritual hunger, satisfied perhaps in the Word of God activated in the power of the Holy Spirit and then perhaps in connection with those who share the love of Christ relationally. Luke makes it clear that we must have a firm foundation for our faith here and now and not just in the sweet by and by but now. In the story of Lazarus and the rich man Luke points us in the direction of scripture but also the importance of relationships that witness God’s love with us. Paul clarifies the position of the book of Romans. Friends, when dealing with a hardship, if we are willing to look for what God wants to do in and through us then we will experience blessings despite the pain and we will experience triumphs despite the difficulties. It is not about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger or that God works all things together for good, but the process of being glorified for the purpose of being who God made us to be so we might bear good fruit for the Kingdom of God here and now. Doing that helps others to endure and us to endure as well.
And So, in Bible times as today, the fall rain causes the wheat seed to germinate. However, it is the latter rain in the spring that causes the grain to swell up and get ripe and ready for harvest. Now the Bible says you have got to endure if you want the harvest. And I think that is true for the community of Immokalee as well as for the community in which you live and worship. So, if you want to be enriched one has to endure this process and this can take multiple generations not just a growing season. The problem with many of us is that we want it now. Our forefathers would get upset if they missed a stagecoach, and they would say, “Well, another one will be along in a month.” We get upset today if we miss a section of a revolving door. We want it now. That is the reason why so many people are up to their ears in worshipping the god of credit. People buy things they do not need with money they do not have to impress people they do not like. And there are plenty of people who will be happy to sell you those things and steal the data on your cell phone to boot. But what God says is that if we endure, God will make us rich in the right way. Indeed, God wants us to live in a way that brings us life but if we want to be in God’s school we have to enroll. This is not the school of hard knocks. That is not God’s school. What I am referring to are the difficulties that all of us have in life. God’s schooling is about surviving the trials and the testing, that in fact causes us and also enables us to practice with God an endurance that glorifies God.
Pray we give thanks in all things but especially those things that build resilience. Pray we realize that only Jesus can satisfy our deepest needs and that we might need patience in order to fully experience the full benefits. Pray we realize that people can be spiritually hungry and spiritually blind and spiritually ignorant while adamant of their own righteousness. Pray therefore we help others to discover the power of Word of God through the character of God in the power of God. Pray we rejoice with praise even in our sufferings. Pray we persevere. Pray we develop character and hope in the love of God. Pray we realize that when things seem impossible if we have the right attitude, we will be better off. Pray we realize that we cannot serve both God and money. Pray that through fiery trials God’s grace will be our supply. Pray the flames of social change do not hurt us, but only consume the dross to refine the gold. Pray we abide in the love of Jesus and endure.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 