When
he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the
Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his
disciples went into it. John 18:1, NIV
Today’s
devotional comes from a Chinese house church pastor who was arrested
and held for three weeks just prior to this talk. He says:
When we
suffer for Christ, what actually happens? I mean, what really goes on
spiritually within us when we are going through suffering?
I ask
the question because a young sister was listening to me recently recount
my experience of being in jail for three weeks last year. She said,
“You talked of having constant diarrhea, of being kicked and punched
painfully, and you even feared that God was punishing you…yet you talked
also of feeling joy and experiencing peace.” She said to me, “I don’t
understand how these things go together.”
My reply to her, and I
give it also as an instruction to you all (for you will all suffer at
some point for His Name), is that when we suffer, three spiritual
experiences happen to us all at once: angelic strengthening, superhuman
forgiveness, and human incomprehension. These three things appear
contradictory, but if you suffer, you will find they come together as
they did in the life of Christ.
An old Christian used to say to
me, “When they lead you away to jail, tell yourself you are merely going
with Christ to the Garden of Gethsemane, and to the Cross.” To the
Garden, and to the Cross. I liked that. I tested it. It’s true…
So
that is why suffering Christians appear to speak out of “both sides of
their mouth.” On the one hand we talk of joy and endurance. On the other
hand, there is anger at God, pain and a feeling of spiritual desertion.
They sit together, because there is always a war of different feelings
and emotions.
Although we are angelically strengthened and the
recipients of superhuman forgiveness, we also experience a sense of
spiritual abandonment as a result of our human incomprehension.
But
the greatest thing of all is to walk the way of Christ. That is the
privilege of suffering: to suffer a little as our Lord Jesus suffered.
As He identified with us by suffering pain, so some are called to
identify even more closely with Him by going into the Garden, and onto
the Cross.
Never fear, my friends, when you are arrested. You will
receive strength. You will also be bewildered. Think of Christ, and
follow him into the Garden, and onto the Cross.
For the next three
days we will listen to his contrasting explanation of the Garden and
the Cross: angelic strengthening; superhuman forgiveness; and human
incomprehension.
RESPONSE: Today I will walk with Jesus whether into the Garden or onto the Cross.
PRAYER: Thank You Lord that You strengthen Your people in preparation for suffering and even during it.
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