"This Too Will Pass"==Who Says?

I received a very kind email from a friend who I had updated on my condition. Although my pain is minimal, I told her, I still can't sit without increasing my pain. She replied saying that while in the Valley of Wait I can remember that “This too will pass.”

I had an interesting reaction, although I didn't convey it to her for fear it would come across as rejecting her intention to be encouraging. When I then turned to the next use of the word “hope” in the Bible, I was floored to find that my reaction is one that Job had. In Job 17, he basically replies to his friends, “Don't offer me hope of a better tomorrow because there is no guarantee things will be different.”

That was how I felt in response to my friend's comment. My reaction isn't because I'm depressed and have no hope of a better tomorrow but it's because I want my hope to be in the Lord Himself and not holding onto things getting better. There is a possibility it's the Lord's will for me to continue to suffer. Many Christians I know live in chronic pain. My good friend, Judy, lived for 20 years bedridden because of multiple sclerosis before she died. How often we prayed for her healing yet it was God's will for her to suffer. We have no guarantee of recovery. That's not supposed to be our hope. It is the Lord Himself and seeking Him as He enables us to go through all that He designs.

That's why, I believe, Job said,

"They make night into day, saying,
'The light is near,' in the presence of darkness.

“If I look for Sheol as my home,
I make my bed in the darkness;
If I call to the pit, 'You are my father';
To the worm, 'my mother and my sister';
Where now is my hope?
And who regards my hope?
"Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together go down into the dust?" (Job 17:12-16 NASB)

Matthew Henry comments on this verse, “It is our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail; the promise of God, his love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life.”

What are those promises? If we are in the darkness of trials, we can claim Philippians 4;13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” especially during trials. And Romans 8:28 which promises that even when bad things happen, God has a purpose and will bring good from it. Promises like those strengthen us to persevere even in the midst of pain, any kind of pain.

Let me assure you, I still pray frequently for complete healing. But my hope is not because I'm gritting my teeth until this is over. And it's a lot easier to think this positively on this good side of the trial—when my pain isn't overwhelming. But from the many things I've learned, one of the strongest is to trust in God's will for my life, even when it's not what I'd prefer. That's true hope.

Hope of Eternal Living

Our next encounter with the word “hope” is still in Job. (Don't worry, we'll get out of Job eventually!) But considering what Job went through, of all people, he definitely was in need of hope. And in Job 14, he speaks of hope twice. He turns his attention to speaking to God about his own mortality. The whole chapter is a lesson in having hope about our future eternal life. It's a fascinating study. Let's look at key verses in this chapter. Even if our earthly lives never get any better, hope of our future eternal life is enough. It will be much longer and while there, we will forget the pain of earthly living.

My friend who also experienced back pain wrote, “When you're in pain, you can't imagine you were ever not in pain and when you're not in pain, you can't remember what the pain was like.” Likewise, when we're in heaven, we won't feel the pain we experienced on earth. Commentator Matthew Henry writes: “This chapter is proper for funeral solemnities; and serious meditations on it will help us both to get good [from] the death of others and to get ready for our own.” Because it is the hope of heaven that will sustain us. And keep in mind, we'll enjoy Jesus' amazing presence!

How does contemplating eternal life offer hope?

1. You have the assurance that life's troubles will end. Verse 1 tells us, "Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil.” At the time of turmoil, it seems like it is eternally long! But the truth is, some day we'll won't feel the pain any longer.

2. Verse 2 gives us the idea that though life is serious stuff, it is fleeting. "Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain.” You can actually not take the little things of life so seriously. What even a year ago did you think was the most important or traumatic thing and now you can't even remember what happened? (Unless you're like my friend who can quote day and time of day that something happened years ago). We can so easily make a big deal out of little things. Let's concentrate on making life count for the things of eternity.

3. Praise God! There is hope of justice because judgment is a-comin'. Verse 3 says, "You also open Your eyes on him And bring him into judgment with Yourself.” Christians will be found blameless at judgment but those who hurt us and are without Christ will be judged and sent to hell. Eternal life will be filled with only the righteous and we will all be empowered for perfect living. By the way, “the righteous” aren't those who are religious and live seemingly perfect lives. That doesn't qualify you for heaven. “The righteous” are those who are redeemed and wear Jesus' robe of righteousness because they are cleansed from their sins. It has nothing to do with performance; it's a gift of grace from God and included in our position in Christ as believers.

4. And that's also what verse 4 is about. "Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one!” This tells us about our sin. We can't make ourselves “clean.” We have no hope of heaven apart from salvation because none of us deserves or can earn heaven. Since we can't earn it, there's no loss of hope because we aren't being good enough. Since entrance to heaven is a result of grace, we have assurance apart from earning it. What hope there is because we never need fear we aren't being good enough. It's a free gift when Jesus has redeemed us.

5. But don't worry. Your entrance into heaven won't happen unless and until it's God's will. That's the message of verse 5-6: "Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass. Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest, Until he fulfills his day like a hired man.” You can have the “hope,” the assurance, that the plane won't crash if you're in it (or below it) until it's God's will. You will be protected in that car accident if it's not God's timing for you to enter heaven. But this also means that death will come to those who are ready and to those who aren't. Of course, we should do everything we can to extend life. But we must relinquish our demand that our efforts must work. God is in charge, not what we do.

6. Since we work so hard to stay here on earth, verses 7, 10, 12 give us the hope that once we're in heaven, there's no hope of coming back. But don't worry, we won't want to. Verse 7, by the way, contains our first use of the word “hope” in this chapter. "For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again,...But man dies and lies prostrate. Man expires, and where is he?...So man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no longer, He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep [on this earth].”

You don't have to come back. There's no threat that once in heaven, we'll return to earth—because at that point, we won't want to come back. Surely, there are those who have near death experiences, even arrive in heaven and God sends them back. But when it's actually time to remain in heaven, no one can steal that from us.

7. Verse 14 gives us a great “hope.” “If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my change comes.” We have a hope that “change,” our transformation to be like Jesus, will actually occur. We have the hope of a resurrected body that will not be in pain or be sick or suffer. What a glorious thought. I think I'm most looking forward to not being offended or emotionally hurt. Not only will our bodies be healthy but our minds and emotions as well. Nothing will bother us and we'll only be in constant joy in Jesus' presence!

8. As I read through this chapter, verse 19 actually spoke to me the most. “Water wears away stones, Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth; So You destroy man's hope.” Our hope that this earthly life will meet all our needs is folly. An eternal perspective realizes that this is only temporary and unfulfilling. As much as we don't want to leave it and shouldn't leave sooner than God wants, we have an incredible glorious future of living personally with God without any struggles or challenges. Believe me, I don't want to leave my loved ones any sooner than God wants me to. I hope to watch Raphael welcome his bride at the altar and maybe cuddle my great-grandchild. But when pain, physical/mental/emotional, is overwhelming, hope of heaven is a marvelous beckoning light.

I think God also wants to strip away our hope that our present sinful ways of coping can work. Our self-protective sinful strategies may be addictions, shopping, busyness, anger, peace-at-any-cost, or a multitude of other choices. It's anything that says, “I'll trust this other thing rather than God to fulfill my need. We may not feel like it's a conscious choice but everything we do is a choice. God wants to “destroy” those things that make us hunger for muddy cisterns instead of God's living spring (Jeremiah 2:13). If something you do doesn't satisfy your deep inner hunger for God, then it's a false hope.

Well, Job 14 has been an incredible visit into our hope of eternal life. Which reason for hope is most meaningful for you?

Thankfully, We Don't Earn Healing

I bent forward wrong yesterday and I'm finding that I'm feeling like since I didn't do it right, since I made the mistake, I'm not worthy of God's healing. The tortillas fell out of the refrigerator (we got take out from Las Casuelas for Valentine's Day yesterday), and I just didn't want to call Larry over to help or go get the grabber. I thought, “I can do this. I 'll just do deep knee bending to grab it.” But oh, when I did, I knew I had done something wrong. Although not painful, I felt my spine bend. And more pain went down my leg than before. I'd hurt myself on Thursday doing too much in preparation for the cleaning lady. Especially, I think, carrying Larry's book bag to the office. I did feel more specific pain in my leg because of it. So by Sunday, I still hadn't recovered from the Thursday setback.
As I journaled how I was feeling, I wrote,

Since I hurt myself yesterday, I'm recognizing something inside me that says, “Since you did it wrong, praying for God's healing isn't as effective. If you do it right, God can answer. But since you did it wrong, well, then, God isn't obligated to do His part. He is only obligated to do His part if you do your part and don't do something stupid.”

Oh, Lord, this is really strong. I'm crying. But the truth is, I don't deserve any healing or anything good from you. Anything you do for me is totally out of your graciousness and mercy. It has nothing to do with me. I'm your daughter and yes, it's important for me to cooperate and not squander the progressyou've given me, but every blessing is a gift, not earned. Thank you, Lord."

After I realized what was going on, I felt such a relief and God's peace was so real. And I'm thankful that I've returned to my pre-yesterday condition. Just one Alleve handles the pain.

Isn't it wonderful that all of God's gifts are by His grace and not earned?

A Surrendered Hope or a Demanding Hope?

Our next entry of “hope” in the Bible is found in Job 13:15:

"Though He slay me,
I will hope in Him...”

Wow! Job sounds pretty solid. Until we continue reading...

“...Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.
This also will be my salvation,
For a godless man may not come before His presence.
Listen carefully to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
Behold now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I will be vindicated.” Job 13:15-18

Is Job's hope really only in God or is it in being able to argue his case with God? It's an interesting thought. If we only read the first part of verse 15, Job is sounding dependent upon God. It sounds like he is totally surrendered to whatever God wants to do in His life. But Job has a “nevertheless” problem. He says a truth but puts in a “but.” He would have been better off staying with his faith and dependence and leaving out the “nevertheless.”

I think his reasoning makes demands upon God and presumes that he, not God, is in control. Job says he hopes in God which would indicate he is depending upon Him. But then he asserts his own will. That to me indicates he has a qualifier to his faith. It may be saying, “I'll hope in God, I'll depend upon God, if I can come before Him and be vindicated” (verse 18). It's not a “I hope in God regardless whether I get an audience with God.”

Unfortunately, Job has changed his thinking from the beginning of his suffering:

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped.“He said,
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,

And naked I shall return there
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21)

In the beginning of his trial there wasn't any “nevertheless” in his commitment to God. He worshiped and he blessed God's Name. How wonderful.

But pain has a way of putting in a bunch of “neverthelesses.” I know. I'm not putting down Job. I've been there. There were a lot of conditions I went through in my eight month journey through intense pain. I had a “nevertheless” problem too. My hope was in hoping I got better, not “I surrender to you Lord if you never heal me.”

But I did learn more and more to say the words of James, the brother of Jesus, who was martyred for his faith. “Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." (James 4:13-15).

May I be bold to say that Job's faith had turned into one that was conditional, unlike the principle of faith that James is encouraging us to have? Our life is in God's hands and we have no power to demand anything. We can pray. We can ask. And yes, we should claim God's promises. James also said that we could ask for wisdom and expect it (James 1:5). But somehow there's a difference between depending upon however God answers and demanding it. Weary Job, pain-filled, sitting day after day in grief, had lost his grip on “though he slay me....”

I think a part of Job's struggle was his dependence upon “making his case.” Remember how he said, “ I have prepared my case” (verse 18)? He had it all figured out. He had spent a lot of thought on how he would convince God of his innocence rather than trusting God knew everything already. He was basically saying that God was ignorant of the facts and it was up to him to straighten God out. There's a self-sufficiency rather than a surrender. There's a self-confidence rather than a humble heart.

Although we won't perfectly depend upon God without any demands of a “nevertheless,” we can look positively at Job's comment that his hope was in God. Though he expected vindication, at least he was still looking to God as his hope. He could have rebuked and rejected God altogether.

How gracious our Lord is to receive us wherever we're at. Even in our state of demanding, He shows up and ministers to us. He did that for Job. The end of the story is where God contends with Job (the tables were turned!) and basically says, “who are you in comparison to me?” Here's Job 40:1-5:

Then the LORD said to Job, "Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it."

Then Job answered the LORD and said,
“Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
"Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;
Even twice, and I will add nothing more."

His demand for a hearing before God was answered but it wasn't the vindication from God that he envisioned.

We should examine our own lives. Are we sneaking in a “nevertheless” into our hope and faith? Are we making demands upon God that things must go the way we want them or need them? We may have to lay our hand over our mouth in repentance. That's when we'll have a surrendered heart rather than a demanding heart.

Got a “Zophar” in Your Life?

(I'm taking a survey of the word "hope" in the Bible. Check for other posts on this topic).

When next we see the word “hope” used, it is fast on the heels of where we left off. Right after Zophar chastises Job, he continues in Job 11:20,

"But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
And there will be no escape for them;
And their hope is to breathe their last." (NASB)

Zophar uses the word “hope” except this isn't a true hope kind of hope. Zophar uses it as in “their only hope is death.” (NLT) He means, “The only thing the wicked can expect that is good is death because it will relieve them of their pain.”

Basically, Zophar is concluding that Job isn't going to change his mind and that all he has said to Job will fall on Job's deaf ears. Since Job won't repent from his error, Zophar decrees that Job's only hope is death, in order to get out of his misery and pay for his wicked heart by dying.

Now, as Christians, we do believe that there is no hope for unbelievers based on the Gospel and we are very glad that we have a hope of God's work both now and after death. And that also motivates us to share with unbelievers so that they will have a living hope. So Zophar's words are not applicable to us and actually not applicable to Job because the first few chapters of Job's story determined that God considered him righteous and blameless. His trials have nothing to do with him deserving them.

This is the same old theme we've been going over in the book of Job. Job is being falsely accused of unrighteousness and he is standing firm against it. And thankfully so because falling for the lie would make him focus on himself rather than God's grace.

Interestingly, I've talked to several lately about how some people in their lives were accusing them of being unrighteous—specifically, not having enough faith—and that was why their loved one wasn't being healed. The barbs of “if only you would do it right then he would be healed” cuts to the core. Even though my friends know these ideas are wrong—in their minds; in their hearts they were caught up momentarily wondering if they actually are responsible for their loved one not being healed.

Such thoughts, just like the ones Job was facing from Zophar, take the focus off of God and make it all about us. Instead of depending upon God's will, it becomes our efforts and performance that cause God to work according to our will, not His.

This is what Job was facing. The messages of Zophar and his other “friends” didn't offer true hope based on God but hope based upon Job doing it right.

Surely, God wants us to be holy in His power. That is His call upon our lives. But it's not us working hard to do it right; it's relaxing in trust knowing God will do it within us and also heal or not heal according to His will.

Job stood firm in his belief that he hadn't done anything wrong and that God was working for His benefit even in these tragedies. Job knows he's not one of those wicked people who Zophar is describing whose only hope is death. And in the end, Job is vindicated and God tells Job to pray for his friends! Talk about a stamp of approval.

Do you have a “Zophar” in your life telling you wrong ideas? I would be the first one to encourage you to evaluate your life to see if there's any sin. But if God hasn't convicted you, then listen to God, not me! Your “Zophar” will try to convict you where the Holy Spirit of God isn't convicting you. Choose the Spirit's leading, not a man or woman. Only God's Spirit can see your heart and know the truth.

I Recommend "Thin Places" by Mary E. Demuth

Redemptive. That is the primary word that describes this gutsy book. Mary's memoir, Thin Places, is a collection of powerful and skillfully told true stories that relates experiences from her life and then draws God's threads of redemption through them. The stories themselves are raw and at times, difficult to read. But oh, out of those honest recollections, Mary relates God's ability to touch and heal and restore and make a difference in her life. And if God is doing that in her life, then there's hope for all of us.

It took me a few chapters to understand the flow of the book. As I read the first few chapters, I was a little confused because I thought the format would be an autobiography that started in youth and moved forward to the present. But then she began interjecting stories from throughout her life. But by the third or fourth chapter, I finally got the idea (dense me!) that each chapter had a theme and there were long-distant-past and more-present stories in the chapter related to that theme. For instance, the theme-named chapters are names like: Pickets, Raggedy, Singing, Divorce, Reactionary, etc.

Because Mary's book is largely a collection of stories about being abused and/or neglected and/or mistreated, it would be easy to pigeon-hole this book into that arena but that would be a mistake. For I can easily read my own story into Mary's memoir and I think everyone will find themselves in it also, even if they've never been abused, mistreated, or neglected. For each and every one of us wasn't loved well to the degree we desired or hoped. And as a result, we can identify with Mary's journey. All of us have experiences which cause false conclusions about life, God, and ourselves. I found myself identifying with many of Mary's experiences and then with her false conclusion and then with God's truth. As a result, there was a seed of redemption planted in my own heart and life.