And That is Enough

This week has been heavy. There is so much going on in so many people's lives and it's just felt heavier than usual. I've felt a call to intercede more intentionally this week and I am grateful that He would invite me into this battle, to war alongside Him, to stand in the gap for those who are going through a hard time.

We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, "I believed in God, so I spoke." We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit. And as God's grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever. 2 Corinthians 4:8-18

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance- an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold- though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1: 3-8

In His kindness, God called you to share in His eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever! Amen. 1 Peter 5:10-11

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. Romans 5:3-5

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later. For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don't need to hope for it. But if we look forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) Romans 8:18-25

We were told it would be like this. One thing we're assured of is suffering and in this suffering, we catch a glimpse of God's own suffering and sorrow over our sin, over our hurt, our brokenness. And through it, we grow to become more like Him. And we are told over and over of this hope we have. The hope of salvation for trusting in Him. The hope of the future glory we will share with Him. And we are told of the love He has placed inside of us through His Holy Spirit, to help to keep our wandering and weary hearts set...fixated...on this hope. Because one day...we will no longer suffer, we will be with Him. In heaven. In glory. For eternity.

Eternity.

Like...forever. And ever. And ever. And ever. And ever. And ever. Times a billion. When I was little I would try to imagine what this was like and my brain felt like it was going to explode. I still experience this impending explosion when I try to fathom it. And then when I turned my back on God, and went my own way, the alternative became real to me, though this eternity I wished I would have had a hard time imaging. Hell...and forever and ever and ever there. Somehow hell was so much easier to imagine. And this brought a deeper despair than any other I had felt.

If you're like me and the concept of eternity, of heaven, is too hard, too big, too outside of this world, too altogether different from anything you have ever experienced or even seen in the greatest of sci-fi movies...maybe you find it hard to take comfort in your suffering because the very thing we are told to set our hope on in the midst of this suffering- this glorious eternity in heaven with God Almighty...

It's just too wonderful to imagine. It's too much. Or perhaps the idea of singing for eternity just doesn't excite you. And forever is such a long time.

I want you to take heart...

If we look at the interaction between Martha and Jesus in John 11 after Jesus arrives in Bethany, 4 days after Lazarus had died:

Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again." "Yes", Martha said, "he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day." Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in Me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in Me and believes in Me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?" "Yes, Lord," she told him. "I have always believed You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the One who has come into the world from God." John 11: 21-27

Martha was hurting. Martha was experiencing great sorrow. And it would seem that she had a hard time with this eternity concept, too. She didn't even really answer His question here, or maybe she did. Her response was, "Jesus, I believe in You". She didn't say, "yes Lord I know I will never die, that I will go on to heaven for eternity with You and that makes this pain and any pain I will ever walk through okay". She said, "Jesus, I believe in You." And that is enough.

Friends...that is enough.

We may not know about anything else, Jesus, but we believe in You. We trust in You. We're hurting. We're struggling. Sometimes it feels as if everything is crashing and burning around us. We get so tired of seeing people we love hurt and fall...and we know this is life and our suffering, this sorrow, can be the very thing that keeps us clinging to You for dear life if we let it. Lord, it's hard for us to even begin to imagine this eternity that will come one day, but Lord, You have placed eternity in our hearts.

So Abba, we believe in You. And that is enough for You. You don't ask for us to understand or even to see things exactly as You do. Let this be enough for us today. To just keep our eyes on you. To keep our hearts close to Yours, to breathe You in and know that Your nearness in this moment, right now, is enough. You will light up the darkness inside and around us and show us how to see eternity in Your heart and to trust that this same eternity is in our own. You will teach us to see the beauty that You see and also to be able to see and feel the darkness and when we do, to know that there is so much more...that even the darkest darkness, even the darkest night is light to You.

Lord, You alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. The land You have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance! I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for He is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For You will not leave my soul among the dead or allow Your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of Your presence and the pleasures of living with You forever. Psalm 16: 5-11