In the miry clay

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. (Psalm 40:2-3a)

I'm wondering if Peter was thinking of this Psalm as he wrote the next verses we will study, from I Peter:

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (I Peter 1:6-9)

The Psalmist and the apostle Peter were both thinking of the same things . . . . and I'm afraid we kind of confuse things nowadays. Let's see if we can figure out what is biblical!

We mentioned before that Christians are "all over the place" when it comes to how we think about, or respond to, suffering. Trials are common, but believers have many different responses to them!

First, we have Faithful Frances, who maintains that no one suffers unless they lack faith. We should claim healing by faith, and deny all negative thoughts. Only positive thoughts allowed.
Well, Frances, I hate to say it, but this is not biblical.....

Then there is Smiling Samantha. She says that yes, Christians must go through suffering, but they must keep a great, big smile on their faces. They are always "comforting" seriously stressed-out folks by chirping, "Rejoice always....in everything give thanks!" (I Thessalonians 5) Or, skipping up and saying, "Well you know....all things work together for good!" (Romans 8)  Seeing a grieving spouse after a funeral, Smiling Samantha grabs their hand and says merrily, "Well, they're in glory now!"

Oy vey. Yes, they are, but that may not be what that suffering believer needs right now. In fact, Smiling Samantha's approach can lead to folks being seen as hypocritical. It can even add up into emotional problems.....it's just phony. We can't deny pain. We can't shovel grief under the rug. I don't think this is biblical, either, and it is definitely not the best for our health.

At the other end of the pendulum from Samantha is Venting Victoria. Vickie says that we need to express how we feel..... to work through all the stages of emotions. We should vent our anger; we should let out the rage; just let the bitterness pour out.  Don't feel like doing that? Vickie puts on her wanna-be-psychiatrist hat and says, "You're in denial, honey!" She tells believers that God can take whatever they dish out, so just let him know how angry they feel.  Well, Victoria, this isn't the best way, either.

What IS the right way? The Biblical way to deal with suffering and trials?

I think that we can find verses in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that tell us we should not deny the pain or grief, but at the same time, to have joy in the Lord.....while we are in the miry clay.

Whaaaaaa?
I know, right? But I think if we look at some verses, it will become clearer....

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

...sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything. (II Corinthians 6:10)

Peek through this window with me....here, I will give you a boost so that you can see inside....

See those two men? This is a prison they're in. Horrible conditions: dirt floor, damp and moldy walls, a pile of musty straw to lean back on and try to drowse. What's that you asked me? Oh, yes, their feet are clamped into metal contraptions to hold them still....no way for these two to escape now. Yes, I know, I see their bleeding backs, too. They were stripped of their clothing and beaten severely before they were brought here. It was all illegal, but that didn't stop their enraged opposition -- they had healed a young girl of her demonic possession. Wonderful for the young lady, but her owners lost their source of income, since she told people's fortunes.
Look!
Paul sat up and tried to ease his aching back....seemed any way he moved there was straw poking into the lacerations on his back. He reached over to brush off his companion, Silas, and smiled at him. "Friend Silas," he said, "at least we are alive!" Silas straightened his painful back and felt his bruised ribs. "True, brother Paul," he sighed. "We are in pain, but we are still here! And our Lord said things like this would come to us."
"Let's sing, Silas!" Paul chuckled. "It will make us feel more hopeful, in spite of our distress!"

So indeed, they did sing songs and hymns. And the rest of the story is in Acts 16 if you would like to read it....
I believe that Peter is telling us that we can rejoice at the same time we are "distressed" by our trials. That word that he uses is translated "pain" and "grief" elsewhere. So Peter is NOT denying the pain we feel. He is not saying that we will not (or should not) voice our grief. What he is doing is pointing us to the genuine joy that a Christian can have, in the midst of the trial.

The hope that the Psalmist spoke of.... the "possessing everything" that Paul mentioned.  It's a matter of perspective, I think.  We can have joy even in the miry clay.

Please join me the rest of this week as we study these verses!

Our inheritance: secure

We are finishing up our study this week by focusing on these verses from I Peter:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:3-5)

I hope that we are praising God right along with Peter as we talk about our inheritance from God -- our salvation.

Do you enjoy old movies? Remember some of the great old ones, like the Agatha Christie and Hercule Poirot adaptations, where a room full of people is listening to a will being read? No one is talking because they are all intently listening, to see if they were willed anything....what did I inherit? is what they are thinking....
In verses four and five, Peter says that our inheritance, our salvation, is safe for eternity. Let's look at what Peter says, and see what other verses say, too, shall we? Because I enjoy reading Peter's description of an inheritance that is locked up in heaven (best bank ever, am I right?) and guarded against anyone who might try to take it from us! Not only that, but God's power is also guarding us, so that we will someday enjoy our inheritance!

Now, Christ Himself and being with Him is our inheritance -- but it also includes all that He will provide for those He has saved from sin. In fact, it's so vast that it is hard to describe. The only thing Peter can do is tell us what it is NOT: it's not perishable; it's not able to be defiled (spoiled); it won't fade.

Maybe we'd better look more closely. What does Peter mean?
When I studied up on it, most commentaries said that by imperishable, Peter meant our salvation is not harmed by death or decay.  Human inheritances are susceptible to both -- we might die before we can get our hands on it and enjoy it. If we do manage to wrap our arms around it, it is still subject to rust, moths, thieves, etc....

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

But not our heavenly inheritance -- it is not perishable, and it can't be destroyed.
The commentaries told me that by "undefiled" in some translations, Peter means it cannot be spoiled by moral impurity. Think greed here. (Grin) Earthly inheritances can be the source of nasty quarrels and downright greed and thievery amongst family members. It can go on for years and years. Everyone and everything is touched by these situations, and it spoils people and things. Our heavenly inheritance? I can't take from yours, and you can't touch mine.....God has plenty for all of us!

Peter also says our inheritance won't fade. Time won't touch it. We have all heard stories of people who inherit vast fortunes and fritter them away. Their wealth fades away and they are left bereft, often much poorer than they were before they inherited their money. But God's riches are inexhaustible!  We are going to live eternally, and we will never "run out" of all that He has provided for us.

Sometimes new believers worry about getting to heaven. They still are clinging to the "what I can do to be worthy" way of thinking, and sometimes we veterans do, too. What if we don't make it? Will I really get to heaven where my inheritance is?
Yes!
See that word in verse five: shielded -- we see it again in II Corinthians (11:32), and it means that those who are saved are under enemy attack. We know that, right? Satan is running around on earth and seeks to devour us! He wants to somehow stop us from getting to our salvation inheritance. But we are surrounded by God's power, and He will guard us. We will have safe passage to heaven, because we are guarded by the same Power that spoke our world into being!

I'm interested, too, in that phrase translated "ready to be revealed in the last time." My studies seem to indicate that Peter is saying we only enjoy a small portion of what God has for us, while we are on earth. We can trust God that our heavenly inheritance will be way better than we can even imagine! I kinda think that we will not be bored there....no sitting in the clouds and strumming. At least not all the time! (Grin) Let's be logical, our Father is a Creator Who made an incredibly complicated world and universe, and we are in His image. I think He will have lots for us to do!
Are you concerned that you "don't have that kind of strong faith"? Oh, but you do! You have lots of faith....you must make sure that you put your faith in Him, not in yourself. Like the man who said to Jesus, "I believe....help my unbelief!" God alone is powerful, and He can impart faith to us. We must cast ourselves on His mercy, and ask Him humbly to give us faith.

Our Christian lives are built one day at a time....trusting each day in what Christ has done for us, and in His promises to always be with us. Then we can persevere, and we can claim our inheritance on that great day when "faith becomes sight."

Lord, you alone are worthy of glory! Humble us so that we trust only in you, not in ourselves. Strengthen our faith in your mercy and love!

Our inheritance: salvation

We're continuing to focus on these verses (below) where Peter breaks out into exuberant praise, and then explains why:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. (I Peter 1:3-5)

Peter is telling the believers who have been scattered into different lands to praise God for their salvation -- that it comes from God the Father through the work of the Son, Jesus Christ. I'm not sure if this is where some of the preachers that I've listened to get the idea of a three point sermon, but Peter does lay out three ways that our salvation comes to us from God! He tells us that if we keep this in mind, we can praise God no matter what trials we are facing....

Let's dive in!
The first thing that Peter mentions is that we need to remember our salvation comes from God's wonderful mercy.  Our salvation doesn't come from anything within us, nor from anything that we have done....in reality, it comes in spite of us!
We can't earn it.
We can't convince God that we deserve it.
Mercy is just that....unmerited, undeserved favor. God looks upon us with compassion, in spite of our sins, and He loves us.  As far back as in Martin Luther's time, humans cherished the thought that we could atone for sins. That we could acquire eternal salvation. We thought, hey, we're strong, we have free will, we can do good works....
The truth is, we have to let go of those thoughts in order to experience God's mercy. The only thing we deserve in our sinful state, is punishment.
Instead, He shows us mercy.
After all, if our salvation depended on our goodness, it wouldn't be very secure, would it? What if we did something bad? What if we weren't quite as good as was necessary?
Let's explore this idea of our own goodness.....
When the dinosaurs were romping around (grin) and I was in college, the professors sometimes graded "on a curve."  Essentially, they threw out the grading scale for a test, instead saying that wherever most of the students' scores lay would be the average, or C grade. If the bulk of their scores were around 65, that would be a "C" even though ordinarily it was a failing grade. Those who made higher than 65 were in hog heaven, as my grandma used to say, because even if they wouldn't have had a good grade on the old scale, they did have a good grade "on the curve."
All this to say, again, that if being saved depends on being good......what if God doesn't grade on the curve? Or, what if the curve is higher than we thought? We might think we're sitting pretty.
Instead, we are enjoying a moment of false hope!
We do not get into heaven because WE are good. We get into heaven because JESUS was good -- He died and rose again to redeem us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

If we let go of what we think is our own goodness, and ask God for His mercy, then our salvation is as secure as the mercy and faithfulness of God.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God,keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9)

Peter says we can also praise God because He is powerful enough to provide salvation... Check out those verses again.  It says that God "gave us" new birth, and that He "shields us" by His power.  We remember that Jesus spoke about the new birth to Nicodemus, right? (John 3)
Just as we were once born physically, we have to be born spiritually. Now, we didn't have a thing to do with our first birth! And we can't assist in our spiritual birth, either. It's brought about by the life-giving power of God.

Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12-13)

 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day." (John 6:44)

Here again, aren't we glad that our salvation doesn't rely on our will, or on our effort? That would be awfully shaky ground! But it comes from His mighty power to bring us from death to life -- and that makes it a "sure thing."

That "sure thing" is based on the third thing that Peter mentions here: the resurrection of Jesus. In His death, He Who knew no sin bore the sins of all of us. And in His resurrection, He completed our salvation:

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.   (I Corinthians 15:17-20)

Peter and the other disciples were eye-witnesses. Jesus made many appearances to the apostles and the others before He ascended into heaven. Any doubts or gloom that Peter may have had initially were turned into confident assurance!

No matter our trials, no matter how big the problems seem, we can keep praising God because our inheritance, our salvation, comes from God -- not from ourselves!

Holy in an unholy world

How can we be expected to live a holy life in the midst of this sinful world?

We are bombarded daily with things that children of God shouldn't focus on. We're encouraged to wallow in junk.  Television commercials and radio ads.....internet click-teasers..... billboards ..... Everywhere we look, anytime we are listening, we are inundated with images and sounds and thoughts of things that are unholy. (I don't mean that there is no good at all in tv, radio, internet, etc. I'm just pointing to the fact that many of the things there are not in line with God's will for his children!)

And the hostility toward Christians? Wow, has it ever increased in the last few years.....we hear of be-headings and executions in the Sudan and other countries. Believers are lined up in Iran and asked to pledge faith to Islam instead of Christ, and those who won't buckle under are killed. Even in western countries, faithful believers are singled out for ridicule and persecution.

But Peter says we need to live with holiness in this world that is hostile to us.
I think he gives us some good pointers to help us out....

First, he says in verse two (of the first chapter of I Peter) that we are chosen by "the sanctifying work of the Spirit." The word that he uses means "setting apart" and he's talking about when the Spirit takes a believer from this world and sets him in his or her place in the community of God's children. But here is the cool part: see that "ing" on the end of the word? There is an active, ongoing process where the Spirit continues to separate us and move us closer to God....further from the world. All we have to do is submit to Him and then participate in the process. Namely, seek that close relationship with Christ.

Next, Peter mentions "obedience." Not only are we obedient when we accept the gospel, but a saving faith is a very active faith -- we want to please Him, and so we continue to be obedient.

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word,love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (I John 2:3-6)

Third, Peter mentions the "sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ" and this refers back to Moses' sprinkling the Israelites with blood when the Covenant first began.

Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.” (Exodus 24:8)

Just as then, we are cleansed from sin when the blood of Christ is applied to our hearts when we commit ourselves by faith to follow Him.  And just as in the word "sanctifying," there is an ongoing process here.....the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all of our sins at the moment that we accept Him, and there is also a repeated cleansing whenever we confess our sins:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.  (I John 1:9)

There's one last key word that Peter uses in his first letter, that has to do with being holy in an unholy world that is very hostile to us. That is the word "submit."
Oooooh...
That word.
That goes against EVERYTHING that the world wants to say.  Today people are all about their rights. All about what offends them. All about what makes them happy. People are advised to assert themselves. To make their wants known. Even to demand what they want, and seek "fulfillment."

For believers, it is different. When we face trials, we can complain about how unfair it is. We can look for the quick way out. We can search for the easy way out. Or we can submit to God and trust that He has chosen us, and He has a plan for our lives. We can rest in the knowledge that He is in control, and with the trial, will illuminate the way that we should respond. (And you know what? That is how we find fulfillment! And we find peace. And contentment.)

Teach me to do your will,    for you are my God;
may your good Spirit    lead me on level ground. (Psalm 143:10)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)

I heard a preacher once say that when we are dropped into the boiling pot of trials, we can be like an egg, or we can be like a potato. An egg goes in the boiling water soft, but comes out hard.....a potato goes in hard, but comes out soft. If we submit to our Father, He will soften our hearts and bless us with hope, joy, and peace as we live in an unholy world.