A Paradox

“…looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:2

Jesus suffered before He went home to be with His Father in Heaven. I want to speak to you about the great paradox. Now, that word paradox, I struggled to understand the meaning... maybe you do as well. So I looked up the Oxford Dictionary and the word means "A seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that may, in fact, be true. That is quite a mouthful, isn’t it? But putting it in layman’s language, it simply means, “No pain, no gain,” therefore you and I must not be afraid of pain nor suffering.

Jesus said in Psalm 30:5:

“Weeping may endure for a night,
But joy comes in the morning.”

Because you and I know that all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28). What we have just been through in the Northern Cape, the drought, fire, the devastation... and when you are in the fire, it is extremely hot! Maybe you are in the fire today, my dear friend, and you say, “Lord, there is no way out - Lord, why are you doing this to me? Lord, why am I suffering?” Maybe it is because that dross, that rubbish, needs to be burned out of us. I am talking about pride, arrogance, and self-centredness.

No more doing it my way - it doesn’t work. The only way that works is God’s way and God teaches us, through the fiery trials and through the suffering, to appreciate things. Those farmers appreciated that rain more than anybody else because they haven’t had rain, some of them for four or five years. And I have seen farmers, big, strong men weeping but the Lord was there all the time. No, He didn’t cause it but He worked through it, always remember that. God will never reject a broken and contrite heart. Psalm 51:17

You know they said that the great ship, The Titanic, the biggest ship built up to that time was unsinkable. You can’t play the fool with God. On its maiden voyage, it hit an iceberg on the icy Atlantic Ocean and went down to the bottom of the sea, like a stone. It opened up like a tin can in a few minutes. God will not be in any way made a fool of.

Today, endure that pain remembering that is the symbol of the Christian - The Cross. It is the cross of suffering and God will bring you through, He will make you a better man or woman through it.

God bless you and have a great day.