Hope, Tribulation, and Prayer
I hope you'll pardon me for beginning this article by revealing the rather shabby and unimpressive wizard, as it were, behind the curtain. But I want to confess that I am under an extraordinary amount of stress at the moment. Maybe you are too, but if not, you know enough of life to know that you will be at some point. In my case, it's nothing bad; I’m just learning to do extremely important things on the go. I'll probably barely remember it by the time you read this.
I tell you this first of all because it's always a bit of a relief for me to hear that other people go through similar things, and to know that we don't have to pretend we're perfectly okay all the time. We all go through times of difficulty. But, the point of me telling you this is to share something I came across in Scripture that is helping me through this right now.
When we go to God's Word, we do so to renew our minds. We go to the Word to see what God has told us about Himself. We go to it to learn who we are to be and what we are to be doing in light of the Gospel (some philosophers would say who we are and what we are doing are the same thing, but I'll leave that for the Acropolis to decide). This is profitable in all times of life, but for the purpose of this article I'll say that in times of great stress and difficulty I’ve found that the Scripture I store up in my mind each day is there for me in the times when I need it.
When Paul was in Corinth, preparing to deliver that church's love gift to the church in Jerusalem, he took time to write a letter of encouragement to a church he earnestly hoped to visit, the church in Rome. While reports were that the Roman church was healthy, he felt the need to ensure they understood that the Gospel of Christ's imputed righteousness was needed by all, by Jew and Gentile alike. The result was one of the richest works of Christian theology and Christian encouragement ever written.
Paul exhorts the Roman believers to present their lives and bodies as a living sacrifice, to not be conformed to this fallen world, but to strive toward God's will, toward what is good and acceptable and perfect. To hate evil and cling to good. To love and honor one another. And today, what is especially on my mind is Romans 12:12. It's a simple passage, but it’s both an encouragement and a missional reminder:
“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Romans 12:12
What does “rejoice” mean? It means to find joy in something. This is certainly an encouragement, but it’s also stated as a command to believers. The supposition is that when we turn our attention to our hope as Christians, joy will be the natural response. And what is this hope? It is the certainty that Christ died for our sins so that we might be raised from death to eternal life with Him. It is the certainty that God is so good and loves us so much that He gave His Son as the only sufficient sacrifice for the sins of humankind and that we who believe in Him have His righteousness imputed to us. This is the wonderful hope that stirs the Christian soul to rejoice.
We are also called to be patient in tribulation because we understand that the trials of this world are for a short time, and the work we have to do in spreading the Gospel is of infinitely greater importance. James echoes this encouragement when he writes, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (1:2-3). And so we also trust that God is using these trials to sanctify us. This is more cause for patience.
And we are to be constant in prayer. Friends, we have an open line of communication with the God who loves us, who is all powerful, whose will shall not be foiled, and from whom all blessings flow. We should continuously keep this truth before our eyes. We should pray alone and we should pray together, in times of lack and in times of abundance.
It is a simple message, but it’s profound. Keep your hope in Christ in front of you at all times and rejoice. In times of tribulation, remember God's promises, have patience, and speak to God. Tell Him what's going on with you. Continually bring your heart to Him, both alone and with the family of believers who are called to live this way as well. Pray for one another (pray for me too, please!) and let each other know when you're going through trials. Living this way will transform your mind, give you the proper perspective no matter what you are going through, and it will make you distinct, a light shining in the darkness of this fallen world.
