In today’s modern feel good, “name it and claim it” religious atmosphere, the gospel is presented as a remedy for all of life’s difficulties.  Supposing this to be true, it naturally follows that anyone experiencing difficulties or hardships in their life must be in the process of being punished or in another way reprimanded for their sins or lack of obedience.  But is this true?  Not always, for sure.  What about Job?  What about Joseph?

In our lives we face many trials and hardships.  Some face far more than others.  You may be going through one right now.  Paul addresses this when he speaks to the disciples in the following passage:

Acts 14:22  …and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,"…

Paul speaks from experience as shown in this passage, shortly after Jesus appeared to Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus:

Acts 9:15, 16   But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.  I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

In my story, “Life after Eden”, perhaps you might say the same thing.  The representation is that the good master has a plan for us to reenter the compound where life is perfect for those that believe.  Here’s an excerpt:

When the son found the people he gave them the simple message: love the good master and forsake the things outside the compound, and follow the son back home….Those who heard and wanted to follow him were at first saddened at his death as they didn't understand the fullness of the good master's plan.  But when the son came back from the dead and explained the fullness of the plan, they were very happy.  The son also explained that the friends he had brought along knew the way back to the compound if they wanted to follow.  And many did, being welcomed into the perfect beauty of the compound by the good master himself!  And those who followed left behind all those bad things of the world, grateful to the good master for his forgiveness of their leaving in the first place, their bad treatment of his servants and son, and the many bad things they had done while they were outside the compound.

If you missed the complete story, read it at:

guatemalago.org

In the story, some people chose to love the good master and follow his son back home.  That is, according to the Bible, we choose to love God and follow Jesus to Heaven.  But in the story I did not go into the journey we take as we follow Jesus to heaven.  Assuming that we have chosen to love God and accept the gift brought by his son, God himself promises us eternal life with him.  That is a fact.  But what about life on earth before we complete the journey following Jesus to heaven?  Jesus himself addresses this in John 10:10:

Joh 10:10, 11 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

In my story above, the thief is represented by everything outside the compound.  All the bad things, the difficulties and life’s woes found outside of the presence of the good master (God).  This is Satan.  He (Satan) comes to steal the truth that God gives to anyone who might follow him, to kill life here in this present life and in the next life, and to destroy all of the beauty that God has created.  But look at the next part of the verse:

I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

That’s the NIV translation, or as the King James version says: 

I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 

The abundant, full life.  Some say this means a life overflowing with things.  Things like money, cars, houses, clothes; material things.  And many choose to follow the thief who brings this false message which kills and destroys.  But this is not the master’s plan.  Jesus speaks very clearly of the journey required to follow him to heaven:

Mt 16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Matthew Henry says:  …Christ tells them all, they must be so far from sparing themselves, that they must deny themselves. Herein they must come after Christ, for his birth, and life, and death, were all a continued act of self-denial, a self-emptying…

Of Jesus Paul says:

Php 2:6-9   Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name…

This is God!  That Jesus was equal to God yet made no claim for himself, acting like a servant to the people who would call for his death—which he freely submitted to, in an act of obedience to his father, an act of love for us.  In the course of several weeks we find his life full of peaks and valleys, by earthly standards anyway.

He was triumphantly riding into Jerusalem, being heralded by the people as the coming King.  His disciples beamed with pride and the people loved him and praised him.  How exhilarating!

He was in the upper room with those closest to him when one of his disciples left to betray him.  Someone whom he had loved and taught and gave to.  How depressing.

He was in the garden in agony and anguish with his closest friends whom he asked to pray with him.  They all fell asleep while he was in his darkest moments on earth.  How depressing.

He was taken by the very people supposed to represent him on earth, beaten, humiliated and eventually crucified.  The Messiah, dead!  How ultimately depressing!

He arose from his death and appeared to many people who thought he was gone forever.  How exhilarating!

He appeared to his disciples, encouraging them and then ascended into heaven.  How exhilarating!

To those experiencing these events over the course of these weeks, they were very good things mixed with very bad things.  Many they did not understand and certainly didn’t appreciate.  But God had a plan and they all needed to happen to fulfill that plan.  If left up to the people many of these events would never have been allowed to happen, defeating God’s plan.  They wouldn’t have happened because the people (us) can’t see the big picture like God can.  They can’t experience time in its fullness.  That God is the “I am” indicates that there is no time with God as there is with man.  But that’s another story.  Paul explains how God works to us in this verse, which we will examine piece by piece:

Ro 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

1)  In all things…  The baker takes salt, honey, sugar, flour and various other items and makes a cake.  The ingredients are “all things”.  If you take the salt or flour alone, they don’t taste good.  If you take the sugar alone or the honey, they taste very good.

2)  Works for the good…  The baker mixes them together in a way which complements the cake.  If he uses too much salt the cake is ruined.  Not enough yeast and the cake is flat.  But mixed together in the right way they combine to make the cake taste very good!

3)  According to his purpose…  The baker knows what kind of cake he wants to make.  If he wants chocolate he adds that to the ingredients, the “all things”.  If he wants strawberry frosting he adds in the strawberries…you get the idea.

And so it is with God.  He steps into the kitchen of our lives (those who love him) and takes the available ingredients, mixes them together in just the right proportion, adds his special ingredients to make the final product to his liking and out comes a beautiful cake!  That is God!  We simply have to trust that he can make all things in our kitchen good.  We must trust the baker’s ability!  No matter what the situation!

But perhaps in your life it’s more difficult.  Maybe Satan has snuck into the kitchen and put 10 times as much salt into the batter as there should be.  He knows that he has ruined your cake and he tells you so.  You are destitute.  Your cake was everything and you were counting on it to come out right.  You already invited 10 of your closest friends to partake of the special cake, telling them how good the baker was.  And now Satan has ruined everything.  As he runs away from the kitchen laughing and making fun of you, you have enabled him and defeated the good work of the baker in your kitchen.  How so?

Your friends who you invited to the party to see the good work of the baker are eager after all you’ve told them to meet this baker and taste his cake.   They might want to use this baker too.  He sounds too good to be true so they’re waiting for the final test before deciding whether this baker is for them.  And now they see you defeated and depressed because of the baker’s inability to deliver the cake in this circumstance.  This is not a good testimonial from you to the bakers abilities.

The baker (God) has told us in Proverbs 3:5 to trust in him in all situations, in all circumstances even when we don’t understand how things can get better.  In fact, in Romans 8:28 above he promises us just that—if we trust in him.  But you say how so?  Satan has ruined the entire batch of batter.  Yes, he changed it but has he defeated God our baker?  I think not.

You see, God enters the kitchen and immediately understands what has happened.  By simply dipping his finger in the mix he knows what Satan has done.  This is step one above.  Then in step two he determines in his sole and absolute discretion how to fix the problem.  In this case, he simply decides to add 10 times the amount of all the other ingredients and maybe a dash more of the honey to make it extra good.  In step three he decides the final touches and…the cake is as good as the original and ready for baking!  Only now it is 10 times as big and extra special!

One final precaution.  A cake that is 10 times as large as originally planned will take a special oven and a lot more time to completely bake.  So once again we have to trust in the ability of the baker.  He knows the ingredients, how to mix them together in just the right proportion, and how to add special things to make it come out just right.  And above all, he knows how long to let everything cook.

And so goes the hardships of our life.  Satan and his demons place obstacles and difficulties in our path.  Our friends watch us to see how we react.  Either we lift up God and glorify him, knowing that he can fix anything Satan touches in our lives, or we show our friends that we do not trust in God or his plan.  And when we persevere, patiently waiting for God’s plan to unfold, it will often be bigger and more magnificent than we could have ever envisioned or planned ourselves.  The Bible is full of examples of this.

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