Tonight as we continued to look at the subject of living according to God’s will, we looked at 1 Peter 4:1-19, where Peter makes it clear that the rest of our earthly lives should be lived not for earthly desires but for the will of God – even if this includes suffering (‘those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.’ 1 Pet 4:19) Commitment to Christ involves a radical reorientation of our lives (see Eph 4:1, 17) and this includes our attitude towards suffering for Christ’s sake.

The modern Western world seeks to avoid suffering at all costs; questions about the nature of suffering are often raised by unbelievers as barriers to faith. People feel that if God is all-powerful and all-loving, suffering should be eliminated now – and if it isn’t, that proves God is either not all-powerful or He does not love us. Unfortunately, when sin entered the world because of man’s disobedience to God, problems entered God’s perfect world, and although we know that God will one day eliminate suffering and sin and death and mourning and sorrow (Rev 21:4), this is not how it is at present. God is not a sadist, but trouble and suffering are part of our sin-tainted world (see Jn 16:33, Jn 15:4, Matt 10:21-23).

The Christian response to suffering for Christ’s sake is surprising: we are to count ourselves blessed and to rejoice (see Matt 5:11-12, Acts 5:41). Suffering as a Christian (and not simply as a result of our own sin and stupidity) is something that marks us out as belonging to Christ. We are citizens of both earth and heaven, and we need to see how the New Testament writers link suffering and glory to give us an eternal perspective. (2 Cor 4:18-19, 1 Pet 4:13-14)

When persecution, opposition, imprisonment, loss, bereavement and even death come our way because of our identification with Christ, we should commit ourselves to God, our faithful Creator, and continue to do good. The Voice translation of 1 Pet 4:19 says, ‘So even if you should suffer now for doing God’s will, continue doing good and trust your futures to the judgment and mercy of a faithful Creator.’ The Message version says, ‘So if you find life difficult because you’re doing what God said, take it in stride. Trust him. He knows what he’s doing, and he’ll keep on doing it.’ God wants us to keep on doing good and to keep on trusting Him. We have a Saviour who has tasted suffering Himself (Isaiah 53:3, Heb 2:18, Heb 12:2-3) and therefore we can be strengthened and helped by fixing our eyes on Him.

When we speak about God’s will, we prefer not to think about the cup of suffering. However, Jesus had to drink this cup and taste the wrath of God for all of us so that we can be saved. He prayed for God to take the cup from Him but ultimately surrendered to God’s will: ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’ (Luke 22:42) We too now have the privilege of drinking from the cup of suffering. (Mark 10:39) We do not have to face God’s wrath, but if we want to know the power of His resurrection, we must also be willing to participate in His sufferings (Phil 3:10) so that we too can know the resurrection from the dead. Ultimately, we are to rejoice when we suffer for His name’s sake because we are then identified with our Saviour and marked as His. To live according to His will means we even embrace suffering for His sake and can commit ourselves to our faithful Creator and continue to do good, secure in our eternal reward won for us by His own suffering.

Here’s a list of what’s happening in May…

Don’t forget our ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting on Wednesday 15 May at 1.45 p.m. at the Salvation Army in Goldthorpe.

On Sunday 19 May we are holding our Annual General Meeting after the morning service and then stopping on for Sunday lunch! As a result, there will be no evening service that Sunday.

On Monday 20 May it’s ‘Mindful Moments’ (an evening of creativity for adults between 6 and 8 p.m.)

Our Family Fun Day celebrating 10 years of Dearne Churches Together is on Wednesday 29 May between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. at Goldthorpe Parish Hall & gardens on Lockwood Road.

If we left David in some turmoil last time, living in Gath and about to fight for the Philistines (1 Sam 27), our focus now returns to King Saul, who is in an even worse position. Knowing that the Lord has departed from him and facing the might of the Philistines, Saul is terrified. Not receiving answers from God in any conventional way, he turns to what is prohibited and seeks a medium in Endor to conjure up the spirit of Samuel to tell him what to do. (1 Sam 28) If he thought that would bring reassurance and positive news, he is sorely disappointed. Samuel does not hesitate to remind him of his disobedience which has brought him to this place and even predicts his death at the hands of the Philistines and the passing over of his kingdom to David. Saul ends the chapter devastated and broken, a terrified man with no hope and no future.

Saul has not learned wisdom or humility. 1 Chronicles 10:13-14 gives us a blunt obituary: ‘Saul died because he was unfaithful to the Lord; he did not keep the word of the Lord and even consulted a medium for guidance, and did not inquire of the Lord. So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.’ Throughout recent chapters, we have seen repeatedly that Saul does not fully turn away from his sin; his moments of lucidity and recognition of God’s will are outweighed by his own sense of entitlement and fear. He is a vivid example of how not to live. He never seems to embrace God’s plans for his life, but keeps on trying to do things his way.

His independence, stubbornness and wilful disobedience (since he had banished all the spiritists and mediums from Israel, he could hardly plead ignorance of God’s law!) are all typical of mankind. We too can be like Saul, justifying our actions, having a spirituality that is only skin-deep. What God requires, David learned, was truth in the inward parts; integrity which has absorbed God’s commands and submitted to them, no matter what the circumstances. Sadly, Saul does not learn, does not repent. The consequences, Samuel reminds him, will come. We do well to learn from his mistakes so we avoid repeating them (see also 1 Cor 10:1-13).

Eugene Peterson’s book ‘Eat This Book’ (an allusion to Ezekiel 3) talks about the art of reading Scripture and of Biblical meditation, ‘chewing over’ God’s word like a dog with a bone. ‘Lectio divina’ (holy reading) takes a verse or two at most and invites us to reflect, pray and memorise these words to see what God is saying to us as we ponder and pray.

A dog gnawing on a bone, sucking every ounce of goodness from the marrow or a cow chewing the cud repeatedly are analogies used to describe the process. Just recently I’ve enjoyed sucking slices of lime after a cold drink of water and this reminded me of the process of Biblical meditation.

The Holy Spirit is in believers to reveal truth to us and to remind us of all Jesus has taught. Recently I have been meditating on the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20. I keep coming back to these fundamental truths, pondering what it means to go, what it means to make disciples, the sacrament of baptism, the tri-une nature of God, the role of teaching, the need for obedience, the presence of God. I am learning and re-learning so much as I dwell daily in these verses.

In an age of hustle and bustle, meditation bucks the trend. It refuses to let us hurry on. It changes the pace. It gives us an anchor for the soul.