13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the lord in the land of the living! 14Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord! (Psalm 27:13-14)
Faith takes courage. To believe something as utterly ridiculous as the works of Jesus, you have no choice but to lean in on faith. The truth is, the headlines of this life seem to be discrediting His work.
Disaster
War
Suffering
Politics
All of these are winning. Yet, our faith tells us that even despite the glaring darkness, God is undoubtedly good. I have always appreciated how sympathetic the Bible is. It would be easy to “spin” the question of evil if this book was written by man alone. We would either ignore the issue of suffering or create a nauseating pulpit driven tagline (“let go and let God” “grow better not bitter” etc.). Yet with divine inspiration, somehow our Creator nods with us in response to such confusion and heartache. Instead of eliminating such crushing matters, Jesus chose to participate within it, suffering with us instead of merely beside us. We can then take courage knowing that He who we look upon for strength, has also endeared hardship at the hands of manmade evil. We can take some comfort in knowing that when we suffer, experience loss, doubt, and the general heartache that comes with this life, that He aches with us, not as someone without understanding, but as someone who lives through every instance of injustice, past and present.
The suffering of our savior is eternal. It is revisited in every abuse of power and body. It pierces in every disappointment and our inability to be what we ought to. In every salvation, there must first be a sacrifice and burial. His suffering lasted past his mere 33-35 years on this earth but is resurrected daily, for our transgressions, now and forever.
So when we are told to “take heart” or to “be strong”, it is anything but a Sunday school answer plastered on bumpers and flowery calendars. No, His encouragement was bought with His blood – His moral authority. With this, He points to a better day and invites us to do the same. In courage, we look forward to the final end of evil and ego. It is in this courage that we are fueled to get through today, while fighting against the current with grace.
Matt simon blog 