a question
Noah was 600 years old when he began building the ark. After weeks of backbreaking work, he endured 370 days stuck in that airtight boat with an ornery family, hundreds of animals, and enough “fertilizer” for the rest of his grape-growing career.
Abraham waited a lifetime for God to keep the promise of a son, only to receive a command to murder that son in cold blood.
Joseph refused to have sex with Potiphar’s wife but still went to prison.
Moses put up with a million whiny Israelites for forty years.
Job lost everything because he had done nothing wrong.
Hosea faithfully loved an unfaithful wife and provided for the children of her affairs.
David ran for his life to escape a crazy king.
Jeremiah became the weeping prophet.
Daniel faced hungry lions.
Ezekiel watched his wife die, and was forbidden to mourn.
Mary quietly suffered disgrace and journeyed 70 miles on a donkey while nine months pregnant to give birth in a cave, alone and in pain and probably embarrassed, with no idea she wouldn’t get to return home to show the new baby to her mom.
Joseph endured the same scorn, the same journey, the same embarrassment, the same years running from Herod, and didn’t even get his own Hail Joseph prayer.
John the Baptist lost his head twice; before his beheading, despair and confusion led him to question if the man he followed was truly the Savior.
And Jesus, the Man of All Sorrows, “became obedient to death–even death on a cross.”
These are the giants of our faith. They are some of God’s “favorites.” Yet their journeys were difficult, messy, painful, unsanitary, anguished, dangerous, and unfair.
So if this is how God deals with his favored ones, why do we equate his blessing with safety, self-fulfillment, and air conditioning?
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Jennifer Taylor
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Apparently Moses just didn’t have enough faith. Abraham needed a more positive outlook. And Job definitely needed better friends.
It seems to me Moses had plenty of faith, and Abraham had a strong positive outlook. Obviously, Job needed better, more considerate friends, even a more considerate wife. However, the important this is Job stayed faithful to God. I just have a feeling that someday, the present comforts of the church will fade and the church will be forced to become the church and experience much of what the early disciples of Jesus experienced.
I think Matt was joking, Ed.
fantastic post.
osteen is correct that God blesses us.
it’s the stuff of blessing that is in question. God’s idea of blessing is different than ours.
I believe it is very important if we are going to talk about God that we are accurate and truthful. It hurts the cause of spreading the gospel when we allow the devil to let untruth into the mix. In the spirit of love, I offer corrections. Unbelievers are not swayed by human arguments, but by the Word of God, so when trying to advance God’s plan, please stick to the truth.
See Genesis 6 & 7, Noah was ~480 years old when he began building the ark.
I don’t know of anywhere documented in the Bible that Mary did not see her mother again.
It does not matter that Joseph did not get a ‘Hail Joseph’ prayer, (obviously referring to the Hail Mary), because Mary & Jospeh were true believers in Christ as Lord and Savior and thus would never want a prayer that exalts themselves instead of their son. They would, in fact, hate this occurrence.
As far as John the Baptist is concerned, I don’t remember hearing about him doubting his savior or being beheaded twice, any scripture references available?
Thanks for your comments, Michael.
Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth.–Genesis 7:6.
I did not say that Mary never saw her mother again, but that she did not get to take the baby home after the birth. My reading of Matthew 3 (the stay in Bethlehem until the Magi’s visit and then the escape to Egypt) confirms this.
We have no way of knowing whether Mary and Joseph ever felt inconvenienced, angry, disappointed or sad about the obedience God called them to. Since they are humans, my opinion is they did. The point of the post is that probably ALL these people did, but obeyed anyway.
John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?’ At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” Luke 7:18-23
I think the point here is this: We ought to consider our expectations in our own spiritual journeys and compare them to the reality of the aforementioned biblical instances. Do we seek conviction or convenience?
The Hail-Joseph prayer is long overdue. The post by Michael offers no Biblical support whatsoever to prove that Joseph would oppose this. Give me chapter and verse or I say we adopt it.
Writing to the Pope now,
Jim
We are whiny, comfortable, materialistic, and self-centered, compared with most of the heroes of the Bible. And too many of us believe obedience to God should make our lives easier, when all of history shows that usually radical obedience makes life more difficult. Jennifer points this out in a much more compelling way than I just have, and I agree that this was a great post!
Great post Jen, I even got the scarasm and loved it.
I have just read the book of Ruth and am reminded that Naomi was a female version of Job who hung onto her faith with her fingernails! God had huge blessings in store for her and Ruth but they weren’t about money or air conditioning!
Thanks for clarifying some of that, Jennifer. It is important that we can support what we say today with the Bible. I now ‘get’ the lost his head twice allusion.
As far as the Hail Joseph comment by Jim – I could argue that the entire Bible’s message would imply that any saint (true convert as I believe Joseph was) would not want to be exalted, but I will stick with exodus 20:4,5 as the evidence that any idolatry is wrong and Luke 4:8 as evidence that only God is worthy of worship. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
As far as Jennifer’s point, I don’t want to lose it or appear in disagreement. The Christian life is characterized by suffering (for one thing), and she portrayed that wonderfully! (as did Mark Taylor)
Sorry Michael. My “Hail-Joseph” comment was merely tongue-in-cheek. I do not intend to practice it any time soon. I agree that it would not be appropriate nor would it be condoned by Joseph or by God.
Thanks,
Jim