Suffering vs. Faith

I've always had trouble understanding the point of this Bible verse:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. - James 5:13–14 ESV

Today I read that, and suddenly it was crystal clear to me. These aren't actually specific instructions to follow. I mean, those are good things to do, but that's not a "how to" formula for those specific situations. What if you start suffering but you forget to immediately start praying? What if you're cheerful but you're in a library and can't just bust out your favorite Chris Tomlin song? What if you're sick but your cell phone battery is dead, and there are no church elders in shouting distance??

Those verses don't contain specific instructions that you must follow to the letter, like a recipe for baking a cake or a medical prescription to make warts go away. Those are examples of how a Christian might respond appropriately in a given situation. You might feel cheerful because you are thinking about what God has done, but you don't burst into song - instead you begin to pray and thank God for all He's done for you. You might feel sick when you're volunteering with your church youth group - not an "elder" in sight, but a dozen faith-filled teenagers pray for you instead. These are not precise procedures that must be followed. The specific instruction from this passage is this: no matter what happens to you, respond in faith. It's as simple as that!

Unburden Yourself

photo © 2005 meg and rahul | more info (via: Wylio)

    Thus said the LORD to me: “Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. Thus says the LORD: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers. (Jeremiah 17:19-22 ESV)

I've never been one of those work-is-forbidden-on-Sunday kind of Christians. First and most obvious of all, Sunday is actually not the Sabbath. The Sabbath is Saturday, as any Jewish person can readily tell you. (The reason Christians meet on Sundays is because Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday; the early church took to worshiping on that day and we've been doing it ever since.) Second, in the society we live in, it can be very difficult to function if you are dogmatic about the whole no-work-on-Sunday thing. Ever fill out an application to work in the service industry (most teenagers' first jobs) and fill in that you won't work on Sunday? Not always a wise choice! And hey... what about your pastor? I'll bet he comes to his job on Sundays!

I don't want to get into the whole ceremonial law vs. moral law thing where it comes to Old Testament rules... at least, not in this post. Thomas Aquinas blogged that one many years ago, anyway. :) My belief is that many things that were physical but ceremonial in the Old Testament are, in the era after Christ's sacrifice, metaphors for spiritual things. Whatever side of the working-on-the-Sabbath debate you fall on (Saturday, Sunday, no work, a little work, whatever), for a moment I want to think about a metaphorical application of carrying burdens on the Sabbath.

I get nervous about things sometimes. I get fearful if the bills aren't paid, if I have a responsibility that I'm not sure I'll be able to fill, if there's something coming up that I'm not looking forward to. Everybody gets stressed out from time to time. Those things are burdens. When Peter paraphrases Psalm 55:22, "Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you..." he changes it a bit: "...casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7 ESV, emphasis mine in both cases) A worry or anxiety is metaphorically a burden.

If "burden" is a metaphor for an anxiety, then what does the Sabbath represent? The Sabbath is a time of rest, of being in and enjoying the presence of the Lord. Hebrews chapter 4 tells us that the Sabbath rest is still present for the people of God, but it is entered into by faith in Christ Jesus, and is a rest from the impossible task of trying to do enough good things to be good enough for God. When we enter the presence of God, we enter that restful place, because we can only enter God's presence through Christ.

Your "burdens" are your fears, your concerns, your anxieties. The "Sabbath" is, metaphorically, your position in the presence of God because you have accepted the sacrifice of the Cross. Don't bear your burdens on the Sabbath. When you walk into church, don't bring your anxieties and fears and try to hang on to them. For that matter, in Christ we are continually in a Sabbath; don't try to bear your own burdens any time. Let God give you the emotional rest to match your spiritual state of rest. Cast your burdens and anxieties on Him. And get some rest!

Pleading Three Times

photo © 2009 Ian Scott | more info (via: Wylio)

And they went to a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.” And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” (Mark 14:32-42 ESV)

Jesus' suffering at Gethsemane was excruciating. In fact, in Luke it says that He was sweating so much it was like blood dripping off Him. He was pleading with God that there would be some other way, but God's answer was silence: Jesus already knew God's will. In fact, a few weeks earlier Jesus had said:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep... No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:11,18 ESV)

Jesus knew God's will, and so He submitted Himself to it. The Father's will was that He die, so he would die. Jesus had His mind so set on obeying God's Will that He actively resisted defending Himself: "Do you think," Jesus said when one of the disciples struck out at the soldiers who came to take Jesus into custody, "that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53 ESV) Jesus could have called in the cavalry, but instead He chose Calvary. Three times Jesus plead for relief from His suffering, but God's will in this case was that He suffer, and Jesus chose God's will.

The Apostle Paul had an enormous revelation of the Gospel. He talked about it in letters to churches with which he had worked, and those letters were later collected and compiled to make up more than half of the New Testament. But God apparently foresaw a problem in Paul's life:

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV)

Paul had a problem. Like Jesus, he pleaded with God that there would be some other way, but the Lord Jesus did not let him hang in silence. Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you.” Jesus' own grace. The grace that Jesus had when He was pleading with God in the Garden was also sufficient for Paul when he was pleading with God. The grace that got Jesus through the Cross was available, and sufficient, to get Paul through his trouble.


Is there something you've plead to God about three times? Something excruciatingly painful? Does it almost feel like you're going to die? God answers prayer, but in this life, the answer is not always an immediate change in the situation. In fact, God often receives much greater glory, and you get to experience a much greater victory, when God brings you through a hard time, and you endure with His grace. I don't believe that God wants His people to suffer, but sometimes instead of alleviating the suffering by changing the external situation, He alleviates the suffering by giving us peace in our hearts that, by His grace, the grace that carried Jesus Himself through death and to resurrection, He will also bring us through our dire situations to the resurrection on the other side.


Happy Good Friday, and Happy Easter!