God is not a god of disorder, but a God of peace.
He orders things and brings harmony. He doesn’t intentionally try to disturb us just to disturb us just to disturb us. Indeed, God desires that calm, quiet spirit in us that we find so sweet in wonderful friends we trust.
So why do we sometime go through the fire? Why must we face trials and tribulations if God wants to lead us in triumph?
Why did Paul say that soon satan would be trampled underfoot in his letter to the Romans and then get executed in Rome?
God uses our defeat to bring forth His victory. The Lord wants it totally clear that it is not this world that is the end, it is the world to come that we are to look for and pursue.
Yes, it is good to have joy while in this world.
But if our joy terminates in this world, then we are pitiful people.
Have you ever been to a funeral where some seemed at peace though they mourned and some seemed disheartened though they spouted off platitudes like “They are in a better place now.” One contains true joy, though the joy is decorated by tears of longing. The other is sorrow though it is paper mache’d over and sprinkled with glitter.
What is the difference between true hope and utter hopelessness?
Jesus.
He too faced a horrible death. He too did not want die, certainly not the way he did. But Jesus did want to bring many people into the Kingdom of God as children of God. The only way to open the door of death was to pass through it himself, so that others could triumph when they went through it.
And so too, when Paul, not fearing death, so opposed the evil of False Religions and False Justice that he was executed for his stand against worship of any mere man, he rejoiced in hope, knowing that the final victory is not in this world, but in the next. When we fix our eyes fully on the world to come and the joy that is awaiting us there, then we are free to endure hardship like good soldiers.
A soldier fights a battle for his allegiance to a better country. Christians stand firm in the faith knowing that a better world awaits when Christ returns.
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