Effie Darlene Barba

If I tried to tell you that tragedy, pain, and suffering just will not come into your life; you would know I was lying.  Tragic suffering comes at us from all sides.  Whether that be the widow or widower overwhelmed by grief, the fear of an unseen enemy, or it be the deep dark sorrows hidden within your heart. Tragic suffering surrounds us. Just as Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation”.

Right now, the world is facing a virus.  A microscopic evil so tiny yet has brought the world to a sudden halt.  Fear, economical chaos, and death counts all keep rising.  We are forced to confront the idea that we are no invincible when something so tiny with no ability to reason can wreak such havoc.  It just floats from person to person at random; yet, it’s power to destroy our lives is evident.  No longer can we take for granted all the blessings we were living.  Tragic suffering that came upon us so suddenly.

Yet, is that not a lot like sin.  We cannot see it; but its effects have been producing such tragic consequences since human life began.  We have seen it in the bitter fighting throughout our nation, the disdain for those who protect us, the slithering of evil into every institution, the mass shootings, and the careless disrespect of life from the fetus to the aged senior citizen. Our world was running rampantly out of control before it was brought to a sudden halting screech by another tiny invisible force.

But what if I told you, this is nothing new. Not really.  And even in such times, there are 3 truths for you to know steadfast joy-ever abiding within you to overcome the effects of tragic suffering in your life.

Rejoicing Steadfast Joy to Overcome Tragic Suffering

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5 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

How Can Being Justified by Faith be a Source of Hope? Even amid our darkest valleys of life, knowing Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord brings hope, joy, and peace into our darkness.  So, as we break this down step by step, my desire is that you do find comfort, hope and peace in Him.

JUSTIFIED BY FAITH

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²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all ^[f]and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified ^[g]freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a ^[h]propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Romans 3:21-26 (NKJV).

My desire in this lesson is to restore hope, peace and joy regardless of all the chaos and noise around us.  All the Bible (Scripture alone) points clearly to this truth.  Salvation is by Faith Alone in Christ Alone through Grace alone to the Glory of God Alone.  All of scriptures culminates around this.  In perfect love, He chose to share the magnificence of His Glory in all its fullness and His perfect joyous love with us.  It was for that purpose, He created everything that is created.

Yet, for His created creatures to fully experience all the aspects of His Glory including His Grace, His Righteousness, His Justice and the Depth of His love-it was necessary He allow choice.  Knowing full well that many would choose to spit in His face and walk away, He thought it worth the pain to save all who would choose Him.

God is Sovereign

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Habakkuk began with the prophet questioning God as to why He had not intervened as the people became more evil.  Then, he questioned God because God told him of His plan to allow an evil nation to take the nation captive.  Yet, God’s response was “the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him. The just shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2: 20,4)  Then, as he pondered of all that God had done, Habakkuk concluded. “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.  Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation”  (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

Why?  How?  His Answer:

“The Lord God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.”  Habakkuk 3:19.

We cried because we watched our country moving so fast away from God.  Then we cried as we watched the bitterness and fighting between factions.  Suddenly in a matter of days, life suddenly became darkened by a virus that is spreading out of control.  Fear, panic, anxiety rises among the people.  Yet, we have laid aside the bickering, fighting to help each other.  My friend saw one lady pull out her card and pay for a father’s groceries when he didn’t have enough.   Our lives suddenly slowed.  We are forced to reconsider our lives.  Amid the turmoil, we have a moment we can reflect on our own lives.

though the fig-tree not bloom I will rejoice

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Our human nature tends to always try to take advantage of God’s lovingkindness.  Or at the least we tend to expect His goodness to give us everything we desire, as though we somehow deserve it.  Then we become angry, frustrated, disobedient, and critical whenever God tells us no or wait.  Our faith goes muttering on about how unfair God has been.  Or in some cases, we worry, fret, and try to fix it ourselves. We don’t trust Him or His promises.  Then again, when we fail, we try to blame God for our failures.  Meanwhile He patiently waits for us to ask for His help.  Just like a loving father would do.  In so many ways we abuse the Goodness of God. Despite that He remains faithful to those who know Him.  Then the question must be. How do we really stop abusing the goodness of God?

Let me propose 8 actions we can take to alleviate our abusing the goodness of God. Not only will these actions stop our abusing the Goodness of God, they will bring us into a sweet fellowship with Him.  When the fear, hostility, and lack of faith we have created in our own hearts is gone, then we can overflow with His peace, joy, hope, and love.  We are the ones who are blocking the flow of God’s rivers of life by our own rebellious hearts.  This is true of those of us who know Him as Lord and Savior.  We clog up the pipelines with our own bitterness, so His lovingkindness within us cannot flow outwardly to others nor can it bring forth joy in our own hearts.

1. Set aside time to spend with God each day in a quiet place.

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