Soulfood

Robert K. Cheong

God is no stranger to our weariness, loneliness, and helplessness. He knows.

Resilience – the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from difficulties. (Oxford)

Scripture doesn’t talk about resilience but it does talk about endurance.

Suffering takes a toll. But giving up is not an option for those who are in Christ. Paul’s life was HARD. This is not to minimize our own sufferings. But the example of Paul encourages us to persevere as we abide in the love of Christ.

2 Corinthians 11 – list of Paul’s external afflictions. But internal pressures abounded as well (1 Cor 5:1, 11:18-19, Phil 4:2-3, 1 Tim. 4:1). His worries and anxieties are real. But he concludes 2 Cor. 11:30 by writing “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” And then in 2 Cor. 12:8-10 “when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Paul is content with his weakness, because it shows that the power of Christ rests upon him. The power of Christ is not for super-spiritual people. It is for all the saints. Paul knew that if he boasted in his own strength and endurance, he would fail in his weariness and faint in his weakness. Paul put his trust in the Lord who never wearies nor loses strength.

Isaiah 40:28-31

[28] Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. [29] He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. [30] Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; [31] but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Being in communion with the God who never faints or grows weary enables us to be renewed in our strength.

Waiting on the Lord is trusting and following him in the uncertainties of life. It is not passive.

Living in a broken world is wearying. Just because I am suffering and weary does NOT mean I am in the wrong ministry. Paul was constantly suffering and near to despairing, but he persevered.

Paul knew that suffering comes from God.

1. God allows Satan and his schemes so we will not be conceited
2. God uses suffering to teach us to rely on Him
3. God uses suffering to perfect us in our weakness
4. God uses suffering as a backdrop to experience his love, comfort, peace, joy, and hope
5. God also disciplines us as we sin in our suffering so that we might share in His holiness (Hebrews 12)

Romans 5:3-5 suffering produces hope

James 1:3-4 our faith is tested by suffering

1 Peter 1:6-9 our love increases so as to be inexpressible

How should we respond in our suffering?

1. God calls us to boast…(2 Cor. 11-12)
2. God calls us to be content…(Phil 4:11)
3. God calls us to count it all joy…(James 1:1)
4. God calls us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thes. 5:16-18)

Paul was compelled by the love of Christ. The power of Christ gave Paul the ability to endure and persevere in both body and soul, and the love of Christ motivated him to live for Christ. He had joy and confidence because he knows the love of Christ!

1. Paul knew Christ’s love by the power of the Spirit (Eph. 3:14-21) which rooted and grounded him in that love. Am I rooted and grounded in Christ’s love? Paul knew this experientially – and so do I!
2. Paul knew Christ’s love by faith in the Spirit shed abroad in his heart (Rom 5:1-5)
3. Paul knew Christ’s love was inseparable from him (Romans 8:35, 37-39) by his experience
4. Paul knew Christ’s love was better than life. Psalm 63:1-3
5. Paul knew Christ’s love by its controlling and compulsion (2 Cor. 5:14-15) of his life

Paul didn’t just know about Jesus, he abided with Jesus and abided in the love of Jesus. Abiding is not something added to our lives, it is the way we live life. Abiding in Christ means living by faith in his presence, promises, and power, resulting in the fruit of loving God and loving others. God is calling us to abide in Christ in order to experience his love.

Abiding requires 3 things:

1. Meditating on the Word
2. Praying the Word
3. Living the Word

Staying in a church – being in leadership in a church – when so many others have left and there are many who are discontent is wearying. Lord, have mercy!

Meditating on the Word: Psalm 119:25-32 My heart has grown small from sorrow and hurt. Let me run in the way of Your commandments when You enlarge my heart, Oh God! Strengthen my melting heart according to Your word! Let me cling to Your testimonies – I cling to them! Have mercy!

God can and will do what He promises in Psalm 119:25-32 when we meditate on His word.

Praying the Word: Perhaps Paul prayed this passage when he was shipwrecked or under the lash: Psalm 119:89-96. When we set God before our problems He answers questions we aren’t even asking – but they are the ones we need to know.

Living the Word: How is God inviting me to live differently in light of Psalm 119:105-112? Don’t forget God’s law! I must incline – tilt, move towards, fall into! – my heart to perform God’s statutes. Forever, to the end! Help me to believe Your word and help me to obey Your word!

Jesus lived out loving God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving his neighbor as himself in the midst of afflictions. Knowing the love of God and abiding in Christ gives us the power to to endure and persevere in both body and soul, and motivates us to live for Christ.

Books: Restore/Restoration Story

The Christian life is a fight. The enemy is constantly trying to distract us from God’s love for us in Christ Jesus. We must fight to rest, to abide in the love of Christ.