Celebrate the HARD

Take half a minute for this quick little quiz.

TRUE or FALSE:

• Hard things are not normal
• Hard things happen to bad people
• Hard things happen only if you break the rules
• Hard things are punishment
• Hard things are to be escaped
• Hard things are to be avoided
• Hard things have no greater purpose
• Hard things exist outside of and apart from love
• Hard things are shocking, surprising, catch me off guard

So often our perspective of life here is informed by something other than Scripture – especially as we consider the way we view hard things. If we answer TRUE to any of those statements, it may be that we need to let Scripture refocus our perspective about hard because the Bible says:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2

It’s probably going to stretch our minds and our hearts to make this counterintuitive adjustment. How can it be that HARD is met with joy?

This morning I was reading a life story telling of a time when that counterintuitive joy played out.

“Now many signs and wonders were REGULARLY DONE among the people by the hands of the apostles.” People came from all over and “they were all healed.” Acts 5:12 – 16

The disciples were healing people, restoring the brokenness but because they did these things in the name of Jesus, to exalt Him and further His reputation, the backlash was quick and severe.

This did not please the religious leaders. They thought they had removed Jesus but the Jesus “problem” was not going away – it was growing. So they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. BUT an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and instructed the disciples to return to the place they had been teaching and “speak to the people all the words of this Life.” (Acts 5:20)

It will set your heart to celebrating to read how these brothers responded.

They went back to the very same spot and kept on doing what they had been doing – carrying the Living Water to thirsty souls!

But the HARD wasn’t over yet. They were brought back to the council and now they were REALLY in trouble because they violated the cease and desist order they had been given. At this confrontation Peter and his bold comrades explain again, “We must obey God rather than men. …. We are witnesses to these things and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

This time they were beaten before they were warned and released. Yet how did they respond?

“They left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” (James 5: 41)

Without missing a beat, they immediately pushed this HARD circumstance through a heavenly reorienting grid and interpreted the persecution as an indicator that they were doing what pleased Jesus to a degree that it upset the forces of evil. And that is always a good thing. A HARD thing but a really good thing.

This HARD let them know that they were achieving exactly what Heaven cheered for. So, if Heaven was cheering so would they! If Heaven was rejoicing, so would they! If Heaven was celebrating, so would they!

Troubled times are not new to believers. HARD has always been a part of this reality. The HARD of the cross continues for everyone who follows Jesus. Even while we are living to seek the good of our corner of the world the response will not always be “Thank you so much!”

BUT …

We too are witnesses to resurrection power as our own life stories unfold. How are we responding to the HARD?

Is the cheering of Heaven enough to adjust our perspective and change our initial response from resistance to joy?

In the HARD that today brings – celebrate when Heaven celebrates!

PS – In this Acts 5 narrative the HARD happened as a reaction when God’s people were doing exactly what they had been commissioned to do. Sometimes HARD happens for other reasons. Other posts will address those kinds of circumstances.   Whatever the initiating circumstances, we come to the same conclusion at the end.

We often do not understand His purposes or His pace

but we trust that …

Behind the frowning providence we find His smiling face

William Cowper