Psalm 80; Deut. 8:1-10; James 1:1-15; Luke 9:18-27
Moses reminds the people of all that the Lord has done for them these forty years in the wilderness. As they prepare to enter the good land, they need to remember these years and why they experienced all these things. They have been disciplined for a failure of faith, the failure to trust God to deal with their enemies in the land of promise, and yet in His discipline He has protected and preserved them. How could people have walked in the wilderness forty years and their sandals not wear out or their feet swell? It is important that they remember this time and the lessons they have learned in order that they always be a people of faith and thanksgiving. To be thankful is to remember that all that we have and all that we are is gift rather than accomplishment. What we do with our gifts and talents matters, they are to be developed but the gift and the potential in the gift are not “of us” but rather “from God.”
Jesus tells the disciples of his suffering, death and resurrection and calls them and us to the way of suffering and the cross as well. Yes, He is the Christ of God but they aren’t allowed to draw out their own explanations for what that will mean. Left to their own devices the disciples will conclude that this will mean the establishment of the kingdom and Jesus affirms that they will see that kingdom but it won’t look like what they believe it to be. The kingdom of God understood by the Jewish people doesn’t include a Messiah who suffers and dies and it doesn’t include the Gentiles as full covenant partners. The kingdom for which they are waiting is more an earthly kingdom with religious overtones. Jesus says His kingdom is not of this earth when He is questioned by Pilate but that does not mean it is purely spiritual, there is another earth that is coming and there will be an earthly character to that kingdom but its King will be God the Father.
Is anyone truly thankful for trials? Trials, however, produce character through steadfast perseverance. Trials are necessary for our faith to be tested and strengthened. We are intended to grow in our dependence on and trust in the Lord and not many of us are naturally good at being thankful for all things. Trials cause us to recognize how tenuous is our situation and how truly we need the Lord. Jonathan Edwards sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, emphasized this very point, that we are like spiders on a sinewy web which may collapse at any time so we must build our lives on something more, on the Lord Himself. In facing temptations and trials James says we develop the trait of steadfastness, which is one of the most celebrated of the traits of God Himself, it is perhaps the most important trait in a covenant partner.
Come, thou almighty King,
help us thy Name to sing,
help us to praise!
Father all glorious,
over all victorious,
come and reign over us,
Ancient of Days!
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