The sun is massive.
Yet, it does not take much to obstruct its view.
Whether the sun’s light is obstructed can be the difference between whether something thrives or dies.
I’m talking about God.
There is so much good.
But whether we see it depends on whether we allow something to obstruct its view.
And, Satan is an obstructionist.
Satan can not stop the good, but he can hinder our enjoyment of it by focusing our attention elsewhere.
Even when Man was in Paradise, Satan was able to convince them that it was NOT paradise. And amazingly, Satan did not achieve this by pointing to a real existing problem -because there were no problems, he did it using only an idea, a hypothetical, something that wasn’t even real.
Satan was able to ruin paradise simply by focusing our attention elsewhere, obstructing our view of God which is the beginning of sorrows.
Romans 5:14 says that “death reigned from Adam to Moses”, the consequences of which are devastating and far reaching.
But, God.
Because of God’s goodness, lovingkindness and His faithfulness to His original purpose, God moved toward us even after we moved away from Him!
God moved!
God moved to overcome the obstruction for His glory, that a right view of Him would be had throughout the cosmos, the result of which is Life!
Isaiah 11:9 put it this way,
“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.”
— Isaiah 11:9
Today, we have plenty of actual problems to point to because there is still sin in the world and the death that results from it, but there is now a refuge in Jesus Christ —a place where there is more life than there is death in the world.
“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:6
“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.”
— 1 John 4:4
Because God who was a far off has been brought near through Jesus Christ and accepted by faith, I now have so many wonderful things.
I now have a place of love, joy and peace that I can even bring others into which makes it even better!
In my Christian walk, I find a duality where there is simultaneously the suffering of deep pain and the enjoyment of depthless love.
The ancient wisdom for enjoying the good even in the face of real and significant suffering is to deal with my suffering in the context of that good.
I refer to this as “grieving in context”.
Satan is an obstructionist.
Every moment of every day, Satan attempts to place something in our view, very often using the real and significant pain we are suffering, to block of our view of God, so that we die because we lose the life-giving benefits that come from a right view of God.
But rather than allow Satan to use our suffering to turn us from God, what if we turn WITH our suffering to God, obeying 1 Peter 5:7 “cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you”? Then we can enjoy, Philippians 4:6-7,
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Yes, we experience hardship.
But there is so much good that is far greater.
We can live with so much greater joy and satisfaction if we keep this in view.
Our moment by moment battle is to reject the obstructions that Satan attempts to put in our view and instead believe God and enjoy Him.
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”
— James 1:16-17
#joy #suffering #spiritualwarfare