April 25, 2020 -- Psalm 119:157 -- Why Do I Experience Suffering in Relationships?
/Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
but I do not swerve from your testimonies.
Psalm 119:157 English Standard Version
A difficult, but masterful, work by Thomas Boston is called The Crook in the Lot. Such a crook basically means something in our life that is crooked where we’d expected it to be straight, easy-going. Puritans called these losses and crosses and when I was younger the expression was having stones in one’s shoes. Yet the fact is, such crooks are part of the lot, or the circumstances, God has providentially set each of his servants to endure.
With regards to relationships and interactions with others, Boston wrote:
So men do oftentimes find their greatest cross, where they expected their greatest comfort.
Sin hath unhinged the whole creation, and made every relationship susceptible of the crook.
In the family are found masters hard and unjust, servants froward and unfaithful;
in a neighbourhood, men selfish and uneasy;
in the church unedifying ministers offensive in their walk,
and people contemptuous and disorderly, a burden to the spirits of ministers.
In the state, oppressive magistrates, opposers of that which is good,
and subjects turbulent and seditious.
Boston, The Crook in the Lot, page 32
Why should God Who is Good and Faithful allow such things in our life?
1. So that we would be driven from pride and self-sufficiency and turn to the Holy and Blessed Triune God for all our help (II Corinthians 12:7).
2. So that as we endure in submission to Him others see our suffering and patient endurance and praise God (James 5:10-11).
3. So that by such we made perfect in service to the Living God (James 1:2-4).
4. So that it is not our will, but God’s will that is accomplished in our lives. We are inclined to evil and want so much to just ‘fit in’ with the world. It is not what we are called to in Christ, we are taught to prayer Father in heaven hallowed be Thy Name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:9-10).
5. So that the testimonies, rules and laws of God shine as the guiding lantern on the path of our lives, showing us the excellent way, contrary to the ways and thoughts of the world (our text Psalm 119:157).
God of Mercy, we cry out to You, recognizing that in our lives there are many relationships that are twisted up and so difficult for us. Some among us have parents who have neglected their duties and exposed us to cruelty. Some among us have been betrayed by dear friends or colleagues and struggle to comprehend how to go forward. Others among us see heinous actions by the courts or government, such as state-sponsored abortion or euthanasia, and cry out in bewilderment. Others carry shattered expectations of happy work-places now filled with venom and back-biting. Accomplish Your holy purposes in us. As Christ our Master suffered, help us Father of All-Compassion, to endure in our obedience to Him. As Christ our Master was filled with Your Spirit, Father in heaven pour out the of Spirit of Power on us so that we will abide in the grace of Jesus Christ and displaying the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—live such powerful witness to Jesus in our lives that many will be drawn to Him. Amen.
