Title Psalm 119:67 The Secret of Suffering
Contents
Text: Psalm 119:67
Title: The Secret of Suffering
This story appears in the book ‘Your End Is God’s Beginning’ by Steve Brown, an American broadcast sermon and author who leads Key Life Mission. When a mother bird decides that it is time to release her chicks from the nest, it starts to drive her chicks out of the nest, but if the particularly stubborn chick refuses to leave, the mother bird will soon tear the nest down.
We can imagine a conversation going back and forth between the mother bird and the chicks in this situation. “Mom, what are you doing now!” “You are tearing down your nest.” “Why the hell is Mom doing this? Mom, are you crazy right now? Don't you love me?" “Of course I love you. You destroy the nest because you love it. so you can fly You must fly.”
The baby bird suddenly floats in the air and flaps its wings. Surprised by its own abilities, the baby bird calls for its mother in a voice full of joy. “Look at this, Mom. I am flying.” “Yes, you are flying. Because the nest is gone.”
The Bible gives a clear answer to why God destroys the nest of our lives. To borrow the confession from the book of Job, it is to make us like gold. But when we know the answer, why can't we do it in the real world? Could it be because we do not know the secret of suffering?
There are many people who have realized the mystery of suffering, but I would like to pick Joseph and David among the people of the Old Testament. Joseph was hated by his brothers and sold to Egypt, and he was framed by Potiphar's wife as a rapist and lived in prison. When I met my brothers for the first time in 20 years and the guilt of selling Joseph was revealed, I comforted them for fear that they would be afraid, saying that the brothers did not sell me here, but that God sent me ahead of me (Gen. 45:8). Although the frost of betrayal and sorrow fell in his life, like a grain of wheat that silently waits for spring, through a life of suffering, his self dies and only the Lord remains.
David is being driven out due to the rebellion of his son Absalom, and a man named Shimei comes out and curses him (2 Samuel 16). General Abishai was angry and said that he would cut off Shimei's head. David generously forgave him, saying that Shimei was not cursing, but that God had told Shimei to curse me, Abishai son of Zeruiah.
We come to realize the deep truth of faith through our ancestors. It is the fact that they were all believers with an absolute point of view, not a relative point of view. A relative perspective is to blame the environment of faith, to be self-centered, and to blame others for the problem. However, the absolute point of view is an attitude that regards the cause of the problem as my fault, and it can be said that I look back at myself from the point of view of others. As Jonah in the storm confessed, “I know that it is because of me that I met this great storm” (Jon 1:12), we should take the viewpoint of absolute faith as a model.
According to the biography of Matsushida Konosuke, the founder of Matsushida Electric, he was short-lived and was not in good health. However, he did not become frustrated or despair for that reason, but rather, he humbledly approached the book with an attitude of learning for the rest of his life, and it is said that he was able to live a long life because he was not always proud of his health. I pray that you will become a person of faith who can confess that the victory of faith was brought about not because of suffering, but because of suffering, not because of tribulation, but because of tribulation.