A Crown of Thorns

    Image ©Mark Faulkner 2011

Why do bad things happen to good people?

For most of the world that is a baffling mystery.  "Why me?" we ask.  

"How can anything good come from this horrible trial that I am going through?"

Wide awake yesterday morning at 1:30 AM, I lay there tossing and turning for well over an hour. Finally, I got up and made some coffee. Did a little bit of reading and reflecting on the trials and suffering that we all are enduring in this season of our lives. 

With Easter approaching this weekend and the reminder of Jesus riding into Jerusalem in His Triumphal Entry—only to come there to die on the Cross—I had an inescapable hunger and thirst to watch our DVD movie of, "The Passion of the Christ." I needed to remember just what He did for us...

Even more so... what He did for me.

As I watched scene after scene in that movie with tears in my eyes of Jesus spending time with His friends, breaking bread with His disciples whom He loved, washing their feet, and then the brutal scenes where He was beaten, whipped, spat upon, mocked and cursed, it was the image of the Roman guards brutally pressing the Crown of Thorns they had made down onto His head that is etched into my heart and mind today.

While at a men's Transforming Vision retreat in the mountains last weekend, during my quiet time I had the chance to sit out by a small lake and pray.  And near the waterfall that flows into the lake was a thorn bush.  At first glance, there was nothing unusual or extraordinary about the thorn bush at all. But some tiny red buds growing out of the base of the thorns caught my eye.  The symbolism of new life springing forth from out of the thorns themselves was a powerful reminder that eternal life sprang forth from the sufferings of Christ on our behalf, because He loved us.

What hateful men intended to mock and shame Jesus with, was actually a crown of glory to Him.  A Crown of Thorns.

So what is the purpose for our own painful trials that God allows?

The Apostle Paul wrote,

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God."  (2 Corinthians 1:3-5).

Our trials and afflictions are allowed by God so that in our going through hard and even crushing times, we, who in the past have experienced the painful heartbreak of divorce, losing a child, or financial ruin, can now come to the bleeding side of other people who are going through the same painful trials and afflictions.

God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.  All things.  Not just some things.  Not just the easy things or the good things.  All the painful trials and difficulties that we are currently experiencing, God is comforting us in, and after He has comforted us in our afflictions, He will bring other people into our lives who are going through the same things.

But He doesn't cause all things to work together for good in ways that we can usually see, or that we expect. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  His ways, higher than our ways.  

Ask God to give you His strength, endurance and grace as you walk through the valley of painful trials.  And then trust Him with the results.

Trust Him completely.

And then rejoice in your painful trials and afflictions.

That's right, rejoice.

"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing has happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may be glad with exceeding joy." (1 Peter 4:12-13)

If we are suffering for the sake of Christ, through doing His will out of a pure heart, in the final conversation it will be for God's glory, and for our reward, and we will be glad with exceeding joy.  This is what it means to partake of Christ's sufferings.

On the other hand, if we are suffering due to our own bad choices or sin, God forgives us as we repent and turn to Him.  But we will reap the consequences as we continue to walk out this life.  If a man neglects his wife and is emotionally absent and verbally abusive (or worse) and she divorces him, that may well be a painful consequence that he will have to endure for the rest of his life.  Not always though.  God can bring a man and wife back together even though they are divorced, and things may look totally hopeless, dead and gone in that marriage.  

I know.  God reconciled my hopeless, dead and gone marriage.  

But both people have to completely surrender their hearts and hurts to God and allow Him to change them.  Yes, forgiveness and new life are possible, if we totally surrender to God.   But it doesn't always happen.  God does not always remove our circumstances in this life.   In fact, in my personal experience, He does not usually make my consequences just 'go away.'  But He does lovingly correct me and teach me, and He always give me His grace to walk them out.

This is why we have to cling tightly to Jesus, and trust completely in Him, knowing that somehow, some way, He will ultimately cause all our trials and suffering to work together for good... to those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.

As you suffer in your trials and afflictions, in doing God's will for the sake of Christ, remember Jesus and the Crown of Thorns pressed upon His head.  He endured suffering and shame for us—for the joy that was set before Him. 

In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus said,

“Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

The crucible of unimaginable suffering, mocking, beating—and ultimately laying down His life for His friends, was Jesus' crown of glory.

A Crown of Thorns.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.