* “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrections and the fellowship of His sufferings…” - Philippians 3: 10
It is natural for us to desire to be filled with the power of the resurrection but what does it mean to share in His sufferings? Does it merely refer to the trials we endure in this life or could it point to such a level of intimacy with God that we are called into a fellowship with Him that is so close that He feels free to share with us His sufferings yet to come?
Some times in our quest to know the Father more intimately we see His largeness on a scale that breaks the boundaries of our comfortable perspective on who He is. During these times we are called to a place of identification with Him where we see more from His perspective than we do our own or more from heaven’s perspective than from earth’s.
Occasionally when we see Him as a sovereign God we can begin to see and touch His great joy of offering salvation to the world but also the pain of the eventual inevitability of His judgments. Most of us, when we truly live a lifestyle that is after His presence at any cost, will find ourselves thrown off balance as we start to enter this place. When we have become accustomed to just pushing for spiritual bliss in His presence and the fullness of serving man, this new picture seems too intense, even too negative. Out natural response is to pull back, thinking this cannot be God when in reality it is, it’s just a fuller understanding of who He really is.
Abraham, the friend of God, was honored with a calling that opened a way for countless generations of history. But included in this journey was spiritual reality that yielded pain as well as victory. When Abraham was walking with the three strangers, one said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” (Gen. 18:17), referring to the massive destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. There is something about true intimacy with God that allows Him to entrust us with the revelation of His whole heart and His burden. This can only be given to the one who TRULY wants to know God.
Imagine the scene. The Lord and Abraham are walking with the two angels who are about to bring about a destruction that will deeply unsettle Abraham. Is the Lord PONDERING… “Just how close is Abraham to me? Is he one who can accept Me in all that I am? Does he need to be kept comfortable, safe, and blessed? Can I show him, and will he understand, that there is a part of Me that cannot abide sin? What will he do when he sees the real price that people must pay for their sin? However, if he is really going to follow Me and raise his generations after Me then HE MUST KNOW ME IN MY ENTIRETY”. God decides to tell Abraham that the two cities will be burned with fire and that every man, woman, and child will die. Abraham’s response was the same as ours would be: “OH NO, GOD, IT CANNOT BE!” I BELIEVE THIS IS A RIGHT RESPONSE. We need to do what Abraham did and seek God for an extension of mercy. Sometimes, however, there is no room left for mercy.
At those times,
we need great courage to be a friend of God
amidst His anguish when He needs to punish sin and bring judgment.
What will we do when the Lord brings us close to Him – so close that He lets us in on His world and all that the future will bring? We must do as Abraham did. In the days to come, when we will see great suffering, we first will need to a be friend of God, interceding for mercy, but willing to share in the fellowship of His sufferings, then we will need to demonstrate our loyalty to that friendship in standing with Him as the judgments are released.
I have been impacted with the vision of Moses on Sinai, with the earth quaking, thunder crashing, and lightning flashing, climbing steadily upward toward the consuming fire at the mountain’s peak. Here was one who had seen the Lord in His loving kindness and compassion as well as His anger, and still loved Him with all his heart. And so without hesitating or looking back, he climbed higher and higher, toward the Consuming Presence (Exodus 19:16-20). This same Moses, after devoting his final 40 years to bringing the people to the Promised Land, was shown the potential curses that would come upon them and to the land if they turned away from following the Lord. (Deut. 28:15–68, 29:22–30:1, 31:15–22). He was also told that he could not enter the land toward which he had labored all those years. Did he turn back? NO. Intimacy – deep, mature, prophet-type intimacy with God requires sharing His heart, not only in its blessing and power but also in its suffering.
We would all like to receive the accreditation that Samuel received in his later life that NOT ONE OF HIS WORDS FELL TO THE GROUND. But are we willing to pay the cost of such a blessing? Samuel, at a young age, was given his first revelation when he slept in the tabernacle (1 Sam. 3:10-14). In this very first encounter with God, he as a very young boy heard the audible voice of God speak to him about judgment. He was told of the judgment of the man who had raised him from his childhood and of judgment on his household. He was entrusted with hard truth about his entire religious world, at such a tender age – imagine that!!! Intimacy with God required that Samuel, even as a young boy, walk in a reality that was painful. For Samuel the “higher” place was a costly place.
Consider Isaiah who so loved the Messiah and His people. He may be the prophet most endeared to us today because of his tender, poetic love for Israel and the Messiah. Who has not been enveloped with God by the Spirit moving through his words? Yet at times Isaiah walked in such anguish of soul that his heart-wrenching plea was, “Turn your eyes away from me: let me weep bitterly. Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people. For the Lord has a day of panic, subjugation, and confusion in the valley of vision…” (Isa. 22:4).
Jeremiah said, “My sorrow is beyond healing, my heart is faint within me! Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land… Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night…” (Jer. 8:18-9:1).
Even Mary, the “favored of the Lord”,
was told, with her infant son of promise
lying tenderly and innocently in her arms,
"a sword will pierce even your own soul – “ (Luke 2:35).
Daniel, a man so greatly esteemed
was given such revelation of darkness well as victory
that he was sick for days.
But this did not deter him
from his hungry pursuit of the face of the Lord.
All these, having drawn so near to the heart of the Lord, were shown more of the picture, both highly exhilarating and deeply devastating. We in the church so love the presence of God. Yet, how many really enter His counsel. Too often, we want blessings, we want encounters, but beyond that, do we tend to draw back? We must realize that the higher we go, the more we will encounter of His world with all of its vast dimensions.
Loving God in the end will require courage – before God and in higher places of warfare, as well as courage before men. Above all else, let us be true to Him. Let us be true lovers, lovers of truth, loyal and true to God in all that is to come.
