Redemptive Joy
“I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction” 2 Corinthians 7:4
Redemptive Joy
Joy – I have a hard time feeling joyful when things aren’t going well. My perspective on life begins to shift to my troubles. I get occupied with how I can fix things for me. And suddenly, I find that life is no longer joyful.
Paul seemed to have a different perspective. How could he be overflowing with joy in the middle of hardships, oppression, prison sentences, beatings and death threats? What did he understand that I don’t? My life isn’t even close to the suffering he went through, yet he rises above it all. How?
Paul overflows with joy because he understands redemptive suffering. Just a few sentences later, he says that God brought comfort because the sorrow of the members of the church produced repentance without regret. The byproduct of conviction and repentance was overflowing joy. Yes, it took pain and suffering and sorrow to bring about repentance. But it was all worth it. The result was grace unleashed.
How does Paul’s perspective help me when I am struggling with my problems? Paul redirects my focus. He says, “Why are you absorbed with yourself? Why have you abandoned your trust in the provider God? Why have you taken your eyes off the goal of the character of Jesus? Don’t you see that these sorrows lead you to greater dependence, deeper submission and lasting faithfulness? You are right where God wants you to be. He has engineered your circumstances so that you have the maximum opportunity to turn everything over to Him. Rejoice! Jesus hasn’t left you. He never will. His joy can be yours. You are a redeemed one. How thrilling is that!”
Suffering and repentance. They are deeply connected. When one leads to the other, then something else tags along. When I come to God, confessing my continued efforts to take charge, repenting for my self-sufficiency, God comforts me with joy. It’s His gift to me, confirming my worthiness before Him.
“Oh, Father. How could I have imagined I was all on my own? Forgive me and let me receive the joy of Your presence.”
When you write like this Skip, oh how you can verbalize what I feel in my hear all the time, “Why are you absorbed with yourself? Why have you abandoned your trust in the provider God? Why have you taken your eyes off the goal of the character of Jesus? Don’t you see that these sorrows lead you to greater dependence, deeper submission and lasting faithfulness? You are right where God wants you to be. He has engineered your circumstances so that you have the maximum opportunity to turn everything over to Him. Rejoice! Jesus hasn’t left you. He never will. His joy can be yours. ” Amen! Thank you Yeshua!
I guess I feel stuck. I feel like I don’t have a space of my own. When you lived with denial as a means of coping because that is how you were treated as well as what you were taught. I struggled for so long emotionally and mentally. My family totally denying me. Now my struggle is more physical even though I know that there is no separation. I have chronic back pain that flares up in major ways off and on. I know I have lost joy but I feel surrounded by people who want to keep me in my past and and in my place. I was invited to a retreat for spiritual healing by someone I met online. I would not know anyone, so it would be very awkward. And I would still come back to this world alone. I am not sure it is a good idea. I don’t know if it is God’s will for me either. I might learn some things that would be important for me to know. It is not about me. I feel unseen. I pray for God to help me in this negative place I find myself to be in.
I grew up in an abusive home so I relate. I have also participated in false hope. You need to consider if the offer is legitimate. Do they really plan on following through or is it just a cover? They make an offer but they bet on your not accepting. Maybe you should think about yourself as how God wants you to value yourself. Sometimes people offer so very little. Shalom to you.
My nuclear family is a closed system. Nothing is changing there unless other family members are open to questioning. I don’t see that happening. I don’t know if this person is sincere in their offer of help. Maybe they just want to feel better about the life they are living. But I believe God revealed an answer to me today. As before God is helping me see what I need to see.