Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.
Do not be surprised.....and, yet, we always are when painfulness comes our way. We seek and seek to make heaven on earth...to make happiness here...and then we feel betrayed when evilness slips through the cracks of our happy facade.
This world, this earth is not our home....this is not it. We are told in Matthew 10:16 "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."
Imagine sending sheep out into a pack of wolves.....that is how we have been sent. We have a Shepherd who is protecting us and watching over us.....but this will be messy and painful....so we mustn't be surprised when it comes our way. I vividly remember the first time that I experienced "being amongst wolves". Many years ago....I was in church and was being witness to incredible wrongness....Wrongness from a worldly business standpoint and undoubtable wrongness from a Biblical viewpoint. As I sat literally in disbelief, I was assured that this is quite common and this is how it simple is done..... Okay, but I can tell you in my world of corporate America that this would not fly....and, yet, under the disguise of "the Church" I was being told it was common. As a relatively new believer experiencing how the body of Christ worked, I can tell you that this was not what I expected to find.
Yet, I am thankful that God allowed me to see that experience when He did. I didn't understand it at the time but He taught me early on that being sheep among wolves is everywhere....and just because you find yourself among wolves, you don't ever stop being sheep. Ever. For while you are treading amongst the wolves, there are other sheep traveling your same path needing encouragement, fellowship and reaffirmation that God is in control...even in this.
Too often, we experience "bad things" within the church. We get hurt...and often rightfully so. Expect it. In heaven, we will serve in a place where there is no evil...we won't get hurt there. Here, we will. And I believe satan revels in this....There is no better way to distract a Kingdom builder than to create issues within the church itself....Hurt feelings can fester for years and years...and all the while instead of placing our energy on Kingdom building, we are focusing on getting even with our sister or brother in Christ....or at least waiting until they make the first move to apologize. Or better yet, we stop going all together. We walk away from it all. And truthfully, the way I have seen some treated by "Church people", I get it...but when we walk away, when we say the persecution is too much satan wins....every time.
I think of our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who face persecution in the form of death....and then think....really, we let ourselves be ran off from our Father's house because of simple words in the form of gossip and haughty looks? Shame on us....may God strengthen our desire to know Him more that nothing could keep away....nothing.
Be the peacemaker. Be the sheep. Follow where the Good Shepherd tells you to go. Expect pain in this world no matter where you are....then when the blessings come of happiness...they are blessings overflowing.
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