There are two points of view on how the Lord Jesus guides our lives. One school of thought from the Latin Church is suffering. Th Roman Catholic mystics, monks, priests, and the popes teach that God desires our suffering; a purging via penances. This point if view leads to interpreting catastrophes, closed doors, and bad circumstances as Deus Vult, God's Will. Such a perspective paints God as a cruel master and sadist. Canon Law and the seminal works of Augustine of Hippo, Thomas A Kempis, and Mother Teresa make the 'faithful' believe the closed doors are God's Will and you must press through them; suffering inconvenience after inconvenience as a sign of God's testing and feeling as if you are sailing against the wind your whole life. This however, does not fit Scripture, nor what the Savior Jesus Christ himself declares.
The other school of thought comes from Scripture. Jesus Christ says, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light," (Matthew 11:28-30), and, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10). From these two verses we discover Jesus does not endorse the sadistic-penitential heavy loads of self abasement and hardship of the Roman Church, in fact, He refutes this with "my yoke is easy," (a yoke is a religious way of life a Rabbi sets as an example and disciples follow it) but he condemns it when speaking to the Pharisees who were like the Papal Curia and priests, "They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden," (Matthew 23:4) and "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:15). Jesus who is God in body (Colossians 1:12-18, Colossians 2:9) abhors and hates religious people who make God out to be harsh taskmaster; and he hates those who lay heavy burdens on others for so called pious reasons.
Jesus Christ is gentle (Matthew 11:28-29) and He cares for His sheep. The Lord does not war against His people lest he war against Himself, for He lives in us, "And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God," (Romans 8:10), "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me," (Galatians 2:20), "For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory," (Colossians 1:27), "Don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?," (1 Corinthians 3:16), "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple," (1 Corinthians 3:17), "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own," (1 Corinthians 6:19), "What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people," (2 Corinthians 6:16), "But Christ is faithful as the Son over God's house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast," (Hebrews 3:6), and "so that, if I am delayed, you will know how each one must conduct himself in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth." (1 Timothy 3:15). Jesus Himself said, "Jesus knew their thoughts and replied, "Any kingdom divided by civil war is doomed. A town or family splintered by feuding will fall apart And if Satan is casting out Satan, he is divided and fighting against himself. His own kingdom will not survive." (Matthew 12:25). If that is true about Satan and his kingdom of darkness, then why would Christ punish us and Himself who lives in us? (Galatians 2:20). While certainly Satan and the world wars against us, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you," (John 15:19), "Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me," (Matthew 24:9), "the thief (Satan) comes to kill, steal and destroy," (John 10:10) and, "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings." (1 Peter 5:8-9). We blame God for our troubles, trials, and tribulations; but it is really a Fallen World, the Fallen One (Satan), Fallen Angels (Genesis 6:4-6, Revelation 12:9), and Fallen people that harm us, and test us. While yes God does let us go through trials and testings (1 Corinthians 3:12-14) He is not the architect of the pain and tests, we are and so is the devil. In Genesis 3, we choose to fall being deceived by the devil and now our bodies are mortal, our planet decays, sin harms our outer lives, and Satan and his spirits attack us (Ephesians 6). God uses these unhappy circumstances to teach us, He recycles what is already set in motion for evil to turn it for our good (Genesis 50:20), but He never intended these hardships we face, He can rescue us from them, and promises us that they willl end forever, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever," (Revelation 21:4) and, "Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death." (Revelation 20:14).
The Lord opens and closes doors, "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia.
This is the message from the one who is holy and true, the one who has the key of David. What he opens, no one can close; and what he closes, no one can open: “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close. You have little strength, yet you obeyed my word and did not deny me." (Revelation 3:7-8). Jesus Christ does not want you on a perpetual treadmill of
suffering and self abasement, he closes a door because He wants to spare you harm. Open doors and open sails with a fair wind are His leading you to where you should be. Stop resisting the Captain of your life ship, and let Captain Christ lead you to "abundant life," (John 10:10) and "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest," (Matthew 11:28), and cease calling Him a cruel master who wants more of your blood, sweat, and tears. He is a God of love (1 John 4:8), we are His children (Galatians 3:26) and, He wants to bless us (Jeremiah 29:11, 1 Peter 3:9 NIV).
As for suffering for Christ (see my blog posts) this happens inadvertently because of Satan, persecution, the world, and fallen sinful state of others. You don't seek it out it happens and God uses it to help us grow, but He does not want you to seek it out. Peter says, "suffer for Christ," (1 Peter 4:12-19) and Paul, "Endure suffering along with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:3). They were in a time and place of persecution and so suffering came for them and they were preparing their congregations to suffer at the hands of evil men and the evil one. I believe this is going to happen in the USA ans is already happening in Syria, but the mistake we make is to think God delights in our suffering; wants us to get on our bellies like a worm and that He creates the suffering, temptation, and pain; no Satan and a Sinful world create the pain and persecution; and so through it we can glorify our Father in Heaven as Jesus did on the cross, but we don't make our own crosses, others do that by their choices under cosmic forces. We pick up our cross (Matthew 10:38, Luke 9:23) but its not a cross God intended (see Genesis, Chapters One, Two, and Three), and will have us lay down at His Coming or our death (1 Corinthians 15:50-55, Phillippians 1:20-25, Romans 14:8). We embrace suffering as a fact, because this world of sin hates us, and persecutes us (John 15:18, Matthew 24:9) and so does Satan and his fallen angels and demons (1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 6:12-13, 2 Corinthians 10:4-6, Acts 17:11, James 4:7, Revelation 12:9, ). Jesus bore the cross not because His Father wanted to see Him mutilated, deformed, and scourged; but because it was the only way to save us sinners and restore us to right relationship with God (God died a gruesome death not because of sadism, but for salvation and becaue eit was the only way to spare us eternal suffering, no earthly sacrifices could atone, only Jesus' death could suffice Hebrews 9:13-Hebrews 10:18); and to help us through a life full of devils, peoples, and collapsing/corroding/decaying world of dangers created by sin in the Garden of Eden. Jesus suffered on purpose because it released us from suffering in a state of endless seperation and distant relationship with God in this life and to spare us eternal suffering in the next (2 Timothy 1:10, Revelation 21:4, Matthew 27:51).
Suffering is a given, but its not God's desire. God did not relish or love that His Son had to be crushed; this only happened because we sinned and ruined a perfect world and life of closeness with God via our ancestors in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). We put Jesus on the cross when our ancestors Adam and Eve took that forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree. So God allowed Himself to he nailed to a tree to reverse the curse spiritually, eternally, and in other aspects; but the world we live in is still fallen and Satan is not yet bound (Revelation 20:7) nor is he destroyed (Rev 20:10). God died for us because He soooo loved us (John 3:16) but His suffering was because of Man'a sin and bad choices. So even God only suffered because He wanted to spare us from suffering a disconnected life from Him and suffering in eternity for our sins. Thus even suffering in God's case was to prevent further suffering for us.
As Christians we will suffer, be mistreated, hated, and even maimed. But it is not Christ's delight to see His Disciples suffer, its merely a fact of life; because we live still in a fallen world that does not know or honor The Lord (yet it groans for redemption, Romans 8:19-22), and that through people and evil spirit (angelic) princes of darkness like Satan, want to harm us and any who love the Holy Trinity.
In short, Satan steals, kills, an destroys. Jesus gives abundant life (John 10:10), an easy yoke and burdens (religious life, Matthew 11:28-30), holds our tears (Psalm 56:8), and promises if we endure (keep believing and following Him, keep Romans 10:9-10) we shall have no more tears, pain, sickness, or death, "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4). We have to make it through this fallen world with a gauntlet of devils and dark people; why? Why not beam us up to heaven? Because this: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9), "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," (Matthew 28:19), "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation," (Mark 16:15), and "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Jesus wants us to be ambassadors, "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God," (2 Corinthians 5:20) on this fallen planet, and to testify about Him (Revelation 12:11) so people will believe and be saved (Romans 10:9-10). Why doesn't Jesus just appear and make people believe?
Answers:
1) It would violate our free will He gave us (see Genesis Chapters 2 and 3), free will allows for genuine love, to choose to love God rather than submit and be constrained under control.
2) if Jesus just appeared and made everyone believe we saints would have no purpose, we would be spectators and not particpants in God's plan.
3) Even when Jesus appeared in body and showed people He was God they still rejected Him, "He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him," (John 1:11), "And they were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. Then Jesus told them, "A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family," (Matthew 13:57), "Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do, one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world," For even his brothers didn't believe in him," (John 7:3-5, these brothers of Jesus were sons of Mary and Joseph after Jesus was miraculously born to Mary when she was virgin), "Then Jesus went home, and once again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind," (Matthew 3:20-21, Jesus' family called Him crazy and tried to take Him away, this is why he responded later Matthew 12:46-50, Christ was angry His own family members via Mary and Joseph were unbelievers), "As the crowds gathered before Pilate’s house that morning, he asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you—Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” (He knew very well that the religious leaders had arrested Jesus out of envy,)" (Matthew 27:17-18), "But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered," (John 19:15), "Then he said to the man, "Hold out your hand." So the man held out his hand, and it was restored, just like the other one! But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus." (Matthew 12;13-14). When Jesus did miracles, the religious elite (Jews) plotted to kill Him, and when Jesus proved He is God (Colossians 2:9) through miracles, the Pharisees and People of Israel still wanted Him crucified. So God showed Himself and appeared to help people believe and instead of bowing down and saying, "holy is your name," they put holes in his hands, feet, and side. God appeared as people today want Him to so they have proof, but those who had the proof put God to death on a cross (and He rose from dead). Jesus even said to those asking for sign to prove Himself, said this, "But Jesus replied, "Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah." (Matthew 12:39). The sign of Jonah was a powerful parable, because Jonah was in belly of whale three days and nights (Matthew 12:40), as was Jesus in the Tomb three days and nights (Matthew 12:40, 1 Corinthians 15:4), then He Rose from Dead (John 20). The Apostle Paul echoes Christ's words about a sign, "Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength." (1 Corinthians 1:22-25).
We live on a planet of death, we brought death into the world through Adam and Eve Choosing death (), this why their are tornados, earthquakes, tsnaumis, fires and more; the earth is cursed and it fell with us, its decaying and even killingcreation for all creation came under the curse (Romans 8:20-22), so the Author of Life (John 1:3, Colossians 1:10-18) and Life itself (John 14:6-8) came into a world of death to die to bring us eternal life and give us ressurection life (John 11:25-26). God does not normally cause the castrophies that kill, we created them in Eden when Adam listened to the devil. God redeemed us through His death on the cross, but the planet itself is beyond redemption, so he must cleanse it with fire, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare," (2 Peter 3:10), "through which the world of that time perished in the flood, By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly," (2 Peter 3:7), and after this burning of the planet, God will create a new heaven and earth, "Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea." (Revelation 21:1). Soon slavation will come to the animals (Romans 8:20-25) and the planet will be reborn; and death will be thrown into hell, "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death." (Revelation 20:14).
All these people who say why did God kill my baby in a freak accident, or why did thousands in an earthquake perish or why did a suicide bomber kill people at café? These inquirers in their grief blame God when it is man's fault since Adam and Eve who brought violence, hate, and death into world via the forbidden fruit (Genesis 2:17, Genesis 3:8-22). People keep scapegoating God, when He is the Lamb of God (John 1:29). God did not kill your child, He decided to take the child after the fallen world full of disaster, or fallen people killed your child. Christ took your child home to spare the child or people from evil times (Isaiah 57:1). Christ holds the keys to lifenand death (Revelation 1:18), and so He can call a person home, but we must remember death only exists because our ancestors sinned and we live in fallen world that kills, and there devils that kill. Yes, Jesus holds the keys, and can even stop someone from dying, a man once shot himself in head with assault rifle, and he got to see hell and God sent Him back to the world to tell people and believe, but there are people with stubborn hearts who will never believe, "They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" (Revelation 6:16). These people are then called to be judged, and the righteous are called to be justified and rewarded (Matthew 25). The balance I am trying to bring via this post is that its not always God's fault a person dies or people die, it can be fallen world and the fallen nature of people, and even fallen angels. Even then the Lord Jesus decides upon a person's death, should they be resurrected and live on in the fallen world, or should they be rewarded with heaven if they believe or judged with hellfire because like those in Revelation 6:16 they hate God and want to hide from His wrath. Ultimately, God decides and that should suffice, but make no mistake; its not God's faul there is disaster, death, and disease, we are responsible for that (Genesis 3) via our ancestors and our choices today, but God provided a way out of this death, He died on cross to give us eternal life (John 3;16), and a new body and new resurrection (2 Corinthians 5). So God offers a redemption from both death physically and spiritually (John 11:25-26) if people will just believe in Him (Romans 10:9-10) confessing Jesus is Lord (God, Jehovah), and believing Jesus rose from dead by power of God.
Addendum: Suffering Explained
I wanted to be clear that suffering is in fact part of following Christ. Here is the balance, you suffer because the world is against the Word of God (John 15:18-19), and so the world hates you. In addition, the world is fallen and there are fallen spirits warring against you, this creates the suffering and so God uses it and tells you to endure. But be clear, God does not relish or delight in your suffering. Let me explain it this way, you have children and you love them, you hate to see them suffer, wither bullied at school, a misfit, or failing at something, you don't like they suffer but you know no matter how hard you try you cannot keep them from ever suffering because they live in fallen world with fallen people, and fallen angels to motivate the fallen people. Same with God, we are His children (Galatians 3:26) and he doesn't like seeing us suffer, but He knows we will suffer and so asks us to bear with it as He bore a cross and suffered for our sufferings and sins. We suffer so we can reach the prize, remain saved, and be with Christ forever and even get a new body (Matthew 24:13, 2 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians 16:13, and 1 Corinthians 9:23-25).
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