AND AFTER YOU HAVE SUFFERED A WHILE…

The book of Thessalonians was a plain Jane for me. I found it pretty basic, unlike the more technical books that required ‘revelation’ to fully grasp [Hebrews, Daniel, Revelations, even Song of Songs!😊]. Last week, I found myself reading it again, because honestly, I couldn’t remember much of its content other than the bits about the coming of the Lord. And boy did it slap me in the face!🤭😂

Before I even get into that, let me draw your attention to a few things for context sake. 1^st and 2^nd Thessalonians were actually written by two fine other gentlemen other than Paul – Silas and Timothy! It was interesting for me to find out the background of those letters. Paul and his squad had been thrown out of the town of Thessalonica not long after they had sent the gospel there. So unlike other cities that had the opportunity to have a full-blown discipleship course where most of the dicey questions could be answered, the new believers in Thessalonica had very little to hold on to. It blew my mind that people who had no knowledge of Jewish teachings and who weren’t expecting any Messiah from anywhere let alone a man who claimed to have existed before the very foundation of the world and was Himself God simply believed. I know I would have struggled to accept this ‘nonsensical’ [and I use this advisedly] theory!😅 I’d have very likely thought this Jesus Himself and His followers delusional.🥴 It definitely had to have been God who gave them the desire and ability to receive. Suddenly it was no longer plain and boring that Paul kept telling them how excited he was that their faith was so strong that it had become so popular not only in Macedonia and Achaia but everywhere! But I digress!

One verse kicked me in the nuts! [of course, figuratively🙄😂]. Paul sent Timothy to go check up on and strengthen the believers in Thessalonians, because although they were popular for their faith and love for one another, they were under heavy persecution. Scripture says in 3:3[NIrV], ‘we sent him so that no one would be upset by times of testing/afflictions’,

“for you yourselves know that we are APPOINTED thereunto!” [KJV]

I kid you not, I had never seen this piece of scripture before! I’d underlined several things on that page with different colours of ink meaning I’d read and re-read several times but this looked ‘brain’ new to me!😂 And it slapped me in the face!😪 Paul in essence was saying I was not just to tolerate affliction, or forgive or manage it; that I was actually appointed unto it. That you, and I, and everyone else who believed this ‘nonsensical’ theory was destined for affliction!

Almost immediately I remembered Hillsong’s cover of David Band’s ‘How He Loves’. At the start of the song, this writer is lost in God’s love for Him. And then all of a sudden, he’s ‘unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory…’. I paused for a minute…because I’d had a lingering sense of disappointment and ‘upsetness’ towards God since early last year; for deaths and misconceptions and insensitive words thrown at me concerning different things that hurt me too much to discuss with anyone. And I was mostly upset because I found them rather contrary to all of God’s promises for me. In my thinking, these were pretty avoidable afflictions. And for a long minute [very likely more than a minute, honestly], I sat at my desk blankly staring at its pseudo-looking wooden finishing rolling the words “afflictions eclipsed by glory” over and over and over in my mind.😤

WE ARE APPOINTED UNTO AFFLICTIONS. AFFLICTIONS ECLIPSED BY GLORY!

Then I thought about the only eclipse I’d seen in my life – 2006. I thought about how both teachers and students rushed outside, excited, waiting for the moon to fully eclipse the sun for what felt like a lifetime of barely 3minutes! I thought about how beautiful it was, and how glorious the same Ghanaian sun-rays we usually asked God to tone down looked immediately after the total darkness of the moon had passed. I couldn’t help but remember Peter’s advice to a troubled church – ‘to resist the enemy and be steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished by your brethren the world over.’ [1 Peter 5:9]. And while afflictions [physical and spiritual troubles, persecutions, hardships, mockery (even by the ones you love for being ‘stuck-up’), being misunderstood, whatever stresses you out because of your faith] may feel as unending as a lifetime, in the light of eternity, they are just moons eclipsing for 3 minutes. And the same God who made that sun and allowed the moon to cause total darkness  will be a shelter for you, a refuge in times of trouble, and deliver you out of all of them [Psalm 9:9, 34:19]. Be encouraged friend, because:

“after that ye have suffered a while, He will make you perfect. He will establish you. He will strengthen and settle you!”

Love,

⭐ RAD⭐