Dear friends,
I anticipated that this summer would be the best time for me to write, edit, and publish articles. I imagined it would be a productive, limitless window of time during which I could stockpile articles to roll out once the busy fall season begins, as well as produce refined, lengthier articles throughout the summer.
It appears that was all wishful thinking.
Between family vacations, summer courses, an unexpected move, spontaneous trips with friends, the wedding of a dear friend, multiple family health concerns, and several other minor challenges and major opportunities, I have been afforded little time to write and publish articles, both for the summer and the coming months.
I first would like to apologize for my inactivity. Each time an open window arises for me to focus on the blog, another unexpected event occurs. I have a few finished and unedited articles, as well as several unfinished drafts. My editor, my dear wife, has journeyed alongside me throughout this unexpectedly boisterous summer, for which I am incredibly grateful. And, our first wedding anniversary has quickly come and gone!
Second, I would like to share a brief update that I think will fit the blog well and hopefully enhance my followers’ reading experience. I thoroughly enjoy writing the weekly devotions based on the historic Gospel texts for each Sunday, but feel it would make more sense to publish them on the Sundays for which they are written, instead of the Monday afterward as I have done. So, beginning tomorrow I will post the devotions on Sundays. Beyond this, there will be no fixed schedule for articles to be released, but rest assured regular posts are forthcoming—and I will do everything in my power to ensure that another prolonged stretch of inactivity does not happen again. I will aim for two to three weekly articles besides the Sunday devotions.
Finally, I would like to create out of this brief update an opportunity to share a few thoughts on the blessings God gives us in the seemingly mundane tasks of life, or the tumultuous times of unpredictability and business.
I have never cared for indolence and languor. I am always moving, working, studying, or thinking. And, when rest is needed—and there are times where it is most certainly necessary—I prefer meaningful leisure. I do not care much for mindless scrolling, brainless bingeing, or otherwise idle dissipation. Time is a precious gift from God, as are our bodies, minds, and spirits. It is best to do with them as God intends—work, and when rest is warranted, create meaningful growth through relaxation and leisure.
Personally, I have not “suffered” in a conventional sense through these busy months. The past few months have been truly gratifying for my family and I. We have learned to trust in the Lord’s unwavering faith and submit ourselves to His design. There have been, as with any season of life, several challenges along the way, but none so extraordinary that they have been harmful, disheartening, or deleterious to us.
Nevertheless, I have mused greatly on the idea of hardship. In the limited spare time I have had, I have pondered the meaning of endurance, especially in light of hardship, and how the tribulations that so often weigh us down have led to spiritual growth and characteristic enrichment.
In every challenge God presents an opportunity. All tribulations are allowed by the Father’s infinite wisdom, the reasons for which are unbeknownst to us. In fact, the tribulations we endure so often lead us to believe that God cannot be fully in control. How could a loving, merciful God do unto us those very things that bring us suffering, pain, and discomfort?
Job especially comes to mind. He was an upright man, about whom God boasted in the presence of Satan. Job was so faithful that God allowed Satan to test Job’s endurance by causing him to suffer grief, hardship, and loss. His earthly possessions were squandered, his family perished, and his friends were rendered unhelpful and ineffective. Eventually, Job’s fortunes were restored, and his relationship with God is renewed. The Book of Job prompts us to ponder the incomprehensible nature of suffering and why God allows faithful people, like Job, to suffer hardship.
The problem of pain, suffering, and hardship, as well as God’s involvement in our tribulations, lead us to assign blame, either to ourselves, God, Satan, or others. Through the account of Job, we are encouraged to look past blame, endure uncertainty and hardship, bear them with patience, and trust in God’s inconceivable plan for fallen man.
The opportunity presented by God in every hardship is one of trust. It is an opportunity to trust, as we have been called to do, that God works in ways beyond our understanding or control. Comfort produces pride; hardship produces humility. We see in every suffering the image of our Savior, who paid the ultimate price for man’s sin by suffering unimaginable torment and utter wickedness.
Our Lord is fully God and fully Man. He lived a fully human life; He endured every hardship, suffering, and tribulation under the sun. He likely experienced boredom, and was well acquainted with business. He was a carpenter and a teacher in His later years. Crowds followed Him incessantly. The Pharisees were constantly out to kill Him. The blind, mute, lame, and palsied would beg Him for healing. Great was the man, Jesus of Nazareth!
And greater still is He, the eternal God and Lord of all. He sees us through the raging waters to calmer seas. He walks alongside us in every journey, great and small, joyful or burdensome. In life, we cannot tend to everything. Some tasks, projects, and work will inevitably be pushed to the side. Others will grasp our attention. Some things may be forgotten, but we by our heavenly Father certainly are not.
We must lean on Him in every time, in every place, in every circumstance. God’s will is always best, and we pray for the strength to do His will alone. Such was the prayer of Albert, Duke of Prussia (1490-1568), who converted to the Lutheran faith and became the first European ruler to declare Lutheranism the official state religion. He wrote the well-known hymn of comfort, “The Will of God is Always Best,” LSB 758. The text is copied below as a faithful reminder of God’s love toward us and our submission to His will in all things.
1 The will of God is always best
And shall be done forever;
And they who trust in Him are blest;
He will forsake them never.
He helps indeed
In time of need;
He chastens with forbearing,
They who depend
On God, their friend,
Shall not be left despairing.
2 God is my comfort and my trust,
My hope and life abiding;
And to His counsel, wise and just,
I yield, in Him confiding.
The very hairs,
His Word declares,
Upon my head He numbers.
By night and day
God is my stay;
He never sleeps nor slumbers.
3 Lord, this I ask, O hear my plea,
Deny me not this favor:
When Satan sorely troubles me,
Then do not let me waver.
O guard me well,
My fear dispel,
Fulfill Your faithful saying:
All who believe
By grace receive
An answer to their praying.
4 When life's brief course on earth is run
And I this world am leaving,
Grant me to say, "Your will be done,"
Your faithful Word believing.
My dearest Friend, I now commend
My soul into Your keeping;
From sin and hell,
And death as well,
By You the vict'ry reaping.