Life is rarely convenient; in fact very often it is wrought with inconvenience and frustration.  As I have grown older, it takes more to annoy me or disrupt my “happy place” than when I was younger, but I find that some people and some situations still invade my little place of serenity. 

These verses in 2 Corinthians have come to mind lately as I’ve considered the things we so frequently consider “afflictions”:  “Therefore we do not lose heart.  Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.  For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen…” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).

Paul wrote those words in the context of, “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—” (2 Corinthians 4:8, 9).  Farther along in his letter Paul writes, “From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often….”  Yet what concerned him most?  “…what comes upon me daily:  my deep concern for all the churches.  Who is weak, and I am not weak?  Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?” (2 Corinthians 11:24-29).

Paul considered his afflictions light; and his greatest consideration was for others.

Paul also had a “thorn in the flesh” which provoked him, and three times he pleaded with God to remove it (we have no information regarding his “thorn” other than it existed).  After the Father responded, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”, the apostle chose to “gladly” boast in his infirmities, “that the power of Christ may rest upon [him]” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

This is a difficult week for many Christians—Pastor Saeed Abedini, was forcibly pulled from his hospital bed, beaten until he collapsed, and returned to prison because of his faith (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/05/22/serious-setback-pastor-saeed-abedini-belongs-in-us-not-in-brutal-iranian-prison/), Mariam Ibrahim, a Sudanese woman, wife and mother, was sentenced to death for being and marrying a Christian (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/15/mariam-yahya-ibrahim_n_5328966.html), and Asia Bibi is a Pakistani mother of five, hoping to appeal the death sentence for her faith (http://www.christiantoday.com/article/asia.bibi.appeal.trial.date.set.for.fourth.time.in.pakistan/37207.htm).  This list is not even close to be inclusive—throughout the world there are many, many more Christians whose lives are at stake.  I mention these because of the immediacy and critical nature of their situations.  Persecution is rife within governments and the populations of many nations, and intolerance towards those who put their faith in Jesus Christ abounds.

God touched my heart with the sincere pleas for prayerful support by Pastor Abedini’s wife, Naghmeh (her Facebook update, May 20, 2014):

“I have to be completely honest with you all and ask for your prayers and your help. For the first time in two years, I feel so very tired and not sure of next steps. I can not stop the tears from falling. I feel like a wounded soldier who needs time to rest. I need you all to carry me and my family in prayer and to continue to voice your concern. Today I feel there is no breath left in me. Praying and worshipping through it, but I have to admit today is so very difficult. Each minute feels like an hour. Praising Him through my tears. Need you all to hold my hands up like Moses in battle. Feeling so very week…”

I am stricken with her anguish and overwhelmed with a feeling of inadequacy when it comes to praying for her, for her husband and children, for Mariam Ibrahim, for Asia Bibi, for the missing school girls in Nigeria, for the persecuted church throughout the world, and the many other violent, abusive, and critical situations playing out on this planet.

A sense of insignificance whispers in the dark places of my heart and skirts around the edges of my thoughts—do my prayers really matter?  Do I really matter enough to God that He would listen to my prayers and cries for help for these brothers and sisters in Christ?  For the wounded, disadvantaged, abducted, the abandoned and abused, the persecuted and tortured?  It is such a big prayer and I am such a little person with a little voice!  It is much easier to slip into indifference than to cry out to God for help!  Yet at the very heart of this issue is the gospel and the good news of salvation—we are significant to God because He sent Jesus to die for each and every person.  Gaining favor with God means accepting Jesus and His righteousness in place of my own self-righteousness and sinful nature.  It is because of Him we can “come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

God does not require that we attempt to replace indifference with compassion or unbelief with faith—for that is self-righteousness.  Instead, he promises, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  Indifference, which is the inability to love others, and unbelief are sin; yet if we are honest with Him, He will change our hearts.

The direction of our gaze determines our view of life – whether it is on ourselves, our circumstances or on Jesus.  “Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1, 2).  May we also, “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).