Page 62 - The Divine Quest

The Divine Quest Page 59

Faith to Suffer

The Spirit has told me to be gentle in writing this chapter, being very sensitive to my
own weakness and frailty that has manifested when I have been brought to places of
suffering for Christ. Like most other humans, I have been inclined to seek to avoid
suffering if at all possible, for neither my flesh nor my soul enjoy it. I am not some
type of masochist who likes to have pain inflicted upon me, and I strongly suspect
that those who read this book are not either.

I have been concerned that even writing a chapter on suffering would instantly turn
many people off, for most saints do not want to hear that they are called to suffer in
any way, and I have been one of these saints. I have thought of writing a book on
suffering, but I thought “Who would read it?” I can imagine a book titled “Called to
Suffer” being posted on the Internet and being avoided like the plague. I have had
to ask myself, would I want to read a book on suffering, and the answer that returns
from my soul is “No!”

Yet the truth is that I read a book on suffering nearly every day of my life. That book
is the Bible. The central character of the entire Bible is Yahshua the Messiah and He
is called “the suffering servant.” Isaiah described Him as “a man of sorrows and well
acquainted with grief.” One Scripture passage that reveals the centrality of suffering
in the life of the Messiah is the following:

Isaiah 53:3-12
He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem
Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we
ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced
through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for
our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep
have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But Yahweh has caused the
iniquity of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He did
not open His mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent
before its shearers, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He
was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off out
of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was
due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His
death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But
Yahweh was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; if He would render Himself
as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good
pleasure of Yahweh will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul,