Even through rejection, Love Anyway

            Day 89: Psalm 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, My clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; And my prayer would return to my own heart. 14I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother.

            O Lord Jesus, when you came to the earth You healed the lame, the sick, and the blind. You dealt with afflictions of body, mind, and soul. Yet even though You did all this, still Your own nation sought to kill You and Rome was complicit in this evil. You understand when in a lesser way, we, too, feel betrayed by those we have sought to love.

            Lord, when they or their families were sick, I visited them. When they were struggling, I listened, comforted, and advised. I wept with them when they wept. Their struggles were my struggles. The apostle Paul had a pastor’s heart, a shepherd’s heart. In II Corinthians 11:29 he tells them, “Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?” Paul was defending his apostleship from wicked men who denied his calling, questioned his motives and abilities, and did not understand his labors for Christ.

            O God, You have shown us by Your own and example and told us that Christians in general and Christian leaders, in particular, will suffer such things. We should not be surprised, even though we are saddened and troubled through this. I Peter 2:18-25 reminds us, “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle but also to the harsh. 19For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. 21For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22“Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth;” 23who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed. 25For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

            Help us, O Lord, through these trials to bring our concerns to You and to keep our faith and our hearts fixed on You by the grace You provide. Let us not become bitter or cynical. Help us not be overcome by evil, but instead to overcome evil with the goodness and grace that You alone provide.