This Too Shall Last

One of the most important days in America's history is January 1, 1863. It was the day President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all enslaved people in rebel states.

Lioncoln's hand was shaking when he went to sign the document, not out of fear, but out of his hand being worn out from shaking thousands of hands. It was the tradition that the President shake hands with anyone who got in line on January 1. Lincoln waited until he could feel his hand again so that when he signed, his signature would be one of confidence. If it looked shakey, people would think he hesitated, but nothing could be further from the truth; he was behind this document, heart and soul.

It was poignant when he chose to sign it. The first day of the year was known as "hiring day," but it was better known to the slave community as "heartbreak day" because they would often wake up to find members of their family sold in an effort of the owner to balance the books. So, President Lincoln signed this document, guaranteeing freedom on the day they feared most. Slavery was turned to freedom, sorry to emancipation.

What is your heartbreak day? The day abuse, an illness, or devastating news changed everything for you?

What do we do with the pain we experience? Scripture is clear: we must go through tribulation to enter the Kingdom of God.

Read Romans 8:18. What is going to be revealed to us? Romans 8 is about our inheritance in Christ as co-heirs. Everyone is considered adopted as sons to receive a firstborn son's inheritance. We have everything that Christ has. Spirit is mentioned 19 times in this chapter because He is the promise of what is yet to come. If Jesus has it, you have it if you are in Christ because the Holy Spirit is proof of what is to come.

Romans 8 has been called the greatest chapter of the greatest book in the Bible. It opens with "there is no condemnation" and ends with "nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ."

Romans 8:38-39 is a two-edged sword. One side is comforting, knowing nothing can separate us from the love of God, but the other is knowing death, demons, swords, heights, and depths are all in the mix. These things can't separate you from God, but that doesn't mean they won't try. Suffering and glory are inseparable.

God wants to do more through you than you think He can, but it's going to hurt more than you think it will.

Part of your process will be pain; what are you going to do with it? The devil wants to tear your house down through pain. Job gave us a beautiful example when he said, naked I came, naked I go, blessed be the name of the Lord. Hope is the anchor for our souls. John was burned in hot oil; Paul knew pain we'll never know. Everyone suffers.

When you are suffering, you feel disempowered, but Paul doesn't say, "This too shall pass," he says, "This too shall last!" He knew God was up to something in his pain that would release His glory.

What do we need to focus on so the devil can't steal our joy by keeping us focused on what has been taken away?

1. The wonders of Heaven.
   • What lasts? The true homeland is what our hearts are craving. Heaven, in its final format, is not a downgrade from Earth, where we live in flowing garments and play harps with chubby baby angels flying around. Heave is a new earth without the curse, a return to Eden. Heaven is being in your body again but without pain, groaning, sorrow, or tears.
   • Teresa of Avila said, "When we stand at the gates of Heaven and receive one kiss from our Father, that one kiss will make a thousand lifetimes of suffering seem like one night in a bad hotel." And that's just at the gate; pleasures evermore are beyond that.
2. The weight of glory.
   • 2 Corinthians 4:17 says our light affliction, which is temporary, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Holy is who God is; glory is what He does. Holy is His essential attribute. He is called "Holy, Holy, Holy." To use a word twice is to make something unique. God gets it in triplicate. When we experience God and He comes close, glory is the result.
   • Glory equals weight. When you sense Him, it's like a weighted blanket that covers your anxiety. The weight of glory becomes heavier the less we're staring at our affliction. Your affliction becomes light and momentary in light of glory, even if it lasts your whole life.
3. The Word of God.
   • "The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the Word of God will last forever." 1 Peter 1:24-25. Everything will be as it should be. Every word of God will come to pass. C.S. Lewis said that Heaven will start to work backwards, transforming every agony we faced into new glory. So, you will be more qualified to experience glory and bliss in the second Heaven and the second Earth because of the difficulty you faced here.
   • We are living in a day where people are choosing to believe everything except the Word of God. Your trauma is not your template if you are in Christ. Your infirmity is no longer your identity. Your identity is to come from Scripture, not from pain or temptations.
   • The Word of God is not just a book; it's a person, and His name is Jesus. He conquered death and Hell and is coming back again. We are to be shaped and oriented by God's Word. You don't need to be justified to feel hurt. Pain is pain. If it hurts you, it matters to Him. He has a plan to redeem it. Holding back from letting God heal you does not keep you connected to that person, season, or former glory like you think it will, but His healing will make you more connected.
4. The Wounds and Wrath of Jesus.
   • He is the desire of our souls. Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4 say the same thing: Holy, Holy, Holy. His worth will never end. Neither will his wounds. He still has wounds that God uses to show us He will use anything to accomplish His purpose and cause it all to work together for good. See Romans 8:28. Your name is written in the palm of His hand, so He keeps those scars.

By worshiping God in the trash heap, you'll find the Cross in your pain. Job showed us how when he sat in ashes, but put God before Him and worshiped.

Jesus is proof that He can take the worst of pain, the Cross, and bring glory through it. He will sit and meet you in your trash heap, but He'll change your focus to the Cross if you let Him. He is waiting for you to choose to worship when you can barely lift your hands.

Worship that hurts like Hell heals like Heaven.

What God wants to do through you is for other people. Do you want to be made well? Do you choose to find the Cross in your trash heap?