Renewal in an Organization with a Long History of Hurt and Failure

The temple, the glory of the people of Israel, was in complete ruins. The Babylonians had destroyed everything and taken many of the people into captivity. Now, thousands had returned but returned to devastation.

In spite of the disappointment, those who returned from exile did not give up. They saw the place where the altars had been, and they rebuilt them. There, with no walls or temple, they held a feast to the LORD, the feast of tabernacles, where they remembered how God was with them in the wilderness when they came out of Egypt.

Then, they got to work. In the 2nd year of their return, they began building the foundation of the temple.

When the foundation was complete, the people began to praise the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever” (Ezra 3:11). They all gave a great shout to the Lord.

But shouts of praise were not the only sounds. “Many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid” (Ezra 3:12). The result was that “no one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise” (Ezra 3:13).

This reminds me of many churches, families, and organizations I have observed. When renewal begins to take place, good things are happening, but it is hard for those who have experienced disappointment or hurts in the past to see the good. This makes it hard for the work of renewal to move forward.

So, what should we do? For those rejoicing in the present, it is important to remember:

  1. Understand that the organization has a history.
  2. Understand that good things have been lost.
  3. Understand that there have been hurts.
  4. When people express pain or longing for the past, don’t get defensive. Ask for stories.

For those who are grieved at the losses of the past, it is important to remember:

  1. Remember that new didn’t experience those earlier times.
  2. Remember that people are there because they see good things.
  3. Remember that there are challenges in the present to even carrying out the work, and people need encouragement.
  4. When you hear the good things, ask them to share them without bringing up your bad experience. Just let them give thanks and rejoice with those who rejoice.

So, who goes first? Who reaches out? The person who is more emotionally mature. Someone has to step up and say, “I understand my own emotions and sympathize with the emotions of others. I will step outside myself to consider what others need.” Whoever has the strength to do this should do it.

In all of this, we should remember that this is God’s work. He is the one who is at work in the church and in creation to bring about good things. That should encourage us, and that’s why the prophet Zechariah encouraged the people of that day: “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel (the Israelite’s civic leader) you will become level ground. . . . The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you” (Zechariah 4:7-8).

Zechariah reminded them that whatever their personal feelings, the temple needed to be built. He encouraged them that it would be built, and he promised a glorious future. These same considerations can help us to move forward with the work of renewal in ourselves, our families, our churches, and our governments.

Pinecone Podcast: Reformation Day & Justification by Faith Alone

I’ve started doing a podcast with two great people, Art Stump and Lacie Shingleton. In this week’s episode, we talk about Reformation Day and the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In this podcast, we discuss what justification by faith alone means, how Luther re-discovered it, why it is so important, and how this fits with Christians doing good works. Listen to it by clicking here.

Our Great Resource for Suffering Well

Christians aren’t the only people to think about how to suffer well. Virtually every religious teacher and every ethical teacher has provided ideas about how to suffer well. As I’ve listened to them, their consensus is that suffering is not always bad and that changing our perspective on suffering can help us suffer well. I believe that these teachers provide many helpful ideas. I’ve listed a few of them here. However, I think the greatest resource for suffering well is God Himself.

When I say God, I am speaking specifically about the Christian God. I don’t mean that more general conceptions of God do not help people. I simply mean that the way that God has revealed Himself in the Bible provides the greatest help and assurance in our suffering. It has the potential to enable us to suffer well in a way that no other resource can.

It is particularly the revelation of the faithfulness of God that helps us suffer well (see 1 Pet. 4:19). God’s faithfulness involves His commitment to continue the work of creation. He might have ended it, or He might have saved it. The revelation of God in the Bible teaches us that He is not through with it. He will continue it, and He continues to do good to people throughout the world, in spite of what we deserve.

For the believer, we have even greater assurance of God’s faithfulness. We are His people, bought with the blood of His Son, and a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. We can be totally confident that He will continue to do us good, even though we don’t deserve it. He only asks that we accept that this comes through Jesus Christ, the revelation of God in human form, with a believing heart.

Because God is determined to continue to do us good, we should believe it and live in light of the truth of God’s faithfulness. The great obstacle to believing that God is faithful is the suffering we experience. That’s why God so regularly and often reminds us that suffering is part of life. “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12). This suffering is a seeming challenge to the faithfulness of God. It is a test of our faith.

When we suffer, it’s easy to think that it will go on forever. As suffering Christians, however, we have the opportunity to exercise our faith, believing that suffering does not go on forever, believing that blessing is our destiny. God’s faithfulness means that He will continue to do us good and will deliver us from our suffering. “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Pet. 5:10).

Once we do this, we can see God’s love for us shining through the dark clouds of our suffering. This enables us to experience the faithfulness of God in His continuing aid to us during our suffering. “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Even in our suffering, we experience the faithfulness of God as He comforts us, cares for us, and assures us of the future.

Who else can have this assurance that our best days are ahead of us? This is the assurance of the Christian in the faithfulness of God, and it is our greatest resource in the midst of suffering.

Philosophical Resources for Suffering Well


It is not only Christians who have seen the value of suffering and suffering well. Philosophers and teachers throughout the world have provided us with a variety of helpful ways of processing suffering. Here are a few that I have studied over the past year.

I want to present two lists of quotes from two different philosophers. The first list is from Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations (read more here).

  • Misfortune gives us opportunity to grow in and exercise good character, which is a great reward in itself. “Remember, too, on every occasion that leads you to vexation to apply this principle: not that this is a misfortune, but that to bear it nobly is good fortune” (4.49).
  • If people do us wrong, we can preserve ourselves by not responding in kind. “The best way of avenging yourself is not to become like the wrongdoer” (6.6).
  • If we get our way, that’s good. If we don’t, we have an opportunity to learn to be content when we don’t. Learning that is a great good. “Let us try to persuade men. But act even against their will when the principles of justice lead the way. If, however, any man by using force stands in your way, have recourse to contentment and tranquility, employing this hindrance as a spur to the exercise of some other virtue; and remember that thy attempt was limited, that you did not desire to do impossibilities” (6.51).
  • It is our mindset not necessarily the thing itself that makes things so bad. “But I unless I think that what has happened is an evil, am not injured. And it is in my power not to think so” (7.14).

The second list is from the Roman philosopher Seneca’s letters to his student Lucilius.

  • We don’t really know what we are made of until we have had to undergo many trials. “For our powers can never inspire in us implicit faith in ourselves except when many difficulties have confronted us on this side and on that, and have occasionally even come to close quarters with us” (25). He goes on to compare those who struggle in life with those who fight in the arena: “The only contestant who can confidently enter the lists [i.e., engage in the conflict] is the man who has seen his own blood, who has felt his teeth rattle beneath his opponent’s fist, who has been tripped and felt the full force of his adversary’s charge, who has been downed in body but not in spirit, one who, as often as he falls, rises again with greater defiance than ever” (Ibid., 26).
  • Things are often worse in our fears than they are in reality. “There are more things, Lucilius, likely to frighten us than they are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination than in reality” (Ibid.).
  • There is no reason to reject present happiness because of the possibility of future unhappiness. “Why, indeed, is it necessary to summon trouble–which must be endured soon enough when it has once arrived, or to anticipate trouble and ruin the present through fear of the future? It is indeed foolish to be unhappy now because you may be unhappy at some future time” (XXIV, 57).
  • Recognize that all relationships are temporary and prepare accordingly. “Let not the eyes be dry when we have lost a friend, nor let them overflow. We may weep but we most not wail” (LXIII, 148). How are we able to do this? “For I have had them as if I should one day lose them: I have lost them as if I have them still” (LXIII, 149).
  • Past unhappiness does not necessitate present unhappiness: “What benefit is there in reviewing past sufferings and in being unhappy, just because you were once unhappy?” (LXXVIII, 220).
  • Whoever does wrong to someone else does more evil to themselves than to their neighbor. “When we do wrong, only the least and lightest portion of it flows back upon our neighbour; the worst and, if I may use the term, the densest portion of it stays at home and troubles the owner. My master Attalus used to say: ‘Evil herself drinks the largest portion of her own poison” (LXXX, 234).
  • Losing things does not mean that we cannot continue to enjoy them. “What resource do we find, then, in the face of these losses? Simply this–to keep in memory the things we have lost, and not to suffer the enjoyment we have derived from them to pass away along with them. To have may be taken away from us, to have had, never” (XCVIII, 353).
  • Don’t worry about what you don’t have. Enjoy what you do. “To have whatsoever he wishes is in no man’s power; it is in his power not to wish for what he has not, but cheerfully to employ what comes to him” (CXXIII, 455).

Both of these books provide numerous other thoughts that contain resources for suffering well. Seneca and Marcus Aurelius suggest that the way we think about suffering is a large part of our suffering. This is something we can change, and many thinkers, like these two, can help us do so.

Suffering Well

Everyone is going to suffer, but will we suffer well? Will we suffer in a way that will do good to our own souls, bless those around us, and glorify God?

In this post, I’d like to meditate on 5 ways we can suffer well and then contrast that with 5 ways in which we can suffer badly. In later posts, I will address why we should suffer well and how we can suffer well, but for now, I just want to try to shed some light on what it means to suffer well.

Before I begin, I want to let you know that I sat down with two friends, Art Stump and Lacie Shingleton to discuss suffering well on our Pinecone Podcast. I would invite you to listen to our discussion by clicking here.

5 Ways to Suffer Well

  1. You acknowledge that you are suffering
  2. You continue to honor those around you.
  3. You continue to do the good that you should do.
  4. You continue to trust in the goodness and faithfulness of God.
  5. You continue to hope and expect that God will give you good things.

5 Ways to Suffer Badly

  1. You suppress or ignore the fact that you are suffering.
  2. You lash out at those around you, even those who may have nothing to do with your suffering.
  3. You get bitter.
  4. You give up on God.
  5. You fall into despair.

Again, this is just the concept. In later posts, I will address why we should seek to suffer well and how we can do it. For now, I think it’s important to have a clear sense of what it means to suffer well and suffer badly. These are the things that came most clearly to my mind. What about you? Anything you would add or take away?