I would be right to say that many people wonder why do people who lead a religious life always seem miserable and suffer so much?Good question. Even after knowing why, it is hard for me in the moment, to appreciate that just before the blessing, the roughest storms come and even build to almost swamp you, before leaving God's blessing for your faith.
Behind The Blessing Of God Is Suffering And Hardship
Everyone of us living here on earth would adore the blessing of God, and everyone of us wants to have that blessing of God to be related with one individual. Then the person who receives the blessing of God wants to have that blessing become an influence upon his neighbor, society, and his beloved country. I would like to take up the subjects "What is the procedure or process to be followed until the blessing of God comes to us?" In other words, people take-up the word "blessing" so easily, but they forget that behind this blessing is a great journey of suffering and hardship.
Conditions Make Man Eligible
The person who gives the blessing is God. The person who receives the blessing is man -- you. In the fallen world, God could not bless a person unless he made a certain condition to make himself eligible; to enable him to obtain the blessing.
A good illustration of a condition can be found in the time of Noah. Before he received the blessing, Noah was given a commandment which he fulfilled faithfully for 120 years of long suffering in which he exercised great and untiring faith. He made a condition. This was not for 12 months or 12 years. It was 120 years! Even more, the place where he built the ark was not the seashore, it was the top of a mountain.
The very moment God gave His command and everything Noah did could be viewed with skepticism and doubt by all men. It looked like a crazy idea! To the people of that age, it sounded like an unthinkable dream. Building a boat on top of a mountain?! So, they all continued with their usual daily enjoyment -- drinking -- eating -- marrying -- and God was forgotten. But for Noah, the command of God was absolute. No one truly understood the heart of Noah. He was all by himself. Even his wife could not comprehend, nor could his children understand their father. You can imagine what the relatives said!
The way man responds to God's mission, sets the condition.
The situation in which Noah found himself demanded that he give up all human relationships. He had to cut off all relationships in order to stand and fulfill the new command of God. He could not love his wife and children more than he loved the command of God. For Noah, there was no other choice but the absolute, unshakable, rock-like command. We can well imagine the attitude of the people toward him. For the time being, his wife would have gone along with him because he was her husband.
Initially the children might cooperate with their father because he was their father. But only initially. Before too long, even though it does not appear in the Bible, I know that all the family left Noah alone. They began to reject his program. The whole family began to turn against the master of the house. If he had so little cooperation from the close members of his family, can you imagine the persecution he endured from the outside world?
As the days went by, 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, old grandfather Noah became known to the world, as a crazy guy. In time, only Noah alone stood close to God. The rest of the world went farther and farther away from Him. So, from God's standpoint, He had only one choice. There was no other way, no other foundation upon earth, except to rely and depend upon the faith of Noah. God had to seek a foundation. That foundation was so persecuted by the world, and the world so rebelled against it and Him, that a condition was created. God used that foundation in delivering His judgment through the flood water and the world had no excuse.
Man Must Be Victorious Before The Blessing
This is merely one example. Before God blesses anyone with a mission and responsibility here on earth -- an individual, a family, a tribe, a nation, or a world, whatever the level may be, God will ask that very one to bear all kinds of hardship. He must struggle and win through in this battle. This is the first requirement before the blessing.
Another Condition: An Individual Must Be Free Of Satan's Accusation
God ordered Abraham to leave his beloved homeland, Ur of Chaldea. There was no other way for Abraham except to follow the instruction of God and go to an unknown land, a place he did not know -- but still he believed. Because of Abraham's faith, God could choose him as the center of His dispensation. God must free a chosen individual from every accusation of Satan. Rather, the individual must free himself from Satan's accusation. This condition God seeks first. This time, in the dispensation at the family level, the principle was the same.
If God was to give the blessing to someone who was still able to be tempted bu Satan, then Satan can easily take the blessing. That why conditions, like a contract, show that upon completion of work, you will receiv.
Unbearable hardship may be necessary
After he received the blessing of God's promise, but before the true blessing was rendered, Jacob had to go to the land of Haran, the symbolic land of Satan. He had to make the sacrifice, he had to work hard under unbearable hardship for 21 long years. After Jacob returned from Haran to Canaan, the symbolic land of the Kingdom of Heaven with the title of Israel which means victor, he and the 70 members of his family had to depart for another journey of suffering in Egypt. This was trial and tribulation on the tribal scale. They suffered for 400 years in Egypt.
Individual Success Paves The Way To The National Foundation
Upon this foundation of suffering alone, God could launch the greater dispensation of the restoration of Canaan under the leadership of Moses. The cause of suffering and trial was expanded to an even greater scale. The people of Israel progressed through the way of suffering and hardship toward the establishment for the foundation of the coming of the Messiah. But these chosen people did not know why they had to launch into another journey of suffering before the universal world restoration could be centered on the Messiah.
If the people of Israel had known the truth and had established a tribal foundation, then progressed to a national foundation, then followed the Messiah and united with him, the history of the world today would have been much different. Since the chosen people of Israel failed their mission, since they crucified Jesus Christ instead of following him, we have been moving toward the national and universal foundation only spiritually. Christianity, which was established at the time of the failure of Israel's mission, inherited the mission of suffering and tribulation.
This explains why Jews still battle over their land as a payment for this failure in this mission. This is also why Jesus returns to complete his mission to bring the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
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