Joy in the Journey
Thomas Boston was part of the group of ministers called “The Marrow Men” who sought to return Scottish Presbyterians back to the free offer of the gospel. It was this movement that eventually led to our own Presbyterian denomination. In 1751, Rev. Boston preached a series of sermons on the single verse, Ecclesiastes 7:13 “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked?” These sermons were published in 1752 as the booklet “The Crook in the Lot.” It is a relatively short read (the audiobook is only 4 hours total length) and I commend it to you in its entirety. For our purposes today, I will be drawing several lessons from Rev. Boston’s book because this is where the rubber meets the road as we consider joy in our journey.
Paul wraps up his epistle of joy with a brief mention of his own struggles.
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” - Philippians 4:10-13 ESV
This may be one of the most overused understatements in all of scripture. When Paul says that he has learned to be content in every circumstance, he understates the circumstances in which he has learned that lesson. In 2 Corinthians, we learn more details of Paul’s being “abundance and need” as he says here.
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” - 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 ESV
That’s quite a list of “all things” Paul can do through Christ, isn’t it? It is within this context that he tells the Philippians to “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again, rejoice.” How can we rejoice, how can we face all things through Christ when the Lord has made our journey crooked?
Everyone’s Journey is Crooked
“Consider the works of God: who can make straight, what He has made crooked?” Ecclesiastes 7:23
So let us consider the works of God together. Thomas Boston makes this as one of the first points in his first sermon:
“Everybody’s lot in this world has some crook in it. Complainers are apt to make odious comparisons: they look about, and taking a distant view of the condition of others, can discern nothing in it but what is straight, and just to one’s wish; so they pronounce their neighbor’s lot wholly straight. But that is a false verdict; there is no perfection here; no lot out of heaven without a crook.”
Look around at your sisters in Christ. Consider that the Lord has also given them a crooked journey. Within this room, there are many struggles. This has never been more clear to me than when we lost our first child to miscarriage. Friends all over the US and Canada sent me condolences, and so many of them had suffered this particular crook. I had not known until I found myself in their ranks. Within this room, many have suffered pregnancy loss, stillbirth and/or infertility. Many have, or currently, suffer chronic illness, or pain. A number here suffer from depression, anxiety, and other mental and emotional burdens. Some are struggling with unwanted singleness, widowhood, and divorce, while others find their marriages are their crook. Some have been or are currently victims of violence within your homes. Some have been assaulted. Some of you are dealing with aging and infirm parents and others with wayward children. Some of you are facing financial burdens, addiction, unemployment. The list goes on.
Sisters, we need to understand that there is no such thing as a straight path. If you are looking to the life of another and thinking that surely you would love a path as straight as hers, believe me when I tell you, her path may be crooked in different ways, but it is still crooked. If you are looking to the life of another thinking less of her for the crook in her lot, consider that it is the Lord who works in her, and has appointed this for her. Who can make straight, what the Lord has made crooked? Not you.
Thomas Boston points us to the first cause of every crook. “Sin so bowed the hearts and minds of men, that they became crooked in respect, of the holy law; and God justly so bowed their lot, that it became crooked too. And this crook in our lot inseparably follows our sinful condition, till, dropping this body of sin and death, we get within heaven’s gates.” Now let us not fall into the trap of Jesus’ disciples in asking “Who sinned, this man or his parents, that this man is blind?” It is absolutely true that all the suffering and pain in this life comes first because of sin in this world, but Boston divides the crooks into 2 categories: pure sinless crooks, and impure sinful crooks. Sinless crooks are sufferings that arise because of the general corruption of the world to sin. Sinful crooks are sufferings that arise because of direct sinful acts done by another against us or done by us.
This is the first step in finding joy in our crooked journey. In which category does your crook belong? Consider my first example: pregnancy loss. Genesis 3 makes it very clear that everything related to reproduction has been broken as a result of sin. All the various pain and suffering surrounding pregnancy and childbirth come about because this world has been shattered by sin. We grieve these things, but we carry no condemnation or shame for them. Similarly, if the crook in your lot is because of another’s sin against you, we grieve that sin and call it sin. We seek justice for that sin. But you have no condemnation or shame. In both of these cases, the pain and grief is the real crook of our lot. We suffer the results of the sin, and it makes our journey in this life crooked, but we have no cause for shame in them. Too often we carry false guilt and false shame for the crooked things in our life that are there not because of our sin, but, as Jesus told His disciples, “that the works of God might be displayed.” (John 9:3)
Now there are crooks in our lot that come about because of our own sin. At the beginning of Philippians 4, Paul identifies two women who have been faithful. He says they have been co-laborers with him in the gospel. They have, however, come into a mutual crook in their lot. They have disagreed, and Paul begs them to agree in the Lord. They have ceased to have the mind of Christ, and Paul is telling them both to repent of their pride and agree, not with each other, but in the Lord. When the crook in your lot is because of your sin there is no cause to despair. Remember two things. First, you cannot make this crooked thing straight, even if you are the one who has made it crooked. You cannot fix it. You can—in fact, you must—repent. Turn back to Christ. You have his mind in you. You have his power at work within you to will and to work. Don’t hate the crook. Don’t try to turn from the crook. Instead, repent of the sin that caused it. Turn to Christ.
Contentment in Our Crooked Journey
But in all of this, our crooks remain. How can we face our crooks, walk our crooked journey, while still being able to rejoice in the Lord always? How, in the midst of the brokenness can we do what Paul calls us to do. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9 ESV
When we consider that the Lord is the one who has made our way crooked, and we cannot make it straight, there can be a temptation to turn to fatalism. We can throw up our hands and say “Oh well. I guess the Lord wills it. What can I do?” This is not at all what scripture calls us to. Our union with Christ gives us the power to work for His good pleasure! Contentment is not the same thing as passive resignation.
In his beautiful book The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs says:
“But a gracious heart, being enlarged to be capable of God, and enjoying somewhat of him, can be filled by nothing in the world; it must only be God himself. . . .
All outward peace is not enough; I must have the peace of God. But suppose you have the peace of God. Will that not quiet you? No, I must have the God of peace; as the peace of God so the God of peace. That is, I must enjoy that God who gives me the peace; I must have the Cause as well as the effect. I must see from whence my peace comes, and enjoy the Fountain of my peace, as well as the stream of my peace. And so in other mercies: have I health from God? I must have the God of my health to be my portion, or else I am not satisfied. It is not life, but the God of my life; it is not riches, but the God of those riches, that I must have, the God of my preservation, as well as my preservation.
A gracious heart is not satisfied without this: to have the God of the mercy, as well as the mercy.” (pg 43, 44)
It is so easy to keep our eyes always on crookedness in our journey, looking for the straightening, seek the solution, or the healing, or the justice for the problem. Instead, we must have our eye to Christ himself. We must be satisfied in Christ. Like Jonathan said on Friday night, our joy can only be Jesus.
This is illustrated so well in the familiar story of Mary and Martha. In Luke, when Martha comes to Jesus asking that her sister help with the serving, Jesus answers her: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42 NASB) Jesus said Mary, in seeking Him, had chosen the good part.
Often when our family is watching a movie I am called away for some purpose or another. As I complete my task, I hear my children calling to me “Mama! Come quick! You’re going to miss the good part!” Martha’s mind was filled with the everyday tasks of her life that she missed the good part. Just as Jesus promised he wouldn't take it from Mary so she could serve tables, He will not take the good part from you. Jesus is the good part. Your crook is there to turn your face so you will not miss the good part.
Grace in our Crooked Journey
In 2 Corinthians, Paul gives us a little more insight into what it meant that he could “do all things through Christ.” In chapter 11 he outlines all of his physical sufferings, but in chapter 12 he tells us of a bigger crook in his lot. “So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV
Paul tells us directly that the Lord had made something crooked in his life for his humility, but Paul still felt free to ask the Lord to relieve it. Do you earnestly ask the Lord to relieve your crook? So you should! The Lord delights in the prayers of his people. You cannot make it straight, but He can. We begged the Lord for children for ten years. His grace was sufficient for us, but he also gave us the means to straighten that crook, and we took them. Do you have biblical means to remove a crook in your life? Use them! Doctors, therapists, medicine, the police, and the justice system, to name a few, are common graces from God to deliver us from these things. Both times Jonathan was unemployed we earnestly prayed, and he applied for every job listing for which he was not disqualified.
In either case, with a lot that is straightened, or one that the Lord leaves crooked, His grace is sufficient for us. For too long that promise sounded like an empty platitude. I had no idea of the depth of Christ’s grace. Ephesians 4 tells us how grace is sufficient for us.
“But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. – (Eph 4:7 ESV)
and then
“He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,. . . we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” - Ephesians 4:11-13,15-16 ESV
Grace is given to us primarily through the church. There is a reason we call certain elements of our corporate worship service “means of grace.” Ephesians tells us that grace is given to us through the church for the purpose of unity in the faith, and maturity. We are being built together, in love. Sisters, Christ’s grace is sufficient for your crooked journey because he has not called you to walk that crooked path alone. His grace is poured out to you in the preached word and the sacraments every Lord’s Day. Together, each of us with our own crook to our own lot, we are being built together in love into Christ.
What is the crook or crooks in your lot, sisters? Consider the work of God: who can make straight, what He has made crooked. He has made it crooked for His glory, to turn your face to Him. Shall we rejoice, even in this crooked journey? Yes! His grace is sufficient. In fact, it is abundant. It is poured out to you through his fullness, the Church.