WHY DO WE PUT UP WITH THEM? -- Devotional for April 27, from "Good Seeds"

Bear with one another. (Colossians 3:13)

Of the 28 one another commands in the Bible this one is very possibly the most difficult to obey – at least for many of us. There are two broad categories of things that cause us frustration and worry, and steal away our joy: 1) difficult circumstances; 2) difficult people. Though it’s true we all struggle with both, it’s probably also true that each one of us has a greater weakness regarding one or the other. I’m thinking of two Old Testament heroes, Joseph and Moses. For Joseph it was circumstances that got him down the most. Every time he turned around something terrible was happening to him, something totally beyond his ability to prevent, control or fix. He was misunderstood, mistreated, maligned, thrown into pits and prisons, and in each case he was completely innocent of the charges brought against him. Though he was justifiably put out with his circumstances, each new one worse than the one preceding it, you never hear him railing against the people who brought about this series of unfortunate events – his family, his master, his jail mate – all of whom did him wrong. He was highly frustrated, to be sure, with the unfairness with which he was treated, and yet he didn’t turn ON people, and eventually learned to turn TO God in it all. But then, what about Moses? God chose him to lead the nation Israel on a 40 year treadmill through the desert to the promised land. There were some pretty terrible circumstances to endure along the way, about which the people constantly moaned and complained, blaming Moses for it all, by the way. We sometimes forget that when the people were dying of hunger or thirst, or were on the verge of annihilation by enemy armies, Moses was just as much a victim of these circumstances as they were – and yet we never hear him complain. Oh, he was an expert complainer, but his beef was never with God or the difficulties He had put them all through, but rather with the stiff-necked people God had stuck him with! Think now, which one are you? You could be a Joseph: strong against irritating people but heavy-hearted and broken by adverse circumstances. Or you could be a Moses: a rock in troubling times, but totally impatient with impertinent or implacable people. (I would still say the harder of the two is dealing with irritating people, but then that would be showing my hand – my Achilles heel). Though the saying is true that “it is better to be alone than in the wrong company” (see Proverbs 21:19), it is also true that sometimes it is God’s will that we just stay and listen -- and endure -- for the sake of the one whose only connection with heaven’s help and healing may be us!