‘I know your afflictions and your poverty’

I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.(Revelation 2:9)

‘I know… ’

Jesus knew all about these believers in Smyrna. He knew that they were destitute. He knew that they were being slandered by members of the Jewish synagogue following their conversion. He knew the persecution, imprisonment and even death that members of this small Christian community would face.

How did Jesus know? In John’s vision (Rev. 1) we are told that Jesus walks among the lampstands – among the churches. He is with His people.

Down through the ages God’s people have testified to this truth. Paul, in a Roman dungeon, cold, lonely, deserted and close to martyrdom, stated: ‘The Lord stood by my side and gave me strength’ (2 Tim. 4:17). The Puritan Richard Baxter (1615–1691) wrote a hymn (‘Lord, it belongs not to my care’) that contains the line ‘Christ leads me through no darker rooms than He went through before’. Betsie ten Boom, incarcerated in Ravensbrück concentration camp, said to her sister Corrie: ‘We must tell people … that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still’ (Corrie ten Boom with John and Elizabeth Sherill, The Hiding Place, Hodder & Stoughton, 2004, p.202).

Today, we face demanding pressures and carry debilitating burdens. The costs of discipleship are very real. So please don’t miss the comforting certainty of Christ’s presence. What gives such pressure its meaning is our vital connection with Jesus. We suffer in solidarity with Jesus, who took our sufferings upon Himself.

The late Helen Roseveare was a medical missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. During the uprisings of the 1960s, she endured beatings, torture and rape. She told of one occasion when, as she was close to being executed, the Holy Spirit reminded her of her calling: ‘Twenty years ago, you asked me for the privilege of being identified with me. This is it. Don’t you want it? This is what it means. These are not your sufferings. All I ask of you is the loan of your body.’

She was spared execution and later wrote:

‘He didn’t stop the sufferings. He didn’t stop the wickedness, the cruelties, the humiliation or anything. It was all there. The pain was just as bad. The fear was just as bad. But it was altogether different. It was in Jesus, for Him, with Him’ (quoted in Philip Ryken, The Message of Salvation, IVP, 2001, p.257).

The great certainty for those Christians in Smyrna, and for us, is that no matter what happens, the suffering and risen Christ is with us.

You are not alone. Through every trial, doubt and discouragement, God is with you. There is no situation too awful, no doubt too shocking, no failure too final to separate you from God. Lean on the truth of God’s word:

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged (Deut. 31:8).

Elizabeth McQuoid is Commissioning Editor for Keswick Ministries and part of Deeside Christian Fellowship in Aberdeen, an independent evangelical church.

This is an extract from Confident - a 30 day devo-tional in the Food for the Journey series by Keswick Ministries, published by IVP ISBN 978-1-78974-190-2.

The code FFTJ20 applies a 20% discount on any Food for the Journey titles and is valid until the end of November.