Thursday 2nd October
Read 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7
“God is just: he will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.” (NIVUK)
What information is needed to endure trials and suffering and maintain fidelity to Jesus? Paul outlines the framework around which his prayers for them are based. When injustice is suffered one must have faith that justice will prevail.
It is clear from Paul’s prayer, and his assumption that suffering is evidence of faithfulness, that there is nothing unusual in trials and obstacles arising in the lives of God’s people. When those trials come at the hands of those who do not know and love God then judgment will be rendered on the last day.
Judgment and relief. In what sense does Paul think that the punishment of persecutors brings relief to the persecuted? One suspects that when your framework for life is centred correctly and eternal matters are in view the correction of injustice, the righting of wrongs, is the ultimate relief. It sits at the heart of the prayer Jesus taught us.
‘Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your will be done…’
