that there is a greater purpose which we are pursuing, or that God has ordained for us:
3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance;
4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
So, in our trials, we continue to fix our eyes on Jesus, knowing that He is doing a work in our lives. When we encounter difficulty, perhaps even when we face false accusations or manifold conflicts, we can trust in God and ask Him for wisdom and power to walk according to His direction. He can heal our hearts and repair our relationships, so that He might be glorified in and through our lives. Our adversity is just part of His refining process, so that we might more effectively display the character of Christ.
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In the section of the Sermon on the Mount called the Beatitudes, in Matthew 5, Jesus said:
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12 Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
There is a new Netflix series that was released in December, and it has attracted attention to a Wisconsin man named Steven Avery. The series is "Making A Murderer,” and it focused on Avery's exoneration in a sexual assault case and later conviction for murder. According to Fox6Now.com,
he was convicted in 1985 in the assault case and, after serving 18 years in prison, he was exonerated based on DNA evidence connecting the attack to another man. He filed a lawsuit against Manitowoc County for wrongful conviction and imprisonment.
Two years later, he was arrested in the death of Teresa Halbach, a young photographer whose charred remains were found on his family’s auto salvage yard.
Avery's twin sons recently did an interview, in which they admitted they were not sure their father had committed the murder of Halbach.
He has a new attorney, Kathleen Zellner, who told WBAY-TV that she’s been following Avery’s case for years, and after questioning him for hours she decided it was a case she had to take.
“When someone wants every possible test done that could be done that would prove their guilt or innocence, that’s when you know they’re innocent,” she said.
The same year Mr. Avery was convicted, Daryl Burton also went to prison. According to a Christian Today piece, he was convicted in 1985 for murder for the 1984 shooting of Donald Ball at a gas station in St. Louis. Burton said it took over 15 years in prison before he opened his heart to God.
He is quoted as saying:
"For the first 15 years or so I was just trying to do everything in my own abilities. Of course, I was really angry and upset and really frustrated about my situation and being wrongfully imprisoned," he said. "I said, 'Well, I have tried everything but God, what do I have to lose.' I just challenged Jesus — 'If you're real, show me. If you help me, I will serve you and tell the world about you.'"He was found guilty based on the accounts of two prosecution witnesses who lied in their testimonies. Burton wrote 700 letters to lawmakers, attorneys and activities who were known to helping wrongly convicted prisoners. New Jersey-based Centurion Ministries, which takes cases of the wrongly convicted, helped him in his eight-year legal battle that resulted in his conviction being reversed by a judge in 2008 as his trial was deemed constitutionally flawed.
Burton said he never blamed God, even though he was in prison for over two decades. He says, "I think God used the situation the same way with Joseph when Joseph was thrown in the prison and treated by his brothers in a way that was not right. I never blamed God." Daryl sensed the call of God on his life and now serves on the staff of a large church in Kansas, where one of his areas of interest is prison ministry.
I thought about these witnesses in Mr. Burton's trial lying. That reminds me of a situation in a trial about which we're told in the Bible - our Savior, when He was being tried, had people who made up stories about Him, but His "conviction" became a necessary step on His way to the cross to purchase redemption for humanity. Daryl Burton referred to the story of Joseph, who was also falsely accused, but even his time in prison was a step in God's story of his life.
There will be times when we face trials, perhaps being misunderstood, or spoken about unkindly or falsely as Matthew 5:11 says. When we face the scourge of words said against us, still we can trust in God's unchanging hand and rely on His faithfulness. We can seek, with the help of the Spirit, to have our reputation restored, to display Godly character, and to live a life that is so concentrated on Christ that our character will be reinforced.
And, we recognize that God's prescribed journey for our lives is not necessarily the path that we would choose or the path of least resistance. In order for God to accomplish His purpose in our lives, there will be times of testing, so that we might develop endurance and Christian character. So, we can gladly accept those times of difficulty, recognizing that He is at work.
We also realize that there is a spiritual enemy who we face who will falsely accuse us. And, we can know that we overcome him by, as Revelation 12 tells us, the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony. That Word is God's Word, and when Satan distorts the picture of our true identity in Christ, we can speak the Word of God, just as Jesus did when He was tempted in the wilderness. The enemy will remind us of forgiven sin, of our forsaken past, and when condemnation comes, we can gain a greater sense of our new identity in Jesus Christ.
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