God allowed Job to ask and ask and ask God to explain the purpose for his suffering. If it was ok for Job, then it must be ok for us too. Scripture gives us 5 clear purposes for why God allows suffering. Knowing God’s purpose for your suffering will bring you the peace you long for. When you know how to glorify God in and through our suffering, you gain the strength to endure.
Read MoreCorrie Ten Boom leaned on God’s promise as she lived through harsh winters in lice-infested barracks and as she grieved the loss of her family. I like to imagine Corrie reading promises of strength out of her only possession: a hidden Bible she wore on her back. Scripture was her solace, God’s Word her strength.
Read MoreI love traditions, but I never want my traditions to cause me to miss what matters most. The presence of God and His love for people will always trump wrapping paper, bows, and even my presence on a special day. God was present at Christmas last year, even in my hospital room.
Read MoreWe think our chronic illness is a 605 pound, bar-bending beast and we cannot find our way out from under it. But it is as light as a toothpick for our all-powerful God. Why do we try to handle our beasts alone, in our own pitiful strength? We are fools to do that when God is standing beside us ready to lift a finger and lighten our load. He is more than able.
Read MoreSuffering is perplexing. It sets us in circumstances that are difficult to comprehend. In our disorientation, we might struggle to accept our new circumstances. We may be tempted to believe that no one else can understand either.
That is a lonely place to live. And it’s not true.
Read MoreCongenital blindness is untreatable (v.32). In the opening verses of John 9, the disciples don’t question if the man born blind can be healed by Jesus because they assume a congenital defect is beyond a miracle. Instead, they use the man’s predicament as an opportunity for Jesus to clarify a debated question. “Who sinned to cause this blindness,” they ask, “the man or his parents?”
We have an innate desire to connect cause with effect. But from Jesus’ reply we learn that causation is not as important as purpose. Jesus answers that neither the parents nor the man sinned—the blindness existed so that the wondrous signs of God could be displayed.
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