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The Bible isn’t full of clean, happy living. You could argue that it’s a book more full of tears than smiles. It’s full of God working for the good of his people in the mess brought about by sin and death. God is with his people through suffering and through difficulty, so that they come out on the other side as a picture of grace and glory, and he uses them in their pain and changes the world through the results of their trials.
My heart is always to let the Bible define reality for us, rather than having to take reality and manipulate it to make it something that it’s just not. It doesn’t make any sense to try to hide suffering and brokenness, when it’s clearly a part of life in this world; and when it’s clearly a part of the gospel that Jesus is with us in the mess, in the storms, and in the pain. Any message that says, “These things aren’t real” or “You need to have more faith to not have these things” might be a popular one, but it is also a disingenuous one that ultimately stands opposed to truth. If you’re not
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Real hope is not a guarantee of certain outcomes in this life, but rather the assurance that the One who is perfectly wise and perfectly good holds the outcomes in his almighty hand.
His eye is on the sparrow. We love that image. But I think we can easily miss an important aspect of this promise. The verse doesn’t say that sparrows won’t fall, but that God is there—aware and in control—when they do. So, what are we to do when our Father allows our own precious sparrow to drop from the sky? Everyone has a story. You have one, and so do I. Some of the chapters in my story read like a fairytale frolic in flowery meadows, and some are like walking barefoot over shards of glass. If it had been up to me, I would have left those painful chapters out, but as I look back over my
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If you drop a pebble in water, ripples are set in motion. But let’s say it’s not a pebble. Let’s say it’s a priceless jewel. Something you dearly love. Something irreplaceable. You’ve spent your life trying to protect it, and now, due to circumstances beyond your control, it’s gone. You stare in disbelief at the spot where it went down, a multitude of “if only’s” swirling in your head. You wish you could press rewind or wake up and realize it’s all just a horrible nightmare. But you can’t, because it isn’t. At this point, you have a choice. You can keep staring at the spot where your treasure
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The absolute beauty of the Christian faith is not that its people move through life unscathed, but rather that we weaklings and wanderers are made strong to stand even when life comes apart right beneath our feet.
There is not a single moment in this life that need crush you. Given the work of Jesus, given the certain hope of eternity with him, even death itself has lost its ultimate sting. This is truth. This is hope.
We don’t all suffer in the same ways, but we all suffer. From the wealthiest family to the poorest panhandler, no one can escape the brokenness of this world, no matter how virulently we war against it with our money, emotions, and quest for control.
the most profound encounter we have ever had with the Lord came as a result of suffering. This thing I was desperate to escape was also my gateway to irrefutable joy.
I’d love to say that I’ve lived a life of faithfully clinging to God’s word, running to him in every season. But to say that would simply be a lie. I’m much better at clinging to the dust of this world than to life found in his word. But, in seasons of suffering and grief, I’ve learned that healing and hope are found when I let go of the dust and cling to God. And it has been my Bible that reminds me of God’s goodness and helps me loosen my grip on the things of this world, so that I can open my hands and gain so much more.
we clung to the things of this world for identity, comfort, and security. We clung to dust. And the dust quickly failed us.
We had allowed ourselves to be lulled to sleep when it came to the reality of pain and suffering. We saw it as an unwanted interruption to the normal “business as usual” life of ease and comfort. The less blurred our vision became, the more we realized that pain and suffering are actually the norms in a fallen world. It was ease and comfort that were the welcome interruptions. We began to read Scripture with those new eyes and suddenly found the Bible shouting out the realities of a faithful God, who not only has a purpose within the pain but is a constant presence with those suffering.
I think it’s easy for those who have been Christians for some time to forget the literal miracle that it is to be born again. God’s power and love are astounding. In salvation, God not only brings his children out of what is bad but also into what is good. He “has delivered us from the domain of darkness”—the darkness and damnation of sin—“and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,” as members of his loving, everlasting family (Colossians 1 v 13). Sometimes we can lose sight of that, especially when we’re facing hardship, trauma, and trial. More significant than being delivered from
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I was getting ready to face my greatest fear: the death of not just one but both of my parents. But unlike the little girl making contingency plans on the porch and trying to carry the weight of the world on her small shoulders, I knew that I was loved by God and that I was not alone. I didn’t have to figure out how to provide for myself or anyone else. I knew his promises—to always and only do good to his children; to provide for, protect, and be with them—and I trusted him to be faithful. The One who was stronger than sin and death had heard my prayers with an attentive ear and had given me
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One of my favorite things about God is that he is involved in the details of our lives. He doesn’t make mistakes. He isn’t surprised when bad things happen. And the Scriptures paint the picture of a God who isn’t just in control over the big things in life like oceans, tornadoes, and thunder. He’s intimately involved with the intricacies of his creation as well. He isn’t just sovereign over lightning bolts; he is sovereign over lightning bugs. He
doesn’t just number stars; Matthew 10 v 30 tells us he numbers the hairs on our heads (easier for some than others).
Maybe they did something else wrong. This karma-like thinking is seriously damaging, and it has no place among the people of God. It’s too simplistic: just like Job’s friends, who thought everything he was suffering was a direct result of personal sin (Job 4 – 5; 8).
And so as Christians, we confidently hope for the day when all things will be made right. The renewal and restoration of all things in Jesus is our hope. We had to remind ourselves that our ultimate hope wasn’t in a treatment plan, lab results, a doctor’s prognosis, or a different doctor’s alternative plan. God is good, and in what is often called his “common grace” he gives good gifts like good food, doctors, oils, and treatments. These are hope-giving, but they aren’t our ultimate Hope. They cannot bear that burden. They cannot can wipe away suffering for all time. Only Jesus can do that.
Western culture seems to say run from suffering and some cultures say run to it, but the Scriptures encourage us to walk with God in the midst of it. This was one of the central balms for my soul: expect suffering. We all know that this world isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. But even more as Christians, we expect hardship as we follow a Savior who carried a cross.
The thing about God’s goodness—the thing we have spent the whole of our marriage learning—is that it doesn’t cease even when all around us goodness feels lost.
God’s goodness isn’t a gift he doles out. His goodness is his character. It’s who he is. Because it’s who he is, it’s all he does. Everything he does is good because he is good.
