How Long, O Lord? Quotes

“However hard some things are to understand, it is never helpful to start picking and choosing biblical truths we find congenial, as if the Bible is an open-shelved supermarket where we are at perfect liberty to choose only the chocolate bars. For the Christian, it is God's Word, and it is not negotiable. What answers we find may not be exhaustive, but they give us the God who is there, and who gives us some measure of comfort and assurance. The alternative is a god we manufacture, and who provides no comfort at all. Whatever comfort we feel is self-delusion, and it will be stripped away at the end when we give an account to the God who has spoken to us, not only in Scripture, but supremely in his Son Jesus Christ.”
― D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

“Be patient; it is better to be a chastened saint than a carefree sinner.”
― D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

“To walk into the unknown with a God of unqualified power and unfailing goodness is safer than a known way.”
― D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

“The dimensions of evil are thus established by the dimensions of God; the ugliness of evil is established by the beauty of God; the filth of evil is established by the purity of God; the selfishness of evil is established by the love of God.”
― D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

“Paul agonizes far more over the difficult things he has had to suffer at the hands of his own converts in Corinth than over the beatings and privations he has endured at the hands of outsiders. Thus, pastors and other Christian leaders must not be surprised by the extraordinary emotional pressures that may befall them, imposed by thoughtless or even renegade church members. These will rarely be fair; they can be soul-destroying. But from a biblical perspective, they are scarcely surprising. To expect them is to rob them of part of their power; to endure them with grace and fortitude is nothing other than following the example of Jesus.”
― D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

“In this primal sense, then, evil is evil because it is rebellion against God. Evil is the failure to do what God demands or the performance of what God forbids. Not to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength is a great evil, for God has demanded it; not to love our neighbor as ourself is a great evil, for the same reason. To covet someone’s house or car or wife is a great evil, for God has forbidden covetousness; to nurture bitterness and self-pity is evil, for a similar reason. The dimensions of evil are thus established by the dimensions of God; the ugliness of evil is established by the beauty of God; the filth of evil is established by the purity of God; the selfishness of evil is established by the love of God.”
― D. A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

“The degree of our peace of mind is tied to our prayer life (Phil. 4:6-7). This not because prayer is psychologically soothing, but because we address a prayer-answering God, a personal God, a responding God, a sovereign God whom we can trust with the outcomes of life's confusions. And we learn, with time, that if God in this or that instance does not choose to take away the suffering, or utterly remove the evil, he does send grace and power. The result is praise; and that, of course, is itself enjoyable, in exactly the same way that lovers enjoy giving each other complements.”
― D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil

“The truth of the matter is that meeting God is either transcendentally wonderful, or utterly horrific. If God meets sinners—sinners like you and me—in mere justice, in raw justice, the ultimate result is cataclysmic judgment; if God meets sinners in mercy and transforming power, the ultimate result is ecstasy.”
― D.A. Carson, How Long, O Lord?: Reflections on Suffering and Evil