Are You Listening

After a tough night last night with Anna Grace being sick and crying, this was a welcome post by Jon Bloom over at Desiring God. You can check out their website here Desiring God.

I Cry to You and You Do Not Answer Me
June 24, 2011 by: Jon Bloom

I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me (Job 30:20-21).

These words came out of the mouth of the man God considered the most blameless and upright on earth at the time (Job 1:8).

Thank you, God, for these words! Thank you that the Bible is so guileless. It says it like it is, and sometimes just what it feels like. Most of its heroes are unvarnished and clay-footed. Sometimes they wonder if you’re cruel. That’s a mercy to all of us shortsighted, weak, doubting, clay-footed stumblers. There’s hope for us.

Can you identify with Job? You cry out to God in your affliction and you see nothing change. It seems like he’s just standing there watching you writhe. It feels cruel.

But this is not, in fact, true. What is true is that God is doing far more in our affliction than we know.

For Job, he did not know that he was putting Satan to shame by trusting in God despite his desolate confusion. He did not know that his experience would encourage millions for millennia. And like Job, we do not know what mind-blowing designs God has in store for what may feel unbearable and appear cruel today.

But we do know this: God was answering Job when it seemed he wasn’t. And God was remembering David when David cried, “Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1). And when Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), God had turned his face away from our sin, only to raise his Son from the dead to undying, unsurpassed, and eternal glory.

Your suffering may be inscrutable today. But in reality it is preparing for you “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Take heart and hold on.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10).

Understanding Suffering

Every person on this planet will suffer. Some will suffer more than others and some less, but each persons suffering will be hard, tough and trying in their own lives and in their own ways. Suffering normally leads to questions like these: Why does God allow suffering? What does suffering accomplish? Am I being punished for sin because I'm suffering? These are all good questions that need to be addressed.

I feel Mark Discroll does a good job in this 10 minute video giving us 10 points on suffering. These points are true and I would consider them to be of sound doctrine and Biblical.

(If you have trouble with the video starting and stoping, try clicking play and then pausing the video for a few minutes. This will let the video stream to your computer which should allow for a smoother playback.)

God in Suffering

Suffering comes in all forms and sizes – heart issues, brain tumors, problems in a marriage, problems with children, losing a job or being in depression. I could name 1000 more but we get the point. Suffering is part of life. As a matter of fact, the Creator of all things subjected Himself to the worlds greatest suffering 2000 years ago. So it should not come as a huge surprise when we face various trials of different kinds. But even though we should not be surprised when trials come they nevertheless come often times with fury that is hard and heavy on the soul.

The below link is a few songs from a group called THEJOYETERNAL that were inspired by John Pipers book “A Sweet and Bitter Providence” which deals with God’s sovereignty and providence in and through our sufferings. It will feed and help lighten the load on your soul should you choose to listen I believe.

THEJOYETERNAL

Also the video posted below is a short message given by Matt Chandler recently on suffering. He is dealing with brain cancer. It’s worth the listen as well.

Love Your Trials

Trials come in all forms and sizes. They are always personal and no matter the size of the trial, they always have a large impact on us physically and emotionally. From personal trials as serious as brain cancer, to the earthquake victims in Haiti and all trials in between (loss of a loved one, loss of a job, martial problems, teenage problems, children sick, etc….), it seems everyone has them, and the ones we have affect us deeply. I’ve heard it said that “You’re either going into a trial, in a trial, or coming out of trial.” This statement I believe is very true.

I ran across the below statement in a book I am reading Make My Life a Prayer. The book is a collection of diaries and short concert messages from the late Keith Green who was killed in plane crash when he was 28. You can find more information about Keith Green by clicking on this link.

Anyway, the below short message from Mr. Green spoke to me so I thought I would repost it here. I pray whatever trials you are experiencing that Mr. Green’s short devotion does the same for you.

Love Your Trails

1 Peter 1:6-7

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Every Christian should be yearning for a deeper walk with the Lord than what he or she has. Maturity is a never-ending process because we never can reach perfection in this life. We’ll always be making mistakes or misunderstanding our circumstances to some degree, but as we grow those times should be less and less.

And as much as we all like to get the goosebump feelings that signal an emotional high, it’s not then that we really grow any deeper in the Lord. Instead God chooses to use trials to deepen our faith and to conform us to the image of Christ. Sure, we go “ouch” or “that hurts!” but God is using those trials to sand us like a fine diamond. The problem is that most of us run from the trials God sends us. We don’t want to grow if there’s a bit of pain involved. But if we open our arms, embrace the trials God sends – give it a big hug, it will disappear as a trial and return as a blessing. If you love your trial, it isn’t a trial anymore. If you can say, “Thank You, Lord. I don’t want to be any other place but where I am right now, because I know this is the place where You want me,” then that place becomes God’s safe place for you.

That attitude removes the trouble from the trial. The way to victory over a trial isn’t to run away from it, which is our natural inclination, but to love it. The same is true with a person. We all have someone in our life who is obnoxious or maybe just a trial to us. Our natural response is to stay away from such a person until God answers our prayer to “change him, God, change him!” Instead, let your prayer become, “God, don’t change him until You’re through using him the way he is in my life. I want to learn how to love him the way he is.” When you pray that way and mean it, that person is no longer a trial to you.

Today is the day for you to embrace your trial, whether it’s circumstances or another person. Turn the trial into blessing and watch God move.

Tighten Down With Christ

Today my wife and I had two car seats installed at the Greer Fire Department in preparation for the arrival of Anna Grace coming sometime within the next two weeks. As one of the firemen was installing the base in the back of my jeep I asked what was the most common mistake he see’s with self installed car seats. He said most are installed by individuals, which turn out to be to loose and then went on to tell me this story:

“I pulled a call the other day where a woman was blindsided and hit from the side. The impact sent her child locked in the car seat all the way across the car and the child’s head hit the other side window. The seat belt holding the car seat was not tight enough.”

As I was driving home I thought this sounds like a good analogy with the way most people are in their faith with God. People have the tendency to just tighten up their relationship with God enough to make them feel safe. Attend church sometimes; give once to twice a year if that much, read God’s word maybe a few times a year, pray only when things get really bad or maybe just pray over dinner. They tighten Christ around themselves just enough to feel safe but leave the belt of life just loose enough to not have Him controlling them completely.

Then when life produces some kind of crash they fly across the car of life and smack their head against the realities of this world. They become bewildered and shaken up, sometimes not knowing how they will survive the trial they find themselves in.

Let me encourage you today to allow Jesus Christ to buckle you down tight. Seek Him with all your might while He might be found. Ask God to tighten your life seat belt by enlightening the eyes of your heart and renewing your minds to His overarching sovereignty and control in all things. Ask God to reveal sin, grant repentance and increase faith in your lives. He is faithful and will not disappoint those who seek Him in humility.

I’m no stranger in understanding the need to have a tight seat belt in this life. With Anna Grace’s possible heart issues, I take comfort in knowing that my seat belt is God. Although the road may get rough and I can feel the every bump, I’m securely planted and rooted in my Savior who is the Christ and His name is Jesus. May He receive the glory that is due to Him and Him only through my trials and sufferings.