SUFFERING-FAITH
The deepest
need that you and I have in weakness and adversity is not quick relief, but the
well-grounded confidence that what is happening to us is part of the greatest
purpose of God in the universe – the glorification of the grace and power of
his Son - the grace and power that bore Him to the cross and kept him there
until the work of love was done.
Faith upholds
a Christian under all trials, by assuring him that every painful dispensation
is under the direction of his Lord; that chastisements are a token of His love;
that the season, measure, and continuance of his sufferings, are appointed by
Infinite Wisdom, and designed to work for his everlasting good; and that grace
and strength shall be afforded him, according to his need.
John Newton
Letters.
Our Lord does not promise to change life for us; He does not promise to remove
difficulties and trials and problems and tribulations; He does not say that He is
going to cut out all the thorns and leave the roses with their wonderful
perfume. No; He faces life realistically, and tells us that these are things to
which the flesh is heir, and which are bound to come. But He assures us that we
can so know Him that, whatever happens, we need never be frightened, we need
never be alarmed.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, © Lloyd-Jones,1959-1960, p. 196. Used by
Permission.
Let Him
therefore send and do what He will. By His grace, if we are His, we will face
it, bow to it, accept it, and give thanks for it. God's Providence is always
executed in the “wisest manner” possible. We are often unable to see and
understand the reasons and causes for specific events in our lives, in the
lives of others, or in the history of the world. But our lack of understanding
does not prevent us from believing God.
Don Fortner
For if [a Christian]
cannot thank and praise God as well in calamities and sufferings as in
prosperity and happiness, he is as far from the piety of a Christian as he that
only loves them that love him is from the charity of a Christian. For to thank
God only for such things as you like is no more a proper act of piety than to
believe only what you see is an act of faith.
Resignation and thanksgiving to God are only acts of piety when they are
acts of faith, trust and confidence in the divine goodness.
William Law
"Saved
Alone" was the message that Horatio Spafford
received from his wife after the ship sank that was taking her and their four
children to England in November, 1873.
After reuniting with his grieving wife at sea, the boat came near the
area where his children had drowned. It
is speculated that at that time he wrote the words (contained in his famous
hymn) that vividly described his own grief and faith: "When sorrows like
sea billows roll - Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it
is well with my soul."
Phyllis LePeau
How to Rejoice in any Situation,
Zondervan, 1991, p. 11.
Amid trials
hard, temptations strong, and troubles constant, true faith is persevering
faith.
Author Unknown
If only for a
moment, take your eyes off yourself and your circumstances, off the ways of
this world and all rival claimants, and look at who God is. Ponder His mighty
deeds. This isn’t to say your soul or circumstances aren’t important. It simply
means that you are in the hands of an omnipotent God whose ability to act on
your behalf is equaled only by His passionate affection for you as His child,
whose strength is without end and whose sovereignty covers the expanse of the
heavens. God’s desire isn’t to minimize your life and struggles and
disappointments. His intent is for you to gain hope, knowing that nothing can
wrench you from the loving arms of a God like this!
Sam Storms
One Thing, Christian Focus, © Enjoying God Ministries, 2004, p.100. www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
An evidence
that our will has been broken is that we begin to thank God for that which once
seemed so bitter, knowing that His will is good and that, in His time and in
His way, He is able to make the most bitter waters sweet.
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody, 2000, p. 70.
Though my
natural instinct is to wish for a life free from pain, trouble, and adversity,
I am learning to welcome anything that makes me conscious of my need for
Him. If prayer is birthed out of
desperation, then anything that makes me desperate for God is a blessing…
Puritan pastor William Gurnall makes this point in his writings, “The hungry
man needs no help to teach him how to beg.”
Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Place of Quiet Rest, Moody, 2000, p.
235, 234.
[When suffering] you need to seek help. This help comes first and finally from the living God.
He hears, helps, strengthens, and vindicates those who
rely on Him. If you look anywhere else first, you will set yourself up for a
fall. You will get snared in bitterness and revenge (spurning God for your pride). You will flee in avoidance
and addiction (spurning God for your
false refuges and comforts). You will develop a perverted dependency on others
(spurning God for your trust in man).
Sadly, our culture has awakened countless people to think about what evil-doers
(“abusers”) have done to them, but it has cast them upon their own resources as
“abuse victims.” Yet victims can properly understand their own sins and
sufferings, and God’s grace.
David Powlison
Seeing With New Eyes, P&R Publishers, 2003,
p. 107.
The beginning
of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of true faith is the end of
anxiety.
George Muller
Signs of the Times.
Christianity Today, v. 35, n. 95.
Suffering
is God’s surgery that leads to health when we respond by faith.
Ed Welch
Depression:
A Stubborn Darkness, Punch Press, 2004, p. 89.