Where is God When it Hurts?

Adapted from Philip Yancey, Where is God When it Hurts?

 

 

John Donne, a 17th century poet, experienced great pain.

 

 Because he married the daughter of a disapproving lord, he was fired from his job as assistant to the Lord Chancellor, yanked from his wife, and locked in a dungeon.

(This is when he wrote that succinct line of despair, "John Donne/ Anne Donne/ Undone.")

 

Later, he endured a long illness which sapped his strength almost to the point of death.

In the midst of this illness, Donne wrote a series of devotions on suffering which rank among the most poignant meditations on the subject.

 

 In one of these, he considers a parallel:

 The sickness which keeps him in bed forces him to think about his spiritual condition.

 

Suffering gets our attention; it forces us to look to God, when otherwise we would just as well ignored Him.

 

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Grace Thinker VS Legalist Thinker

- Anonymous 

I thought a very simple illustration of how legalistic thinking differs from grace thinking might be helpful to you, for your own life or to help others.

A Pharisee, who was a lawyer, asked Jesus a question to test Him (Matthew 22:36).

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?"

Jesus answered,

"'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

This is a pretty familiar passage to many Christians.

How The Legalist Thinks

Very simply put, here is how a Legalist reacts to that passage in his unfortunately bondage-ridden mind:

All right! There's a couple of commandments I can sink my teeth into! I'm going to buckle down and do my best to follow those commandments! If I can follow THOSE commandments, I'll be in effect following ALL the commandments!

"I'll work hard to follow them! I'll read my Bible diligently, pray at least a half-hour a day (I think I'll use the A-C-T-S Method...Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication), and see what I can do to serve my neighbors!

"Commandments and obedience, that's what it's about! After all, doesn't God deserve it?

You get the idea.

And if you're thinking, "What's wrong with THAT?", please read on.

After another round of "buckling down" to obey those commandments, the Legalist will think one of two things:

(1) "I've done pretty well this day [week, month, etc.]! At least better than Joe and Sue over there! All right! I'm gonna keep up this obeying stuff!", or

(2) "Oh no, I've failed again! What a total jerk I am. Am I even saved? I've confessed that sin a thousand times! How can I even face God? He must be VERY disappointed in me. Probably even angry. And why not? What a low-down skunk I am."

And he doesn't go to the Lord right away, because he is too ashamed and doesn't "deserve" to.

Self-righteousness or Despair. The two pendulum swings of the Legalist.

How The Grace Thinker Thinks

"Wow! It's all about love, isn't it Lord?! You loved me first, died for me on the cross and are now living in me!

"It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me!

"I never could, and still can't, follow Your commandments perfectly enough to earn Your love and favor, but You did it for me when You nailed the commandments to Your cross and I died to the Law in You!

"You forgave me all of my sins, even the ones I haven't even committed yet! How wonderful and loving and gracious You are!

"I'm free! Free to follow You without condemnation, as You live your life in me, and work in me to will and to do for Your good pleasure!

"The more I understand the depth and breadth and length and height of Your love for me, the more I love You Lord! I can't help it!

"I love You because You first loved me, and You're showing me more and more how great Your love and grace really are!

"And as You fill my heart with love, a Fruit of Your Spirit, I find I love my neighbor too! It's a miracle!

"Thank you Lord! I confess those sins I've foolishly fallen into today, but I can face You freely because I know You've already forgiven me, and just want me to walk in fellowship with You, warts and all! How really great that is! No condemnation! Free!

"I DO love You, and I DO love my neighbor, because You're pouring out Your love in my heart even now!"

Final Comments

Should we sin, then, so that grace will abound? Paul the Apostle anticipated that question.

Because if all our sins are forgiven already, why not live like the devil?

If we're born again, Paul reminds us that we are a new creation. We've died to sin, and in our new heart, our new spirit, we love Christ and hate sin.

So now when we sin, it goes AGAINST our nature. And that's what happens when we walk by the flesh.

When Christ came into us to indwell us, we became "one spirit with Him" (1 Corinthians 6:17).

So now when we walk by the Spirit, we not only walk by the Holy Spirit, we also walk by our own new spirit! And when we do that, we will love the Lord and love our neighbor.

It's not about commandments. It's about love.

That's biblical Grace thinking.

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When You Can't Understand, Trust God

'Trust in the Lord.' Proverbs 3:5

 

 

The Bible says,

'Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths'

(Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV).

 

But what if your path leads through pain, pressure and problems?

John the Baptist's did. He didn't deserve imprisonment.

 

After all, he was the forerunner of Christ and the voice of God in the community. Plus, he was Jesus' cousin. So he sent Jesus a message asking,

'Are you really the Messiah, or should we keep looking?'

 

Paraphrased:

'Lord, if I'm in your will, how come I'm in this situation?'

 

 It's a question motivated by unfulfilled expectations.

We think, 'Lord, I've obeyed you, how come things aren't working out for me?'

 

And it feels worse when you've faithfully served Him. Writing about her daughter's death, Meg Woodson says,

 'I'll never forget those shrill, piercing screams; that the God who could have helped, looked down on this young woman who was devoted to Him...and decided to sit on His hands and let her death top the horror charts.'

 

Talk about unmet expectations! Jesus could have saved John, but He didn't.

Instead He sent back word:

 

Jesus told them, "Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.

(Matthew 11:4-5).

 

It probably wasn't the answer John hoped for.

He was looking for solutions to temporal problems while Jesus was busy establishing an eternal kingdom.

 

So next time God doesn't seem to meet your expectations, it's not that He doesn't care; it's that He sees the big picture and He's handling issues you can't even begin to comprehend. So trust Him!

 

 

www.thewordfortoday.com.au

 

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Finding God in Solitary Confinement - Todd Ayer in Prison

By Randy Rudder, The 700 Club

 

 

When Todd Ayer breathes the pine-scented woods of northern Arizona, it's not just clean air he smells; it's the smell of freedom.

After making some tragic choices as a young man, Todd spent 17 years behind bars.

 

"I knew God. I knew His presence. I never did one thing in my life that was wrong; that I didn't know was wrong. But I chose the world. And it took me down a bad path."

 

Todd began drinking and doing drugs by the time he was 12.

Todd had a restless soul and, during his teens, hitchhiked across the country several times.

 

 Then, on Super Bowl Sunday, 1986, when he was just 24, his life changed forever.

Todd shot and killed a man who was abusing a relative.

 

 He then drove straight to the police station and turned himself in.

"I did what I did, and wasn't hiding from anybody. And I was willing to pay the cost for it, but I had no idea of the cost, of just how high it would be."

 

Todd received a 27-year sentence and was sent to a federal prison in South Carolina.

"Prison life is hard, and the violent generally excel. I lost hope. It's a rough environment, and I was told pretty early on that, because of my pride, I probably wouldn't live through it. I had a goal: when my day came, when they took me out, I was going to take a whole bunch of them with me."

 

 

In prison, Todd started buying and selling drugs, and developed a reputation for his ruthlessness.

One time, he nearly killed another inmate in a knife fight, and was put into solitary confinement.

 

"I was what they called SSR, which stands for substantial security risk, which meant that the three times a week I was let out for a shower, I had to be in chains and belly shackles. I didn't think I would ever see the outside world again. I lost all hope. I just kind of felt like, 'Well, this is what I'm destined for.'"

 

Todd always kept a Bible in his cell, but says he seldom read it.

 "I looked at it one day. It was laying there with dust on it about that thick, and I said,

 

'Lord, I know there's peace in the words. And man, I need some peace. I'm just sick in my heart.'

And I said, 'But Lord, that Bible, it's kinda hard to understand. If I had something to help me understand it, I'd try to read it.'

 

Then the very next day, I get a manila envelope in the mail.

In it is a book. Knowing and Experiencing God, and a little caption, How to Understand Your Bible. So I knew that God had heard me."

 

 

That book came from Todd's aunt and uncle, who had been praying for him for years.

For Todd, it was a life-changing moment.

 

"When I got that book, and I knew that God had heard me, and more than that, that He just wasn't through with me, that was it.

I broke down and I bawled for about two days. I just said,

 

'I'm Yours. If You, the Maker of heaven and earth, this wonderful, merciful, kind God, can still love me, after the monster I had become,'

 I said, 'I'm on your team, Bro. I'm yours. Send me where You'll send me and I'll go. Ask me to do whatever it is, I don't care how hard it is, I'll do it.'

 

And God just started teaching me how to minister."

 

Todd continued to pray and study his Bible in his cell. One hot summer day, another inmate borrowed his fan.

"After a little while, he calls me and says, 'Hey man, you want your fan back?' And the Lord kind of spoke to my heart and said 'Give it to him.' I said 'Give it to him? Lord, it's 100-plus degrees in here. Are You crazy?' And He said, 'No, you've been telling him what Jesus would do.

 

 It's time to show him what Jesus would do.' And it just blew him away."

Then an amazing thing happened.

 

 

"It cooled off and I bet you it wasn't but 70 degrees in that cell. So through that little bit of obedience, God started manifesting himself."

Todd began sharing with the other inmates what he had learned from the Bible about Jesus.

 

"Each time I would do something like that, I would grow spiritually and my faith would get stronger, and He'd always give me these beautiful little miracles to say, 'Good job.' One time, I said, 'Lord I'm so tired of looking at all this wire and these fences and this concrete, I just would like to see something pretty.'

 

And it didn't no more get out of my mouth than three morning doves lit in front of my cell.

And those same doves came back every day until I got out. As I started seeking Him and searching for Him, He just started revealing His beauty and His wonder and His majesty. But more than that, He was communing with me. The God of heaven and earth was communing with this old convict down there."

 

 

The drastic change in Todd's character got the attention of the other inmates.

"The old timers, when I got my heart right with the Lord, instead of shunning me, they surrounded me. They were tickled for me, man. They were happy for me. They saw the peace and the joy in my heart and it gave them hope."

 

 

In 2003, Todd was granted an early parole due to good behavior.

Shortly after, he met and married Lori and they started a family.

 

The couple and their daughter Kendra recently moved to Arizona where they manage Camp Grace, a summer camp for young people.

"My God is an awesome God, and He is not limited. He's given is the Holy Spirit. But it's time for you and me and others to step up to the plate and walk in the faith that is ours, and walk in the gifts of the Spirit that is ours."

 

Todd believes his freedom from prison was a miracle, and he still believes in a God that makes miracles happen every day.

 "One of the reasons nobody gets to see the miracles of God is because they don't put their full trust in Him. Learn to trust Him. Put your faith in Him. He'll provide for you, man, and He won't just provide for you, He'll bless your socks off. But you gotta trust Him."

 

www.cbn.com

 

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A Tale of Two Seas

 

 

Sitting in the Geography class in school, I remember how fascinated I was when we were being taught all about the Dead Sea.

As you probably recall, the Dead Sea is really a Lake, not a sea (and as my Geography teacher pointed out, if you understood that, it would guarantee 4 marks in the term paper!)

Its so high in salt content that the human body can float easily.

 

 

 

 You can almost lie down and read a book! The salt in the Dead Sea is as high as 35% - almost 10 times the normal ocean water.

 

And all that saltiness has meant that there is no life at all in the Dead Sea. No fish. No vegetation. No sea animals. Nothing lives in the Dead sea.

And hence the name: Dead Sea.

 

While the Dead Sea has remained etched in my memory, I don't seem to recall learning about the Sea of Galilee in my school Geography lesson.

 

So when I heard about the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea and the tale of the two seas - I was intrigued.

Turns out that the Sea of Galilee is just north of the Dead Sea.

 

 Both the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea receive their water from river Jordan. And yet, they are very, very different.

Unlike the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee is pretty, resplendent with rich, colorful marine life.

 

 There are lots of plants. And lots of fish too. In fact, the sea of Galilee is home to over twenty different types of fishes.

Same region, same source of water, and yet while one sea is full of life, the other is dead.

 

How come?

 

 

(Pic distinguishing the two seas)

Here apparently why.

 

 The River Jordan flows into the Sea of Galilee and then flows out. The water simply passes through the Sea of Galilee in and then out - and that keeps the Sea healthy and vibrant, teeming with marine life.

But the Dead Sea is so far below the mean sea level, that it has no outlet.

 

The water flows in from the river Jordan, but does not flow out. There are no outlet streams.

 

 It is estimated that over 7 million tons of water evaporate from the Dead Sea every day. Leaving it salty.

 

Too full of minerals. And unfit for any marine life.

The Dead Sea takes water from the River Jordan, and holds it. It does not give. Result? No life at all.

Think about it.

Life is not just about getting. It's about giving. 

We all need to be a bit like the Sea of Galilee.

 

We are fortunate to get wealth, knowledge, love and respect. But if we don't learn to give, we could all end up like the Dead Sea.

 

 The love and the respect, the wealth and the knowledge could all evaporate. Like the water in the Dead Sea.

If we get the Dead Sea mentality of merely taking in more water, more money, more everything the results can be disastrous.

 

Make sure that in the sea of your own life, you have outlets.

 

Many outlets. For love and wealth - and everything else that you get in your life.

 

Make sure you don't just get, you give too.

Open the taps. And you'll open the floodgates to happiness.

Make that a habit. To share. To give.

 

And experience life. Experience the magic.

 

 

(Our Lord in the Shores of Galilee)

 

The Great Physician who taught and preached in and around the shores of Galilee made a significant impact that no one can ever make by giving His righteous blood for unrighteous sinners. He never withheld anything; but gave freely.

 

So.. by following the Lord, we can excel in giving; by the way He teaches us to… Lets learn from our Lord…

 

It is more blessed to give than to receive… Acts 20-35

 

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God Knows

Kelly D. Caron

 

 

When you are tired and discouraged from fruitless efforts...

God knows how hard you have tried.

 

When you've cried so long and your heart is in anguish...

God has counted your tears.

 

If you feel that your life is on hold and time has passed you by...

God is waiting with you.

 

When you're lonely and your friends are too busy even for a phone call...

God is by your side.

 

When you think you've tried everything and don't know where to turn...

God has a solution.

 

When nothing makes sense and you are confused or frustrated...

God has the answer.

 

If suddenly your outlook is brighter and you find traces of hope...

God has whispered to you.

 

When things are going well and you have much to be thankful for...

God has blessed you.

 

When something joyful happens and you are filled with awe...

God has smiled upon you.

 

When you have a purpose to fulfil and a dream to follow...

God has opened your eyes and called you by name.

 

Remember that wherever you are or whatever you are facing...

GOD KNOWS.....

 

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