…what shall I say?
"Father, save Me from this hour"? But for this purpose I came to this
hour. "Father, glorify Your name." —John 12:27-28
“As a saint of God, my
attitude toward sorrow and difficulty should not be to ask that they be
prevented, but to ask that God protect me so that I may remain what He created
me to be, in spite of all my fires of sorrow. Our Lord received Himself,
accepting His position and realizing His purpose, in the midst of the fire of
sorrow. He was saved not from the hour, but out of the hour. We say that there
ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive
ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we
are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in
saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us
to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.[…] If you will receive
yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other
people.” CHAMBERS
To understand God’s purpose
for allowing sorrows into our lives, we must look at the godly result that
comes from faith and perseverance. Two
verse references come to mind. (2 Corinthians 4:7-10) “But we have this
treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and
not from us. We are hard pressed on
every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down,
but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so
that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” There are many trials
that will come our way in this life.
There is no brighter light than the one that shines in the life of a Christian
persevering through some great difficulty.
Not because an exercise of their personal will, but because of the
exercise of their faith and the presence of the Spirit of God in them.
(2 Corinthians 1:3-5) “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts
us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the
comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the
sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” What God does is uses us to minister to
others. We are to be living testimonies
of the Gospel and new life in Christ. A
number of people have encouraged me to write a book over the years. What interested them was not so much me, personally,
but hearing or reading about how God intervened in the work He has set our
hands to. In other words, the super-natural
results of our exercising faith and obedience. The health and wealth gospel
appeals to the lust within people. The
true Gospel appeals to the desperation of the wounded heart. The world observing our lives should not bring
the promise of material wealth and accumulation of possessions. Instead they should see people just like them,
living in victory over the maladies that life on this earth is sure to bring.
A word about sin. There are consequences to sin. Those consequences can bring great sorrow. But
even if you must face the consequences of your sins, you can find forgiveness
and restoration in Jesus. So my
encouragement to you is this. Embrace
the consequences with the confidence that God really is the God of all comfort. You are hard pressed because of your own
doing, but God has not abandoned you.
Turn to Him. Trust in Him. And let your light shine even in the midst of
that darkness to His glory. CHARLEY
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