Trials…
Hey Guys,
I wanted to post the verses from the devotional this Sunday, and expound on them a bit further.
My heart truly breaks each time I hear about a tough situation that one of you is going through. The comforting thing is, that if my heart pains for you then you can be assured that the, much more loving, heart of our Father is broken for you and wants to comfort you. I heard a statement recently that really resonated with me. My paraphrase of the statement is.. “the amount that we love someone, is proportional to the amount that we make ourselves vulnerable to be hurt by or for them”. Because He loves us, God has made Himself available to be both hurt by us, when we reject Him, but also to hurt for us when we are hurt. Here are a couple of verses to meditate on.
Heb 13:5
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say:
“ The LORD is my helper;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?”
Discontentment, or covetousness, can result in us feeling like things are bad, when in reality we have everything we need. He will never leave us nor forsake us, but if “stuff” is getting in the way between us and Him, He may remove the stuff. The last part is awesome… basically a ‘my Daddy is bigger than your daddy’ statement. The LORD is my helper, I have no need to fear what anyone can do to me.
2 Cor 12:7-10
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Because of the circumstances of Paul’s life, he had great opportunity for pride to creep in and ruin the work that God was doing, and was going to do, through him. In this passage, Paul is recognizing that God is allowing one of Satan’s messengers to afflict him, so that he would rely solely on God’s grace being sufficient for him.
Psalms 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
The rod and staff were used by a shepherd to guide, and potentially lame, the sheep in order to keep them safe. So here is a picture of God being with us while we walk through dark times of life… and if we begin to wander, He may inflict pain on us in order to keep us from greater dangers. The psalmist who wrote this had learned that these corrections from the Lord can actually be a comfort, because we can know that He has saved us from something much worse.
If you are a follower of Jesus, this next verse is a great comfort.
Romans 8:28-29
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
God didn’t say we would always understand the circumstances of our lives… just that He is here, He will use them ALL for our good if we love Him, and one day, if you know Jesus, we will be in a place that has no more tears and no more pain.
Read slowly and picture what John wrote near the end of the last book of the Bible.
Rev 21:1-5
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Awesome…
God Bless you Guys!
Joel
RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
July 7th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Thanks for that quick devotional, I really enjoyed it. To many times I think we all forget that god uses the bad situations we go through to make us stronger and draw us closer to him. Thanks for the reminder. I really like the Revelation verse you gave.