A tremendous little-known OT Minor Prophet, Zephaniah, has made an amazing statement concerning suffering, & it is in the context of the future Great Tribulation to come on the earth, before Christ's glorious Millennial Reign! In chapter 3, verse 12 of his prophecy, Zephaniah prophesies, "I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the LORD."
Have you ever faced the question, often posed by those outside of the Faith, of why God allows some to have all or more than they need, while seeminly He allows others to suffer terribly without His apparent care? Some have actually used this seeming inequity of life to blame God & walk away from Him rather than to trust Him as the righteous Judge of all the earth to do right. This verse may have at least a partial answer for this tough question. Certainly we will not adequately answer this question on this humble blog! But I believe we can gain some valuable insight into it through this great Bible text. What if one actually did suffer the loss of everything he had in this world, but it caused him to finally see his need of a Savior, & he trusted in Christ? Certainly this is a worthy trade, though it is not a trade at all! Paul helps us to see the truth of this when he says, "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ..." (Phil.3:7f, NKJV, emphasis added)
Granted, suffering does not cause everyone to turn to Christ in faith, but it does for some! I suppose finally we must say along with Paul again, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (Ro.11:33) Some may still try to use the suffering in the world as an excuse to run from God & deny Him now, but it could actually turn out to be our friend if we allow it to draw us nearer to Him. Nothing could be better than to be nearer to Him. Thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
Yes...very good brother. I often think of that song and sing it, "Whatever it takes to draw closer to you Lord, thats what I'll be willing to do."
As He is the voice calling me from that old rugged tree.
Are we willing to trade comfort for pain...but it is often the pain that causes us to visit the doctor and He is our great Physician and healer of our hearts.
Grace upon grace,
Brian
Bro. Brian,
I appreciate you brother! Yes, the pain does often send us to our Great Physician. The older I get in the Lord, the more I see that I am a spiritual wimp! Yet He amazingly never gives up on me! He is good. Always. May the Lord bless you.
I am so glad that he never gives up on his children.
I often meditate on how God went to great lengths to encourage Gideon in his fears; yet quickly sent all the men that were fearful back home.
Gideon did not get sent home. God kept putting him back out there, giving him chance after chance to be renewed in strength and courage.
Grace upon grace,
Brian
Bro. Brian,
I love the account of Gideon too! I especially appreciate it when the Angel of the Lord (preincarnate Christ?) calls him "mighty man of valour!" I suppose He saw him as He was going to make him! What grace! He's the same yesterday, forever & TODAY! God Bless you brother!
This is excellent....I often hear "They're rich..they're VERy blessed" or "I'm blessed because my health is so good"
I balk at that because I feel we are all blessed, as believers, and that the earthly things are so often circumstance.....Not that we're not blessed...God does work in us, through us, for us, etc., but sometimes things just happen because we're fallen as humans.
Yes, we hope people seek the Lord MORE when they suffer....but "WHY ME?" is so easy to say.
difficult subject...scary subject!! But worth thinking about..thanks!
Z,
What a blessing to see you once again at this humble blog! Suffering is something I don't do well! But the Lord seems to often really get my attention in it. As you kniow & I am sure we agree, our beloved nation may very well suffer as we never have in the coming months & years, but as believers, we have eternal hope far beyond this life. (Ro.5:1-5)! May many come to Christ due to it & many believers be drawn into closer fellowship with Him, Whom to know is Life eternal! (Jn.17:3). Thank you again for gracing this blog. God Bless!
thanks for your VERY kind words at my blog today, David..BIG blessings to you!! xxx
Z,
It is genuinely my pleasure. You are always welcome at this blog as are your views. May the Lord bless you!
Very good post. Oswald Chambers said once that God's blessings are the biggest obstacle to our drawing near to Him, because they become a distraction. Suffering, trials, and pain are what cause us to draw near to Him.
How many blessings do we miss out on because we allow them to distract us from Him?
Ms. Green,
Thank you for sharing that. Though God obviously never means for His blessings to get in the way of our fellowship with Him, our flesh often corrupts them in that way. It is a pleasure having you comment as always. God Bless.
You mention in your post that some people use their poorness and hard lives to walk away from God, and I agree that some do, but I submit to you that there are a lot more people, on the opposite end of the economic and material ladder that forget all about God. Maybe it is they that need the most help. I guess that God tests people in differing ways.
David, and others here, I feel I should apologize in advance because I know that you will if you haven't already seen my offensive language. Sometimes the ignorance of some people just gets me going. I am trying to work on it, but I'm not having much success.
AA,
Thank you for posting on this humble blog! may i say that you make a tremendous point. Those with great riches are often tempted far more to leave God out due to trust in their "uncertain" riches as the Bible puts it. The Bible seems to warn far more against riches stealing our hearts from God than poverty. Yet, our fickle hearts are apt to run after anything or anyone other than God in our foolishness (Jer.17:9). Yet God in His infinite love & grace toward us has laid all our iniquity on His Son at the cross & beckons us to come to Him freely!! I am still amazed at His grace! I hope I never get over it!
AA, I thank you for your honesty about your struggle. May I honestly say that I have struggles myself, & the only hope I have of evercoming them is like the alluring title of an old sermon "The Expulsive Power of a New Afection." IOW, the only way I'll overcome any sin is not so much by trying to overcome it but by looking to Christ & His grace to empower me.
OK, I hope I didn't say too much. I am very happy & thankful that you came by! Please come back anytime!
David,
Just an f.y.i. I have started another blog that is more Christ centered. I still have the political blog.
It is called "Walk by Faith" and is primarily geared toward women, however you and your readers are more than welcome to visit:
http://truththumper.wordpress.com/
Rivka,
Thank you! I will check it out. Ladies, go by Rivka's site, I am sure you will not be disappointed! God Bless.
David,
Here is the answer I gave you on my post to your comment about my testimony. I just cut and pasted it, so it is on my blog as well:
Yes, I gave my testimony on my "Walk By Faith" blog @ http://truththumper.wordpress.com/ but not in it's entirety. I have learned that wordy posts don't get read much, so I tried to focus on the gospel. I do have quite the 'dramatic' testimony. Not that that is important, but I was a musician traveling around the country singing in bars. A lot happend and I was very close to a record deal. God intervened and the rest is pretty cool. I did my testimony on a program called, "Words to Live By" like 6 or 7 years ago.
I might check out that program. I remember when I worked at a bank, my friends and I would listen to the 'unshackled' program every day while working, then we would talk about it and anxiously await the next day's program. It was fun. I haven't heard it in a while.
That is excellent Rivka! We carry "Unshackled" every day on BBN. We visited PGM before they moved from State Street a couple years ago & watched a live taping of the show.
I used to really enjoy the "Words to Live By" program too. I believe RBC put that out, no? God Bless you as you serve Him!
Thanks for sharing this David. Some excellent stuff on your blog, very encouraging and God-centred. Pain does often cause us either to draw closer to God or further away, let's hope and pray that we are of the former.
Thank you for your kindness bro. Chris! I appreciate you & your blog as well. You are right that suffering can do one or the other. I am so thankful that the Lord does not turn us away when we fail. May the Lord bless you.
Post a Comment