Tag: suffering
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Where was God when that happened? (Ezekiel 31-33; John 11)
Where was God when that happened? Maybe it’s a question you ask about something you see on the news, or maybe it’s something closer to home, a painful diagnosis, a bereavement, or a relationship breakdown. When we are facing hard times we can wonder where God is and why doesn’t He stop it. It’s a…
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Sin and disability (Ezekiel 25-27; Psalm 85; John 9)
Sometimes people say cruel things. As if living with a long term disability is not hard enough, sometimes people will say that the disability must be as a result of some unconfessed sin. If you could just dig deep enough and find it and confess it, all would be well. How cruel to say such…
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The kindness of God (Obadiah; Jer 40-42; Ps 147; 1 Pet 5)
How kind and gracious our God is! What other God invites His people to cast their anxieties on Him? The gods of religion make demands on their people, place burdens on them, but our God offers to take our burdens of us. Listen to God’s gracious invitation in 1 Peter 5:7 “casting all your anxieties…
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Lamenting loss (Lamentations 1-5; Ps 137; 1 Pet 4)
CS Lewis wrote of his wife’s death – “her absence is like the sky, spread over everything.” Maybe you know a similar all encompassing loss. What do you do when you’re facing such hard times? God in his mercy has given us not only Psalms of lament to sing and pray, but a whole book…
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What do you do when someone hurts you? (Jer 38, 39, 52; 1 Pet 2)
If you live long enough, someone will hurt you. You have probably already discovered that. There are degrees of hurt, from the careless word, to the deliberate insult, to the physical threat and even harm, such as that faced by Jeremiah. What do you do with the hurt? Do you have to forgive? There is…
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The blessing of suffering (Jer 37, 21, 34; Psalm 79; James 5)
James began his letter by telling his readers to “consider it pure joy when you face trials” and he ends it by pointing out blessings that come from trials. The particular blessing James has in mind is “steadfastness” – that is keeping going. Remember the danger in the book of James? God has been of…
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Sorrowful yet rejoicing (2 Chr 34-35; 2 Cor 6)
How can you be sorrowful yet rejoicing? Surely you are one or the other? Yet the apostle Paul tells us that his experience is that he is continually sorrowful and yet always rejoicing (2 Cor 6:10). This is a wonderfully realistic way to live. He is neither annoyingly positive, nor depressingly negative. He says, life…
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Weak bodies and eternal glory (2 Kings 22-23; Psalm 73; 2 Cor 5)
Camping can be fun, but you would not want to live in a tent all year round! In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul compares our bodies to being like a tent, they are flimsy and won’t last forever. My son has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and this makes this truth so much more real to us, since…
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Where to turn in trouble? (2 Chr 19-20; 2 Kin 1; Ps 20; Matt 3)
Where do you turn when trouble comes? Jehoshaphat was afraid, it’s not surprising 3 of the superpowers of the day were coming against him in battle! (2 Chronicles 20). What did he do with his fear? He set his face to seek the LORD. He turned towards the LORD and not away from him. He…
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A Psalm for when you’re in hospital (2 Chr 5-7; Psalm 121; 1 Tim 4)
Our daughter was born two months early and needed life saving surgery within 48 hours of being born. She was our firstborn and we thought we were going to lose her. I still remember the doctors giving us a side room in the hospital while our daughter was on a life support machine. Everything felt…
Light and Momentary Troubles 