Results tagged “suffering”
Book Review - "If God Is Good" by Randy Alcorn (09/15/09 - 5 Comments)
It seems a fair question, doesn't it? If God is truly good, as Christians insist, then how can there be so much suffering in the world? Since ancient times this question has led skeptics to believe that God cannot, must not, exist. Even today's so-called New Atheists show how little is really new when they use the existence of suffering and evil as a linchpin of their arguments against God's existence. Quite simply, they say,...
The God Who Gives Strength as Needed: An Interview with Terry Stauffer (07/10/09 - 21 Comments)
On September 28, 2008, I was shocked to read these words on the blog of Terry Stauffer, a man I had met at a couple of conferences and who has long been a reader and commenter at my blog: "Last night at about 4:45 our precious 14 year-old daughter Emily was attacked and killed as she was out for a walk. We don't know a lot of details, but we know that two young men...
Your Suffering Does Not Just Belong to You (07/06/09 - 11 Comments)
The more I grow in my knowledge of the Lord (through my knowledge of his Word) the more I see the utter centrality of the church, the local church, in his plan for his people. The more I learn of him, the more I see what a jewel the church is--what a blessing, what an honor it is to be part of something so amazing, so other-worldly. This is something that has been brought home...
Does Grace Grow Best in Winter? (06/30/09 - 3 Comments)
To live is to suffer. It is sadly inevitable that in this sinful world, we will all suffer. Some suffer more than others and some suffer for different reasons than others. But the fact remains that all of us will face hardship and pain. Knowing this, we are wise to arm ourselves for those times, to prepare ourselves for the inevitable affliction. Does Grace Grow in Winter?, authored by Ligon Duncan and J. Nicholas Reid...
Discount Personal Feelings (06/27/09 - 3 Comments)
I thought you would enjoy this quote from Jim Andrew's Polishing God's Monuments (one of my favorite books from a couple of years ago). This book, which offers "pillars of hope for punishing times" tells Andrews' story of faith and perseverance through almost unbelievable suffering. This man writes from hard experience and here he offers sound, biblical wisdom. ***** When the Lord's ways do not neatly conform to our pat little paradigms of what seems...
Glorifying God in Trials (04/30/09 - 18 Comments)
Today's post comes courtesy of my good friend Ryan who offers some reflections on glorifying God through life's trials. He wrote this article yesterday. ***** I am writing this from the waiting area at the Trillium Hospital in Toronto, while my beautiful wife is undergoing a procedure to help bring closure to the miscarriage we first learned about last week. While this isn't our first miscarriage, it is the first since the healthy births of...
The Cross He Bore - Strengthened to Suffer (03/31/09 - 7 Comments)
This is the third day of our thirteen days spent reading The Cross He Bore by Frederick Leahy. Today's text is from Luke 22:43: "And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him." In this chapter Leahy writes about the angel who comforted Christ and shows that the angel not only brought comfort, but that he strengthened Christ for the greater pain and torment he was about to endure. "The angel's presence served...
The Cross He Bore - Man of Sorrows (03/29/09 - 7 Comments)
Over the next thirteen days, I will be reading one chapter each day of Frederick Leahy's book The Cross He Bore: Meditations on the Sufferings of the Redeemer. I know that many of you will be reading along as well. My plan is simply to post a favorite quote or two, or perhaps a small reflection on the chapter. I will then open it up for discussion if you have something you'd like to add....
Joy Comes with the Morning (08/11/08 - 6 Comments)
A few years ago I went to Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, a Desiring God National Conference, and subsequently read the book drawn from those conference messages. I can’t deny that the speech given by Joni Eareckson Tada was not my favorite, at least in the live setting. Maybe it was her style of delivery or maybe it was just that the session came at the end of a long day but, while I...
Interview - Justin Reimer (04/27/08 - 2 Comments)
In the past months you may well have heard me mention The Elisha Foundation. This is a foundation I first discovered through my pastor (who is a regular speaker at the Foundation’s annual retreats) and subsequently learned about more when I designed a new website for it. I quickly came to respect what they do and wanted to share with you an interview I conducted with Justin Reimer who founded and still heads up the...
The Fellowship of His Suffering (12/19/07 - 5 Comments)
Rebel soldiers were starting at one end of a large room, taking women away one by one and bringing them back after they were finished with them. Helen’s first impulse was to hide and not have to bear this humiliation again. Then she thought of Jesus. He put himself forward as a substitute for us. The fellowship of his sufferings—she moved to the front, to try to protect some of the other women from...
Polishing God's Monuments (08/20/07 - 7 Comments)
Delighting in God's sovereignty, even through affliction. I typically post a new book review here every Tuesday morning. But because I was so excited by the book I planned on reviewing this week, I thought I would break with tradition and post this review a day early. Polishing God's Monuments was an unexpected surprise. A book that arrived (as do so many others) without any fanfare, I quickly skimmed the four endorsements and paused only...
Quote: Our Pat Little Paradigms (08/14/07 - 5 Comments)
Excerpted from Jim Andrew's Polishing God's Monuments. When the Lord's ways do not neatly conform to our pat little paradigms of what seems (to our fallible minds) right and just, and good and faithful, it says something about human nature that usually the first thought that comes to mind is that something is wrong with God. Somehow the last thing that occurs to us is that God is simply too big for our small boxes....