Here is the song I quoted in my sermon this past Sunday. An oldie but a good one.
Tag: Suffering
Sermon Songs: Isaiah 49:14-26
Our Lord has not forgotten you
Your name is on His hand
He came to save, to make you new
His covenant will stand
Our Lord has not forgotten you
He knows your suffering
Your trials he’ll end – make all things new
And pour out his blessing
Our Lord has not forgotten you
The wicked – they will pay
He’ll gather us on the earth new
When He returns one day
The Lord has not forgotten you
So know your Savior Lord
And wait on Him – He will prove true
You’re held by love’s strong cord
– From a sermon on Isaiah 49:14-26
(To the tune of the “Amazing Grace”)
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Ten Things To Do During Suffering – Ed Welch (CCEF)
Why God Gives Us More Than We Can Handle – Jon Bloom (DG)
40 Joys Through Jesus – David Murray
How Do You Prepare For Sunday? – Jordan Kauflin (DG)
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day worshiping our great God with your local church!
God’s Purpose in Our Affliction
In the midst of facing various afflictions, I found the following Spurgeon devotional from this morning to be helpful:
“Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.”—Job 10:2.
PERHAPS, O tried soul, the Lord is doing this to develop thy graces. There are some of thy graces which would never be discovered if it were not for thy trials. Dost thou not know that thy faith never looks so grand in summer weather as it does in winter? Love is too often like a glow-worm, showing but little light except it be in the midst of surrounding darkness. Hope itself is like a star—not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. Afflictions are often the black foils in which God doth set the jewels of His children’s graces, to make them shine the better. It was but a little while ago that on thy knees thou wast saying, “Lord, I fear I have no faith: let me know that I have faith.” Was not this really, though perhaps unconsciously, praying for trials?—for how canst thou know that thou hast faith until thy faith is exercised? Depend upon it, God often sends us trials that our graces may be discovered, and that we may be certified of their existence. Besides, it is not merely discovery, real growth in grace is the result of sanctified trials. God often takes away our comforts and our privileges in order to make us better Christians. He trains His soldiers, not in tents of ease and luxury, but by turning them out and using them to forced marches and hard service. He makes them ford through streams, and swim through rivers, and climb mountains, and walk many a long mile with heavy knapsacks of sorrow on their backs. Well, Christian, may not this account for the troubles through which thou art passing? Is not the Lord bringing out your graces, and making them grow? Is not this the reason why He is contending with you?
“Trials make the promise sweet;
Trials give new life to prayer;
Trials bring me to His feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.”
Along these same lines, I’d also recommend Crawford Loritts’ sermon “Jesus’ Transforming Power on Behalf of the Afflicted” that I listened to yesterday:
We Can Have Great Peace in a Life Filled with Trials
A lot of circumstances can lead to anxiety – that unsettled feeling in the pit of your stomach, that fear in your heart and your mind. But God calls us to peace (Philippians 4:6-7). Indeed he calls us to a peace that surpasses all understanding. He calls us to a peace that guards our hearts and minds, our feelings and thoughts. Through Christ we can have great peace in a life filled with trials. But how can we know this peace? How can we apply this peace he offers to our lives? Our passage gives us three important answers:
First, we must remember the presence of the Lord. Right before we are instructed to be anxious for nothing, we read that the Lord is at hand. We need not be anxious because the Lord is with us. We need not fear even in the valley of the shadow of death because God is with us (Psalm 23:4). We can be strong and courageous because the Lord is with us wherever we go (Joshua 1:9). God Almighty is by your side. Remember his presence.
Second, we must bring our cares to the Lord. We are to bring our requests to God (v6). We cast our cares on Him, knowing that he cares for us (I Peter 5:7). The Psalms are filled with prayers to God in the midst of trials. A regular pattern is that as the psalmists cry out to God, they come to a place of trust, of rest, of peace. Psalm 55 is a good example. The first five verses are a cry to God for help. But as the Psalmist looks to God, he finds a God who hears him (v17), sustains him (v22), and answers him (v16). And so he closes the psalm with a declaration of trust (v23). As we pray to the one who is greater than our problems, one who hears us, sustains us, and answers us, we can trust him and find peace.
Third, we must give thanks to God. In the middle of Paul’s instructions to pray, he drops the phrase “with thanksgiving.” In your trials and struggles that tempt you to worry, count your blessings. Remember the countless ways God has been and continues to be good to you. And give thanks. Our minds can get so stuck on a trial that we forget our blessings. We replay the trial over and over again in our minds like a broken record player. We dig a rut of woe and anxiety. But step out of the rut and get some perspective. The trial is real, and you bring it to the Lord. But the blessings are also real. Remember to give thanks.
We can have great peace in a life filled with trials as we remember his presence, bring our cares to him, and give thanks to him for his continuous blessings.
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
Forgive Us These Faults – Tim Keller (Gospel Coalition)
Newton lays out a convicting and specific example of the kinds of Christian people who coast on their strengths but do nothing about their weaknesses and so rob themselves and others of joy and God of his glory. These blemishes are often seen by their bearers as mere “foibles.” Newton says they “may not seem to violate any express command of Scripture” and yet, they are “properly sinful” because they are the opposite of the fruit of the Spirit that believers are supposed to exhibit.
Why You Can’t See Your Biggest Flaws – Tim Keller (Gospel Coalition)
Our natural virtues, which come from inborn temperament and family nurture—such as our talents, aptitudes, and strengths—are good things. But each has a “dark side.” People with prophetic gifts—great directness, often good at public speaking or writing—can have problems listening to others and taking advice. People with priestly gifts—sensitivity, often good at listening, giving counsel, showing mercy—often can be too concerned to make people happy. They may be cowardly or overly sensitive themselves to criticism. A generous person may also be undisciplined and irresponsible in financial matters. Thus his generosity is really a facet of his too-impulsive character.
When Sin Is Grievous and Grace Is Stunning – Tim Keller (Gospel Coalition)
If we are going to grow in grace, we must stay aware of being both sinners and also loved children in Christ. We need a high and due sense of our sin before God and a deep and profound sense of our union with and acceptance in Christ.
8 Ways Satan Convinces You To Question Your Salvation – Tim Challies
Though Satan can never steal the Christian’s crown, though he can never snatch him away from the hand of the Father, he is so envious and malicious that he will leave no stone unturned in robbing the Christian of comfort and peace, in making their life miserable, in giving them reason to live in constant sorrow and mourning, doubt and questioning.
There Really Is A Reason – 12 Benefits Of Afflictions – Mark Altrogge (Blazing Center)
God doesn’t afflict us or allow us to be afflicted for no reason. He has wonderful purposes for all he does in us. God is the great artist who produces the ultimate masterpieces – sons and daughters in the likeness of his Son Jesus Christ. So he makes every stroke of the Master’s brush, every tap of the Sculptor’s chisel count. So in God’s plan, afflictions have great benefit to us, as painful as they are at times. If we keep these benefits in mind when we suffer, they can help us endure joyfully.
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!
Passion Points
Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:
The Benefit of Storms – J. C. Ryle (via J. C. Ryle Quotes)Your trials may be many and great. Your cross may be very heavy. But the business of your soul is all conducted according to an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure…
10 Reasons Why God Allows Suffering – Jared Wilson (via Justin Taylor)While we may not be satisfied with what God has revealed about his purposes in suffering, we cannot justifiably say he has not revealed anything about his purposes in suffering…
9 Lessons From God Concerning Sickness – J. C. Ryle (via J. C. Ryle Quotes)6. To make us pray. Too many, I fear, never pray at all, or they only rattle over a few hurried words morning and evening without thinking what they do. But prayer often becomes a reality when the valley of the shadow of death is in sight...
I Give You Glory, O Christ – Ephraim of Syria (via Trevin Wax)Glory to You for Your love.
Glory to You for Your mercy.
Glory to You for Your patience.
Glory to You for forgiving us all our sins...
Hope you have a great Lord’s Day trusting your Savior and giving him glory!
Quotes to Ponder
Before the next hurricane, tornado, or tsunami come, nail it down:
“Even the winds and the sea obey him” (Matt. 8:27).
– John Piper
To manage a life of pain, as a believer in Jesus,
remember: This is all the hell you will ever bear.
– Robert Murray M’Cheyne
The Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life,
by a constant proof of its miseries.
– John Calvin
There is a certain kind of maturity that can be attained
only through the discipline of suffering.
– D.A. Carson
RHMA Take Home Thoughts, Part 3
At the RHMA conference, D. A. Carson gave a two part seminar on “How To Think Wisely about Suffering and Evil.” I wish you could have heard the entire thing. What follows doesn’t begin to give the topic or seminar justice, but are simply some points that stood out to me:
- We all sin, so we all deserve to suffer.
- Suffering is short compared to eternity (at least for those in Christ).
- We can’t grasp God’s plan; we need to trust him.
- Our suffering may be God’s providential discipline (Hebrews 12:3-11).
- God brings good things out of bad things (think Joseph in Egypt).
- When you doubt God’s goodness, go back to the manger and the cross and see his love.
- Christians have been granted to believe and suffer (Philippians 1:29).
Brian J. Mikul 