Trust in the Lord – our strong city
Our place of perfect peace
Yearn for the Lord – seek earnestly
His mercies never cease
Look to the Lord’s amazing grace
He opens blinded eyes
Hope in the Lord and run your race
In Him one day you’ll rise
Hide in the Lord and in his cross
No judgment now we face
In Him, in Him, we find no loss
Sing, sing His glorious grace
– From a sermon on Isaiah 26
(To the tune of “Amazing Grace”)
Our God reigns and calls us to trust
Look to the Holy One
Our Rock who made us from the dust
Who our salvation won
– From a sermon on Isaiah 13-24
(To the tune of “O God Our Help In Ages Past)
Our God reigns o’er the nations’ strife
Look to the Lord today
He rules in all my daily life
Look to him – trust and pray
– From a sermon on Isaiah 13-24
(To the tune of “O God Our Help In Ages Past”)
– Psalm 62:5-8
As we have already explored, the gospel shapes our suffering as we recognize that we are following the path of Christ, as we embrace his purpose of becoming more like Christ, as we rest in his love, as we rejoice in our future hope. In this post we want to consider two more ways that the gospel shapes our suffering.
Trusting God Like Christ (Faith)
We receive the gospel by faith. We trust in what Jesus has done for us on the cross for salvation from our sins. But this trust in Jesus for salvation should spill into trust in Jesus in other areas of our lives – including suffering. The devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if Jesus would worship the devil. But Jesus chose to trust the Father’s path for his life, a path of suffering. In the garden, Jesus prayed that he might be spared the cross, yet he concluded – “Not my will, but yours be done.” In other words he would trust his Father in the path of suffering. Paul notes in II Corinthians 1:8-9, that the purpose of his suffering was “to make us rely not on ourselves but on God….” In other words, Paul was learning to trust God in his suffering. Suffering often doesn’t make sense to us, but God calls us to trust him like Jesus and Paul did, to trust him in our suffering as we trust him in our salvation. That is gospel shaped suffering.
Comforting Others in Christ (Church)
The gospel is received by faith and ushers us into the body of Christ – the church. II Corinthians 1:3-4 makes the point that God comforts us in our suffering so we can comfort others who are suffering. The church is to be a place where I comfort others who are suffering, and where others comfort me in my suffering. Paul says in I Corinthians 12:26, “If one member suffers, all suffer together.” So the gospel creates the church where we comfort one another in our suffering. This is gospel shaped suffering.
Our suffering can be shaped by the gospel as we trust God in our suffering and use our suffering to comfort others. We’ll look at two final ways the gospel shapes our suffering in the next post.
We live in a world of broken empty promises. Just think politicians and advertisements. Yet when we look to God, we find one who delivers on what he says.
In Luke 1, God promised Zechariah a son (v13). And a son is born (v57). Promise kept. God promised there would be joy (v14), and they rejoice (v58). Promise kept. God promised that Zechariah would be mute until the child was born (v20), and after the child is born, Zechariah speaks (v63-64). Promise kept.
We can trust God to keep his promises. What promises do you need to cling to today?
Proverb 3:5 is a well known verse – “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” A well known verse, but not so well applied. Trust God with my family? Trust God with my job and my finances? Trust God with my relationships? Trust God with my health? Trust God with my country, the economy, the two wars? Trust God with my trials, sorrows, and struggles? Trust God with all my life?
Sometimes this is less than easy (an understatement!). When I don’t understand, it can be hard to trust. When life doesn’t make sense to me, it can be hard to trust. In the midst of the struggle, it can be hard to trust. I cry out, “Why, Lord?” He answers, “Trust me.”
And God calls me to trust him with all my heart. My heart is to be completely bent towards trusting him. Having a heart for God means I will trust him with my life.
Yet other gods call us to trust in them. I might trust in my job to get me through a bad economy. I might trust in my savings to make me financially secure. I might trust in my spouse or a friend to make me happy. I might trust in the government to solve my problems. I might trust in the church to save me or help me. All of these things are good things – unless I turn them into gods, unless I place my trust in them instead of God.
How do I show my trust in God? We show our trust as we bring our problems to God in prayer (Psalm 62:8). Prayer is an act of trust. We trust him as we wait on him to act, even when we want immediate answers (Psalm 27:13-14).
And as we trust in him, he offers us peace (Isaiah 26:3-4). Peace in the midst of the storm as we keep our gaze on him.
And this trust leads to praise (Psalm 28:7). As we trust him and he helps us, we have reason to offer up praises to him.
God, pour out your grace upon us today that we might trust you with all our hearts.
Brian J. Mikul 