A really hard question
I've got a hard question to ask you today. It's a question that has caused many people to doubt God, and ultimately abandon their faith.
It's a question that, at some point, we all have to deal with...
Can you accept that God has a good purpose in your pain?
- Pain caused from our own choices,
- Pain caused from the choices of others,
- Pain caused simply from living in a fallen, broken, and wounded world.
Really this takes us to the bottomline. If God is good and God is great, why do such terrible things happen to children in Syria, to you, and to me?
What I'm going to ask you to do this week, is lay aside that question and ask a more basic one ...
Can you accept that God has a good purpose in your pain?
So far at the riverside, we've been encouraged. We've identified with this precious group of people who Paul loves. This church that began with women meeting at the riverside. This fellowship that was born through adversity. And grew into a community that wasn't perfect, but understood partnership, and grace, and gospel, and prayer.
This week, we shift our attention to Paul's very real circumstances. While he refuses to have a pity party, the fact remains. He is on house arrest. And most likely he's going to die. Join me...
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. Philippians 1:12-13
Paul is writing to his brothers and sisters in Philippi to tell them "I'm in jail and it's all good."
His imprisonment has a purpose. His imprisonment is advancing the gospel. Roman soldiers, elite Roman soldiers, know that Paul is being imprisoned for Jesus. These guards, members of the Praetorium were literally chained to Paul. They saw his life. They got to know him. And eventually some of them came to know his Jesus. So much so that they told members of Caesar's own household about Jesus and some of them came to know Jesus too.
Paul believed that God had a purpose for his trial. What has happened to him has served to advance the gospel.
Can you accept that God has a purpose in your trial? Can you accept that God has a good purpose in your pain?
I want to be honest with you. Always, I want to be honest with you. This is one of the most challenging aspects of the Christian life.
I understand why women who have been abused by their fathers can't trust Jesus. I understand why children who have endured atrocities cannot embrace an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God. I understand why women whose husbands leave them, who are widowed young, who walk lonely, afraid, and shell-shocked by life cannot trust God.
I understand, and yet I stand with Peter. When Jesus delivers a very hard teaching many of his disciples fall away. Jesus turns to Peter and says, "So, do you want to turn away too?"
Peter replies, "Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life." John 6:53-68
Even if I could not see God's good purposes for my pain, I would have no idea where else to go. I believe that Jesus has the words of eternal life. I believe that in Jesus is life, and life to the full. And I believe that somehow, someway, in his time, God has good purpose for every tear, every pain, every loss. No matter how deep the pain, I will stay close to Jesus. And I will watch for his good purpose through it all.
Can you accept that God has good purpose in your pain?
Would you like for me to pray for you today? Leave a comment. Just a simple, "Please pray" will do. I know this is hard. My heart breaks for your pain, for your loss. I don't have the right-now answers, and yet I believe that our good and powerful God does have good purpose in your pain. I believe that one day you'll see the answers. If you'd like to share more... If you'd honor me with your story, please email me at cynthiafin@gmail.com.
Join me tomorrow? Invite your friends? And, I would really appreciate it if you'd subscribe by putting your email in the little box -- up-and-to-the-right.