"We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).
"Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you enter various trials" (James 1:2).
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CLAIM TO HAVE A COMPLETE ANSWER TO MAN'S SUFFERING, IN FACT, NO ONE, NOR ANY RELIGION, DOES.
Good quotes:
Lord Reith said, "I do not like crises, but I do like the opportunities they provide."
"Within every adversity there lies a possibility" (Robert Schuller).
Jesus never said we'd be exempt from evil or tragedy in our lives; he didn't exempt himself, did He?
Suffering, trials, temptations, adversity, and discipline inevitably comes to all believers in Christ as part of our pruning and maturing process. What good would an untried faith be? Some people get mad at God and blame Him when something bad happens: remember Job's wife who told him to "curse God and die" after losing all ten of his progeny. "Should we accept good from God, and not trouble." Nothing happens to us without God's sovereign permission; he is just using the devil as the instrumental means to accomplish his greater glory. We can be assured that God will not bring into our lives anything that we cannot handle; he just trusts some more than others!
What happens to us reveals what kind of person we really are; the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay! It's not so much about what happens to you as to what happens in you. Our experience is a combo of this interaction and what we learned in the so-called school of hard knocks. Notice that we hear about tragedy around the world and never people cursing God on the media--they are usually humbled and realize that without danger there would be no courage. We shouldn't say, "How can God be so mean?" "No one can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What are you doing?'"
Our reaction says more about us than about God. You either become bitter or better in the tragedy they call life or Reality 101. It's not what happens to you, but in you! Don't you want to find out what you are made of and more importantly, who your friends are? Charlie Riggs says that adversity builds character and Christlikeness. Our crosses to bear are nothing compared to His! We are compared to silver refined in a crucible. If we know the why of our suffering we can endure almost any how, said Viktor Frankl, the Viennese Psychiatrist captured and tortured by the Nazis.
So why do bad things happen to good (There are no good people!) people [A more appropriate question would be: Why do good things happen to bad people?]? Good also happens to bad people! Who's to say how much is too much or decide what is fair; God is the judge of what is fair, and He is our judge, and we not His. "The He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold," says Job 23:10. God never promised us a bed or roses or a rose garden either. However, we can rest assured of the promise: "All things work together for good, to them that love God...." As the crucifixion proved, God is able to make the most diabolical of events turn out for the good (e.g., Acts 2:23; 4:28).
It might be helpful to realize that if you are suffering it might be so that others won't have to, and if you aren't, it's because others have! "We rejoice in our suffering..." (Rom. 5:3). I like Philippians 1:29 to sum things up: "For it has been granted unto you, not only to believe in Him, but to suffer for His sake."
Pertinent are two verses relating to God as the sole primary cause of the cosmos and using agents to accomplish His will in a voluntary manner: Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7, and if one studies Job he will realize that evil from Satan must get permission from the Father--N.B. that God didn't answer Job's questions, but revealed Himself to him to humble him; God doesn't have to answer to man. Soli Deo Gloria!
"Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you enter various trials" (James 1:2).
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CLAIM TO HAVE A COMPLETE ANSWER TO MAN'S SUFFERING, IN FACT, NO ONE, NOR ANY RELIGION, DOES.
Good quotes:
Lord Reith said, "I do not like crises, but I do like the opportunities they provide."
"Within every adversity there lies a possibility" (Robert Schuller).
Jesus never said we'd be exempt from evil or tragedy in our lives; he didn't exempt himself, did He?
Suffering, trials, temptations, adversity, and discipline inevitably comes to all believers in Christ as part of our pruning and maturing process. What good would an untried faith be? Some people get mad at God and blame Him when something bad happens: remember Job's wife who told him to "curse God and die" after losing all ten of his progeny. "Should we accept good from God, and not trouble." Nothing happens to us without God's sovereign permission; he is just using the devil as the instrumental means to accomplish his greater glory. We can be assured that God will not bring into our lives anything that we cannot handle; he just trusts some more than others!
What happens to us reveals what kind of person we really are; the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay! It's not so much about what happens to you as to what happens in you. Our experience is a combo of this interaction and what we learned in the so-called school of hard knocks. Notice that we hear about tragedy around the world and never people cursing God on the media--they are usually humbled and realize that without danger there would be no courage. We shouldn't say, "How can God be so mean?" "No one can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What are you doing?'"
Our reaction says more about us than about God. You either become bitter or better in the tragedy they call life or Reality 101. It's not what happens to you, but in you! Don't you want to find out what you are made of and more importantly, who your friends are? Charlie Riggs says that adversity builds character and Christlikeness. Our crosses to bear are nothing compared to His! We are compared to silver refined in a crucible. If we know the why of our suffering we can endure almost any how, said Viktor Frankl, the Viennese Psychiatrist captured and tortured by the Nazis.
So why do bad things happen to good (There are no good people!) people [A more appropriate question would be: Why do good things happen to bad people?]? Good also happens to bad people! Who's to say how much is too much or decide what is fair; God is the judge of what is fair, and He is our judge, and we not His. "The He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold," says Job 23:10. God never promised us a bed or roses or a rose garden either. However, we can rest assured of the promise: "All things work together for good, to them that love God...." As the crucifixion proved, God is able to make the most diabolical of events turn out for the good (e.g., Acts 2:23; 4:28).
It might be helpful to realize that if you are suffering it might be so that others won't have to, and if you aren't, it's because others have! "We rejoice in our suffering..." (Rom. 5:3). I like Philippians 1:29 to sum things up: "For it has been granted unto you, not only to believe in Him, but to suffer for His sake."
Pertinent are two verses relating to God as the sole primary cause of the cosmos and using agents to accomplish His will in a voluntary manner: Amos 3:6; Isaiah 45:7, and if one studies Job he will realize that evil from Satan must get permission from the Father--N.B. that God didn't answer Job's questions, but revealed Himself to him to humble him; God doesn't have to answer to man. Soli Deo Gloria!