I need to underscore a foundational fact: God’s goal is not to make sure you’re happy. No matter how hard it is for you to believe this, it’s time to do so. Life is not about your being comfortable and happy and successful and pain free.
Read MoreCategory Archives: Encouragement & Healing
Grace That Won’t Let Go
This is a good time to correct faulty thinking. It is not always God’s will that you be healed. It is not always the Father’s plan to relieve the pressure. Our happiness is not God’s chief aim.
Read MoreFrom God’s Perspective
Any study of the life of the apostle Paul requires a serious look at the subject of pain. Suffering is not a pleasant subject to explore.
Read MoreThe Value of Others
The Message, Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, wraps up this part of the narrative nicely: “Things calmed down after that and the church had smooth sailing for a while. All over the country—Judea, Samaria, Galilee—the church grew.
Read MoreGod’s Justice
I find at least two enduring truths for us as I think through these closing scenes in Job’s story. First, forgiveness is worth asking for. If there’s something that has come between you and your heavenly Father, why wait at a distance?
Read MoreHumble Yourself Now
Take special notice of Job’s words. He does not reply, “I’ve got an argument here.” On the contrary, He says, “I retract and repent.” There’s no divine force. There’s no threatening rebuke from God.
Read MoreLearn from Suffering
There is a man in our congregation who recently underwent brain surgery. The tumor in the frontal section within his cranium was pushing his brain back and slowly eroding his memory.
Read MoreGod Will Reward
Back when Job’s body was covered with sores, when his friends were still against him, when he was bankrupt and sitting in a garbage dump at the outskirts of the city, Job had the temerity to say, “But He knows the way I take.”
Read MoreJob’s Longing
Job longed for his words of woe to be etched into granite so that people through time could enter into all the things he was enduring. He thought his words would be forgotten. He had no idea that his words would survive him.
Read MoreFutile Searches
Job is still struggling. Eliphaz left him cold. He has received neither comfort nor insight from Bildad. He has no mediator to present his case; therefore, he is very candid. Matter of fact, he’s returning to questions he asked earlier.
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