Fold a paper in half. Then write on the top half the worst things that have happened to you and on the bottom half the best. Invariably, if you’ve lived long enough, if enough time has passed since some of those “worst things” happened to you, then you’ll almost certainly find an overlap.
Before I get to today's blog, those who read my previous post on my friend Jim Harrell going home to Jesus may wish to listen to a 3-minute audio clip of me sharing about the work God did through Jim and his suffering.
Like many of you, I'm praying for those affected by the earthquake in Haiti. Heartbreaking.
It's been well publicized that Pat Robertson claimed the earthquake is God's judgment on Haiti for past sin, including making a pact with the devil.
Yesterday I was on the radio talking about the subject of evil and ...
When we lock our eyes on our cancer, arthritis, fibromyalgia, diabetes, or disability, self-pity and bitterness can creep in. When we spend our days rehearsing the tragic death of a loved one, we will interpret all life through the darkness of our suffering. How much better when we focus upon Jesus!
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus... who for the joy set before him endured the cross.” The following verse commands us, “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart” (Hebrews 12:2–3).
However great our suffering ...
When I was seventeen years old and had known Christ for less than two years, I experienced what I believe was a miracle. Driving at fifty miles an hour, I was about to crash. All I could see in front of me, top to bottom and side to side, was the yellow of a school bus, which pulled in front of me from a side road, but which I didn’t see until a split second before impact.
In If God Is Good, I share a story that John Stott tells in his book The Cross of Christ about billions of people seated on a great plain before God’s throne. Most shrank back, while some crowded to the front, raising angry voices.
“Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?” snapped one woman.
“There is a God,” Portland Trailblazer head coach Nate McMillan said when Portland won the NBA draft lottery, giving our city the number one pick. It’s an understatement to say that event dominated news coverage here. Had Philadelphia been vaporized by aliens, it might have made page three.
“There is a God” is a common response to good news these days, so I’m not picking on Coach McMillan. But this expression reflects wrong thinking. The reasoning goes like this: when something happens that we like, it means there is a good God watching over us.
Of course, that ...
This is a picture of Charles Haddon Spurgeon at age 23. Only a year previously, an event happened that brought on a severe depression that he nearly didn’t recover from.
Because of my daughter Angie’s pending surgery and diagnosis, and because the subjects of trust and trials are all pertinent in my heart right now, I wanted to share some thoughts about how the Lord uses pain and suffering in our lives.
Many thanks to those who have been praying for our daughter Angela Stump and her health, and peace and encouragement for her and her family. (See my original post about Angie, and the update.) Her surgery has been scheduled for Thursday June 14, at 9 a.m.
I spoke this last weekend about Romans 8:28-29 at my home church, Good Shepherd Community Church here in Oregon. (Listen to the message.) I used as an example our precious friend Joni Eareckson Tada.
I'm the author of over 40 books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. I love Jesus, my wife Nanci, and our daughters, sons and five grandsons!
©1991 - 2013 Eternal Perspective Ministries. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy
