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.
Sometimes we search for the will of God. But in several places, Scripture tells us exactly what His will is. Here’s one of those places: it is God’s will that you give thanks in all circumstances.
Biblical thinking says, “I come to grips with the negatives in life, and not by denying them.” I don’t deny I have cancer if I have cancer. I don’t deny I have struggles in my marriage relationship if I do. I don’t deny that I’m really struggling in my walk with God. Positive thinking is not what I can grab onto that gets me through these difficult things.
In a post last June, I shared a video about Steve Saint, son of one of the five missionaries who were murdered in Ecuador in 1956. Steve, who is founder of ITEC (Indigenous People's Technology and Education Center) was seriously injured while testing a design for ITEC.
Our birthright does not include pain-free living. Only those who understand that this world languishes under a curse will marvel at its beauties despite that curse. C. S. Lewis’s final article, published after his death, carried the title “We Have No Right to Happiness.” Believing that we do have such a right sets us up for bitterness.
Nanci said to me, “Given what Scripture tells us about the evil of the human heart, you’d think that there would be thousands of Jack the Rippers in every city.” Her statement stopped me in my tracks. Might God be limiting sin all around us, all the time? Second Thessalonians 2:7 declares that God is in fact restraining lawlessness in this world. For this we should thank him daily.
I can mourn with and pray for the families in Connecticut who lost their children (and in a few cases their spouses) in the school shooting. I certainly cannot offer any definitive explanation. I am dedicating this week’s three blogs to perspectives that may be helpful to some.
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.
Last week I spent two days at Focus on the Family, recording eight radio programs. Six were with Focus president Jim Daly and host John Fuller. I did two interviews each related to my books If God is Good, The Treasure Principle, and Heaven. I loved my time with Jim, John, Royce Bervig and the great folks at Focus on the Family.
Some years ago Steve Saint and I became friends. He came to our church within a week of the 50th anniversary of the death of those missionaries, and I interviewed him and Mincaye, the former warrior who was one of the murderers of the missionaries, but who later came to faith in Christ.
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!
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