Grace in Afflictions

I have been meditating for several weeks on 2 Cor. 4:15-18. The expression “light affliction” has been returning to my mind as I deal with daily, nagging physical conditions that are burdensome and uncomfortable. I’m seeking relief, improvement, and help from any source available. Even though I’m plagued by real challenges and wearing out, I’m…

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Rightly Responding to Suffering: Joy Rooted in Faith

Click here to read the first article in this series. Many of the trials in my life have been minor or short-lived. I could gut it out and the trial would be over with. But when I was diagnosed with an irreversible, progressive muscle disease between my junior and senior years of college, I had…

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Rightly Responding to Suffering: Be Joyful in Your Trials

How do we rightly respond to suffering? This is the first post in a fivefold series to teach us a powerful truth from James 1:2–18: As you face overwhelming trials, responding with an attitude of joy will only be possible by a correct perspective of your faith in God. Quickly summarizing James 1:2–18, James teaches…

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Sustaining Grace: My Thorn in the Flesh

One morning several years ago I noticed that my right foot was slapping the pavement as I walked. As time went on I noticed that I was tripping myself and walking with a limp. These symptoms gradually got worse. After medication, tests, and visits to several doctors, the condition had a name but not a…

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How Suffering Glorifies God

Just a few weeks ago, my aunt passed away after living many years with physical handicaps. She was a lovely lady. My first memories of her are when she and my uncle returned from India on furlough. They served as missionaries there for several years, then they returned to Canada where my uncle served as…

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Suffering Wrongfully

Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but…

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Seeing God’s Sovereignty in Our Suffering

“These are the times that try men’s souls…” the well-known words of poet Thomas Paine came to mind as I drove to the grocery store yesterday in my fearless quest to acquire the rare jewel of toilet paper. Never in my short lifetime has the world faced such so much uncertainty. The hopelessness, despair, and…

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Suffering – Too Wonderful to Understand

Why do people who know and follow God still suffer excruciating things? This piercing question haunted Job after he had suffered the devastating loss of his resources, family, and health. Three of his so-called friends attempted to answer this question by accusing him of hidden sin. Despite their lengthy speeches, Job persistently denied this charge,…

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Jeremiah’s Victorious Vision

The Confessions of Jeremiah, part 3 Jeremiah 17:12-18 In this world of woe and war, we need a victorious vision. As Moses saw Him who was invisible (Hebrews 11:27), Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up sitting on His throne (Isaiah 6:1), the Apostle John saw Jesus glorified (Revelation 1:12-18), so Jeremiah sees the…

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Five Keys to Enduring Pain

Jeremiah 15:10-21 The Confessions of Jeremiah, part 2 Life is very painful and probably more painful than we thought it would be, but the Prophet Jeremiah can help us through our own pain. In the midst of his agony in ministry, he says, “Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to…

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