Thursday, March 17, 2011
This is an excerpt from the book, Jesus Did it Anyway, by Kent M. Keith.
"We know there is beauty and goodness in the world, but sometimes it is hard to see. Instead, we see only conflict and suffering. Every day, the newspapers report the beatings, the killings, the sickness and starvation, the inhumanity of human beings toward each other...Does anybody understand what we are going through?"
"Jesus suffered. He experienced cruelty and pain and hate. But he did more than that; he showed us how to triumph over the cruelty and pain and hate. He showed us that even in a world in which evil is strong, we can be who we are meant to be, and do what we are meant to do. He showed us how to rise above our fear and despair. He showed us how to live our faith and find meaning and deep happiness."
As I think about the suffering in Japan right now, and the suffering all over the world, I need God to help me rise above my fear and despair. There was the same kind of suffering in Jesus time. There has been suffering from the beginning of sin in heaven. How God and Jesus must have suffered when they lost their child Lucifer! How them must suffer still as they see all he has caused.
Yet Jesus never despaired or was fearful when he was here as a man. Although, perhaps in the Garden of Gethsemane he came close to that. But as God does for us, he did for Jesus, in sending an angel to strengthen him. I wonder how I would react if I were in the midst of a terrible earthquake and lost everything. Would I trust in God? Would I have peace and patience? Or would I be angry and depressed? Having never gone through such a thing, I don't know.
I pray for the people of Japan and all the countries where there is great suffering. May God help them. May God help us all.
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2 comments:
I need to check that book out; sounds interesting. I think when Jesus suffered, and believe you me, I am not making light of the suffering he did for us on the cross, being despised by his very creation, rejected, abused, tortured, scorned, ridiculed, mocked, crucified, he saw the "big picture". He knew without what he did, we had no hope, we were eternally doomed so he was willing to do what it would take to redeem us back to his father.
I'm not sure I agree about Jesus and God suffering when Lucifer decided to rebel. We know so little about the enemy from the Bible, we do know he was beautiful and an angel. Does that make him a child like God considers us? I don't think so. I think we are higher than angels in the eyes of God because we are made in his image while angels are not.
The enemy can only do what God allows him to do. We must not think of him as an equal to God. He is not and will never be.
I also think we blame the enemy on a lot of things rather than admit it is actually our sinful nature that got us into the mess we are in.
Trust is a hard issue. I struggle with it a lot but when I finally gave it to God, trusting him no matter if it didn't make sense, I found myself less anxious/worried.
Look at Job; he lost it all yet he still praised God and never cursed him. I would hope I would be such an example if I lost it all.
betty
I don't believe Satan is equal with God, no not at all. I believe he is a created being whom God loves.
I do believe the angels are actually higher in creation than man, because the Bible says when Jesus came down God, "...made him for a little while, lower than the angels."
I used to never think of Satan and the way he tempted me, until I listened to Joyce Meyer and read her books. She says when we have negative and depressed thoughts, these come from Satan and we can fight these thoughts by quoting Scripture. I tried it, and it worked. I had never considered before that Satan could whisper in my mind, but Joyce explained how we are in a war and how to fight. Not by fighting Satan, but by speaking words of faith.
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