I have questions for God, do you?  Here are some of mine . . .

 God, did you see…when a broken-hearted couple lost their three year old son to cancer and just 10 short years later were sitting in that same funeral home grieving the loss of another son?

“When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. . .  Then Jesus wept.”  (John 11:33,35)

Lord, were you listening…when a young girl lost her innocence and cried herself to sleep night after night?

‘I keep track of all your sorrows.  I have collected all your tears in my bottle and I have recorded each one in my book.’”  (Psalm 56:8)

God, do you see…the mother who has run out of options and doesn’t know where to turn?  She’s exhausted, tapped out, and emotionally spent – her child has completely drained her.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.’”   (Matthew 11:28-29)

Lord, where were you…when a family watched everything they owned burn to the ground?

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me.  There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.’”  (John 14:1-3)

Where were you, Jesus…when a loving wife and mother lost her life to an insatiable disease, and a young dad was left to pick up the pieces and care for his two little daughters?

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

God sees our sorrow, He knows every tear we’ve cried and every prayer we’ve prayed. Isaiah, the prophet says this about God who became flesh and dwelt among us (Jesus).

There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.

He was despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.
We turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.

Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!

But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.

                       (Isaiah 53:2-5)

God understands our pain, He hears our questions in times of great need and He answers! His greatest answer to our questions came in the person of Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God offers you a free gift – you cannot earn it, you are not born into the right family to receive it.  Each individual must accept God’s free gift for themselves. Each one of us has sinned and gone our own way and our just payment is eternal death.  But God sent His Son Jesus to take our punishment and die in our place!  When we acknowledge that we are a sinner and invite Christ to come into our lives and save us from our sins, we become one of His children and carry the promise of spending eternity with Him in our hearts.

If you have never accepted this free gift, I urge you not to wait.  He stands ready and waiting to come into your life and make you NEW!  Learn more about how to accept Jesus here.

Question: What are your questions for God?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

On a trip to China, I rode past Tiananmen Square in a bus full of Westerners. We tried to recollect the causes and consequences of the revolt. Our knowledge of history was embarrassing. One gave one date; another gave a different one. One person remembered a certain death toll; someone else disagreed. All this time our translator remained silent.

Finally one of us asked her, “Do you remember anything about the Tiananmen Square revolt?”

Her answer was solemn. “Yes, I was a part of it.”

We quickly grew quiet as she gave firsthand recollections of the bloodshed and oppression. We listened, because she’d been there.

We who follow Christ do so for the same reason. He’s been there . . .

He’s been to Bethlehem, wearing barn rags and hearing sheep crunch. Suckling milk and shivering against the cold. All of divinity content to cocoon itself in an eight-pound body and to sleep on a cow’s supper. Millions who face the chill of empty pockets or the fears of sudden change turn to Christ. Why?

Because he’s been there.

He’s been to Nazareth, where he made deadlines and paid bills; to Galilee, where he recruited direct reports and separated fighters; to Jerusalem, where he stared down critics and stood up against cynics.

We have our Nazareths as well—demands and due dates. Jesus wasn’t the last to build a team; accusers didn’t disappear with Jerusalem’s temple. Why seek Jesus’s help with your challenges? Because he’s been there. To Nazareth, to Galilee, to Jerusalem.

But most of all, he’s been to the grave. Not as a visitor, but as a corpse. Buried amidst the cadavers. Numbered among the dead. Heart silent and lungs vacant. Body wrapped and grave sealed. The cemetery. He’s been buried there.

You haven’t yet. But you will be. And since you will, don’t you need someone who knows the way out?

From 3:16, The Numbers of Hope
Copyright (Thomas Nelson, Inc, 2007) Max Lucado
Used by permission

Question: Where can you see how Jesus faced similar difficulties to the ones you’re facing in your life now?

“Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.” Psalm 4:1, NASB

Lord, we’re desperate for you. We’re bunched up in confusion, moving by impulse and fear, flitting here and there like a frenzied flock caught in the wilderness of the far country.
We are here! We are here! And we know you hear. You’ve heard us before; you’ve swept in and saved us from our hopeless paralysis.

Do it again, O, Holy One; how long must we wait?

And we hear you say, “Yes, how long? How long must I wait while you wear my grace and peace like a cheap cloak from a secondhand store?”

Oh God, I hear your heart. You set me apart; yet, I joined the crowd – like birds of a feather.
From now on, Abba, when the swirl and twirl shoves at me, instead of taking to panicked wings; I’ll let you quiet my soul.

“I am ready now; I am willing now to be swept under the safety of your wings, as a hen gathers her chicks.” (Matthew 23:37, NKJV)

Question: Does this prayer sound like one you’ve prayed recently? What about sometime in the past?

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” (Deuteronomy 4:9)

This week I walked into a restaurant and came face to face with a wall of white hearts, each bearing a name of a soldier recently lost in the battle for freedom. Today is a special day of remembering those heroes and heroines who have courageously stood, and have bravely fallen, in order to keep freedom alive for those who come behind them. To each we are eternally grateful!

Today there are many who share a painful memory of a loved one gone in this brave fight for freedom. For some it is a faded photograph from years ago. For others, it is an empty chair at the dinner table tonight. We must remember! We dare not forget! Freedom is precious! The freedom to speak, to pray, to write, the freedom to vote, the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression are just some of the freedoms for which precious blood was spilt.

Today, let us pause and remember. Let us pause and give thanks for those brave ones who have brought us this far. Let us pause and determine to hold these freedoms high and dear and to defend them now as they have been defended in the past.

The ancient call to God’s people, the Israelites, to remember the path the Lord had led them on in their journey to freedom is a call that is well worth repeating today. It’s found in the historical record of their journey in Deuteronomy 4:9:

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

Father God, 
Today I pause to say “thank you” for the freedoms I enjoy; freedoms that were gained at great cost and freedoms that I do not want to take for granted. Comfort those hearts today that ache with the void of a loved one lost in this great battle. Please grant wisdom to the leaders who carry on the high cause of freedom.  Fill our hearts with Your great love and may we each do our part to bring peace today, right where we are, as we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy.  We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.

Question: How do you and your family remember those who have fought to bring you freedom? Let’s today remember Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice for our eternal freedom.

This week I walked into a restaurant and came face to face with a wall of white hearts, each bearing a name of a soldier recently lost in the battle for freedom.

Today is a special day of remembering those heroes and heroines who have courageously stood, and have bravely fallen, in order to keep freedom alive for those who come behind them. To each we are eternally grateful!

Today there are many who share a painful memory of a loved one gone in this brave fight for freedom. For some it is a faded photograph from years ago. For others, it is an empty chair at the dinner table tonight.

We must remember! We dare not forget! Freedom is precious! The freedom to speak, to pray, to write, the freedom to vote, the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression are just some of the freedoms for which precious blood was spilt.

Today, let us pause and remember. Let us pause and give thanks for those brave ones who have brought us this far. Let us pause and determine to hold these freedoms high and dear and to defend them now as they have been defended in the past.

The ancient call to God’s people, the Israelites, to remember the path the Lord had led them on in their journey to freedom is a call that is well worth repeating today. It’s found in the historical record of their journey in Deuteronomy 4:9:

“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”

Father God,
Today I pause to say “thank you” for the freedoms I enjoy; freedoms that were gained at great cost and freedoms that I do not want to take for granted. Comfort those hearts today that ache with the void of a loved one lost in this great battle. Please grant wisdom to the leaders who carry on the high cause of freedom.  Fill our hearts with Your great love and may we each do our part to bring peace today, right where we are, as we celebrate the freedoms we enjoy.  We pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.

It was sixth hour. The dreaded hour. Eighth grade gym class was upon me, and it was dodge ball day. The teacher picked the captains and off they went. “Jimmy.” “Tracy.” “I’ll take Josh.” And on it went until there were two kids left. “Ok, I guess I’ll take Will.” The teacher motioned me to step over to other team as their last resort.

Being picked last didn’t come as a surprise. After all, I had been the “fat girl” in my class of twenty-eight since the age of five. I was used to being last. Still, every gym class, I held on to a silent hope that a classmate might see the real “me” and not judge me according to my appearance or lack of athletic capabilities.

These moments of embarrassment do not define us as individuals, unless we allow them to. Sadly, I did. I allowed other people’s perceptions of my outside ugliness to seep and fester inside of me to the point that I believed if I weren’t outwardly pretty like the rest of them, my inner self was full of ugliness, too. This ugliness reared a fifteen year struggle with bulimia, along with a whole host of other emotional and physical sufferings.

You may not be able to directly relate to the suffering of an eating disorder, but you don’t have to. You have your own “fill in the blank” life experience that has bred similar emotions. So, what does our Lord, the one who created us in His image, have to say about our human sufferings?

Surely, his intention was for us to be perfect, yet He knew the temptations would be too great for his first creations to resist. His word, in Romans 5 reads, “And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character, and character, hope.”

He uses our human sufferings for His greater good. Without experiencing pain, heartache, failure, how would we learn to lean on him in faith, to press on, to develop the character of a Godly woman or man that He so desires us to be? Through my years of dealing with an eating disorder, depression and anxiety, I held fast to these verses in Romans, but with a deluded focus. “Recovery is my hope. Only then will I be happy. Only then will others see the real me,” I foolishly told myself. While recovery has brought relief and restored health in a most amazing way, true lasting happiness can only be rooted in the hope of the Lord. He sees the real you, and he unconditionally loves you.

What kind of suffering is in your life today? Are you persevering or faltering? No matter your struggle, you can be certain the Lord will sustain you and build your character in His sure and unchanging hope. Ask the Lord to reveal his hope to you in the face of your suffering today.

Lord, in the face of suffering, we thank you. We thank you because we know that the trials you have placed in our lives are for your purpose. Continue to strengthen our perseverance, build our character, and hold fast in the hope of the glory of God.
In your name, Amen. 

Question: What kind of suffering is in your life today?

We will always experience suffering during our lives here on our fallen Earth. When we experience pain, especially the death of a loved one, our natural response is to question, to ask why, and perhaps even to doubt God. Because it hurts.

Some people will respond to evil they see by denying that evil exists. But what is perhaps easy to say is quite difficult to live, or as C S Lewis put it: “Whenever you find a man who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same man going back on this a moment later.” There is a name for the person who denies good and evil: a sociopath. Clearly the proper response to evil is not denial.

Other people will respond to evil by removing God from the equation. But removing God does not make evil less evil, nor pain less painful. In fact, removing God also removes ultimate hope. Without God, our world seems permanently and irredeemably evil. Without God, there is no ultimate relief from pain, only pain.

With God we cry out to a loving Father who remains with us and comforts us as we hurt and Himself came to Earth as a human being to suffer and die for us. But without God we cry out into the empty void of nothingness that neither hears our cry nor cares for our pain. Removing God results in no gain and much loss.

When we have God in our lives and hearts, we have hope during difficult times and comfort in the midst of tragedy. We have hope grounded in the fact of God’s mighty power, His limitless mercy, and everlasting love. No matter what happens, God loves us because God is love. And nothing can separate us from Him.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39

Question: What do you need to say to God today in prayer? What questions do you have to ask God?

Originally written by Charles H. Spurgeon, published in “Mornings & Evenings,” entry for May 2nd, AM.
Updated to modern English by Darren Hewer, 2011.

“I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world.” John 17:15

It is a sweet and blessed event which will occur to all believers in God’s own time: Going home to be with Jesus. In a few more years the Lord’s soldiers, who are now fighting “the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12) will be done with conflict, and will enter into the joy of their Lord.

But although Christ prays that His people will eventually be with Him where He is, He does not ask that they may be taken at once away from this world to heaven. He wishes them to stay here. Yet how frequently does the wearied pilgrim put up the prayer, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away and be at rest.” But Christ does not pray like that. He leaves us in His Father’s hands until, like corn fully ripe, we shall each be gathered into our Master’s presence.

Jesus does not plead for our instant removal by death. Our abiding in the flesh is needed for others if not profitable for ourselves. He asks that we be kept from evil, but He never asks for us to be admitted to the inheritance in glory until we are of full readiness.

Christians often want to die when they have any trouble. Ask them why, and they tell you, “Because we would be with the Lord.” I fear it is not so much because they are longing to be with the Lord, as because they desire to get rid of their troubles. If it were so, they would feel the same wish to die at other times when not under the pressure of trial. They want to go home, not so much for the Savior’s company, as to be at rest. Now it is quite right to desire to depart if we can do it in the same spirit that Paul did, because to be with Christ is far better, but the wish to escape from trouble is a selfish one. (Philippians 1:21-26)

Let your desire be to glorify God by your life here as long as He pleases, even though it is in the midst of toil, conflict, and suffering, leave Him to say when “it is enough.”

Question: How do you pray in times of toil, conflict, and suffering?

Do you want to go back to the basics of your faith? Try our study Knowing Jesus Personally.

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

Suffering is something we all experience at some point in our lives. We can suffer in many different ways. Our pain can be primarily physical, or we can suffer in mental or emotional ways. Suffering can be temporary, but it may still be very painful. We always feel very relieved when it comes to an end. Then there’s the severe, constant, unending physical suffering that goes on day after day, year after year. There may not be any hope that our circumstances will improve while on this earth. At times like this we might ask, “Does God care that I’m suffering?” “Are all His decisions loving and fair?” “Is God in control?” “Do I trust Him?” If we believe the Bible which says, God is in control of all things, He is loving and wise, perfect and just, then the answer to these questions is a definite “Yes!” We may not understand why we are suffering, but we can trust God, confident in knowing He will work all things out for our good. We may wonder, “Is anything being accomplished by this suffering?” “Why is God allowing it to happen?” There is purpose in suffering. Circumstances in our lives can be consequences of our own sin and the poor choices we make. But, sometimes we suffer when we haven’t done anything wrong. God wants us to use these adversities to refine, mature, complete and perfect us. If we’re wise, we will not waste this opportunity. The Bible says when suffering comes “count it all joy.”

I know that in my suffering, it gives me great joy and hope to know that because my sins are forgiven, not only will I see Jesus in Heaven, but I have Him with me now to comfort, encourage and guide me. Have you ever confessed your sins to God and committed your life to Him? Would you like to know you are forgiven and going to Heaven some day? If so, you can say a prayer like the one below:

Dear Jesus, I know I have sinned. Thank you for dying on the cross to take the punishment for my sins. I ask for your forgiveness, and I surrender my life to you Amen.

Questions: Does God care that you are suffering? Why is God allowing the suffering to happen?

Suffering is something we all experience at some point in our lives. We can suffer in many different ways. Our pain can be primarily physical, or we can suffer in mental or emotional ways.  Suffering can be temporary, but it may still be very painful. We always feel very relieved when it comes to an end. Then there’s the severe, constant, unending physical suffering that goes on day after day, year after year. There may not be any hope that our circumstances will improve while on this earth.

At times like this we might ask, “Does God care that I’m suffering?” “Are all His decisions loving and fair?” “Is God in control?” “Do I trust Him?” If we believe the Bible which says, God is in control of all things, He is loving and wise, perfect and just, then the answer to these questions is a definite “Yes!” We may not understand why we are suffering, but we can trust God, confident in knowing He will work all things out for our good.

We may wonder, “Is anything being accomplished by this suffering?” “Why is God allowing it to happen?” There is purpose in suffering. Circumstances in our lives can be consequences of our own sin and the poor choices we make. But, sometimes we suffer when we haven’t done anything wrong. God wants us to use these adversities to refine, mature, complete and perfect us. If we’re wise, we will not waste this opportunity. The Bible says when suffering comes “count it all joy.”

I know that in my suffering, it gives me great joy and hope to know that because my sins are forgiven, not only will I see Jesus in Heaven, but I have Him with me now to comfort, encourage and guide me. Have you ever confessed your sins to God and committed your life to Him? Would you like to know you are forgiven and going to Heaven some day? If so, you can say a prayer like the one below:

Dear Jesus,
I know I have sinned. Thank you for dying on the cross to take the punishment for my sins. I ask for your forgiveness, and I surrender my life to you Amen.

Question: What can you be sure of, despite the pain of suffering?