Category: . . . Suffering & Sorrow
Give Me Justice
Jesus ends with this: “I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” All of this has to do with appeals for justice. We see this kind of appeal...
Four Hopes For Hard Times
How should we confront the difficult times life invariably brings? One way is to learn from those who have succeeded in similar straits. Joseph the patriarch faced incredible trials, and his life holds many lessons to give us hope. Let’s look at four. DELIVERANCE IS COMING...
Encouragement from Job the Sufferer
Like twin tsunamis, affliction overtook Job in two crushing waves. First his immense wealth and his ten children were swept away. Then his body was tormented by “loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head” (2:7).Job’s story spans forty-two chapters...
Drinking From the Bitter Waters
By many miracles, God delivered Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. Immediately thereafter, they were three days in the wilderness without water. When they did find at Marah the water they had desperately sought, it was bitter (Exodus 15:22-25). How would they respond...
Bathing the Cat
Have you ever given a cat a bath? Being much wiser than the cat, you know that he needs a bath because he is dirty and smells awful. The cat, on the other hand, has a decidedly different opinion. He hates water, does not believe he...
An Empty Chair at Christmas
Sometimes the hope of Christmas is, “Next year all our troubles will be miles away.” That’s what the song says anyway, but many will not have a merry Christmas just because of that. They know it is not true. Many start with and cannot get past...
The Suffering Church: Meitei Believers
As I spoke by interpreter to the Meitei pastors and church planters in Bangladesh, I knew that I was training a special group of conscientious leaders. We met in a small mud chapel beside a devoted pastor’s home who had just died unexpectedly. They listened intently...
Your Best Life … Later
In his best-selling book, Your Best Life Now, TV preacher and mega-church pastor, Joel Osteen, writes: “God wants this to be the best time of your life” (p. 5). According to Osteen, God wants everybody to have financial success, physical health, and social comfort, in this...
Praying for the Persecuted
The deadliest attack on Christians in the history of Pakistan happened last week. The death toll has reached 85, with 120 wounded. Two suicide bombers entered the worship service in a building that has stood since 1883, and set off explosives containing ball bearings. Children, wives,...
God Is Good All The Time
My daughter recently returned from a five-week medical mercy outreach to Madagascar with an internationally known Christian organization. Soon after arriving, and after witnessing an almost overwhelming level of poverty, hunger, and urgent medical needs, one of her co-volunteers expressed this thought: “I could never believe...
