Why God allows His saints to suffer ?

From the Bible, we get light on some of the reasons why God allows His saints to suffer:

1. Sometimes it is a result of unjudged sin in the life (1 Cor. 11:32).
2. It is a means by which God develops spiritual graces, such as patience, longsuffering, humility (Rom. 5:3, 4; John 15:2).
3. It purges dross or impurities from the believer’s life so that the Lord can see His image reflected more perfectly (Isa. 1:25).
4. It enables the child of God to comfort others with the same type of comfort with which God comforted him or her (2 Cor. 1:4).
5. It enables the saint to share in the non-atoning sufferings of the Savior and thus to be more grateful to Him (Phil. 3:10).
6. It is an object lesson to beings in heaven and on earth (2 Thess. 1:4-6). It shows them that God can be loved for Himself alone, and not just because of the favors He bestows.
7. It is an assurance of sonship since God only chastens those whom He loves (Heb. 12:7-11).
8. It causes saints to trust in God alone and not in their own strength (2 Cor. 1:9).
9. It keeps God’s people close to Himself (Ps. 119:67).
10. It is a pledge of future glory (Rom. 8:17, 18).
11. God never allows us to be tempted above what we are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13).




“You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord-that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (Jas. 5:11b).
(BBC)

Lessons from Suffering

Some of the lessons we learn about suffering from the Book of Job are:

1. The righteous are not exempt from suffering.
2. Suffering is not necessarily a result of sin.
3. God has set a protective hedge around the righteous.
4. God does not send sickness or suffering. It comes from Satan (Luke 13:16; 2 Cor. 12:7).
5. Satan has some control in the realm of wicked men (the Sabeans and Chaldeans), supernatural disasters (fire from heaven), weather (a great wind), sickness (the boils on Job), and death.
6. Satan can bring these things on a believer only by God’s permission.
7. What God permits, He often is said to do. “Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?”
8. We should view things as coming from the Lord, by His permission, and not from Satan. “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.”
9. God does not always explain the reason for our suffering.
10. Suffering develops endurance.

11. In visiting suffering saints, we should not be judgmental.
12. We should make our visits brief.
13. Human reasonings aren’t helpful. Only God can comfort perfectly.
14. At the end of the Book of Job we see that “the Lord is very compassionate and merciful” (Jas. 5:11). We also learn that sometimes, at least, wrongs are made right in this life.
15. Job’s patience in suffering vindicated God.
16. Job’s patience proved Satan to be a false accuser and liar.
17. “A man is greater than the things that surround him and, whatever may befall his possessions or his family, God is just as truly to be praised and trusted as before.”
18. We should be careful about making blanket statements that do not allow for exceptions.
19. Satan is neither omnipresent, omnipotent, nor omniscient.
20. In spite of God’s allowing unmerited suffering, He is still just and good.
(BBC)

Cities of refuge

The cities of refuge are a type of Christ, and their names are significant in that connection

The cities of refuge and the meaning of the names are as follows:

West of Jordan
Kedesh—Holiness
Shechem—Strength
Kirjath-Arba or Hebron—Fellowship

East of Jordan
Ramoth-Gilead—Uplifting
Golan—Happiness
Bezer—Safety

Thus Christ provides every blessing suggested by the names of these cities.
As the cities of refuge were so situated as to be accessible from every part of the land, so Christ is very accessible to needy sinners (1 John 2:1, 2).

(BBC)

Caring enough to Pray

Read Isaiah 60:1–66:24

⁶O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually. Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord. ⁷Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth. ⁸The Lord has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength: “I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and new wine. ⁹You raised the grain, and you will eat it, praising the Lord. Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.” ¹⁰Go out through the gates! Prepare the highway for my people to return! Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise aflag for all the nations to see. ¹¹TheLord has sent this message to everyland: “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your Savior is coming.’”Isaiah 62:6-11

Hardly anything happens to shoreline rocks each time a wave rolls in. The water is no match for the stone. Indeed, if you were to come back day after day to watch, you would see no change: waves pound, rocks win. Yet the waves are making an impact, and over a very long time, you would be able to see the cumulative effect. The rocks will wear down.

Like a relentless surf, Isaiah has spoken to his people time and time again. He has warned them about their need to change, and they, rocklike, have not responded—so far. Isaiah has no guarantee that they will ever respond in his lifetime. He certainly hasn’t seen any change. So he faithfully gets on his knees. As you read this passage, learn from Isaiah’s example.

When we warn or counsel others, sometimes they don’t listen. Sometimes we can see their painful consequences, but they refuse to see the danger. After we’ve offered our warnings, our advice, and our pleas, we still have one potent option—prayer. That’s why Jesus taught his followers to pray, “May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

You cannot control others who are about to make a foolish choice or when they’re toying with a temptation that could bring painful consequences, but you can pray for them. Keep praying persistently for the people you love.

(Source: TOYTTB)

Wise move

READ PSALM 111:1-10

When we lack wisdom, the storms of life can be devastating. When we find our life is in pieces, we may realize that we have acted unwisely and want to change, but where do we start?

“Fear of the LORD,” the psalmist wrote, “is the foundation of true wisdom. All who obey his commandments will grow in wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). God has given us clear instructions for our life in his Word. When we fear God and are willing to accept his instructions as the basis for all of our decisions, we have a good starting point.

Jesus said, “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse, because it is built on bedrock” (Matthew 7:24-25). Listening to what the Bible says is the next step toward walking in wisdom. Filling our mind with God’s instructions will help lead us to follow them. This will also help us turn away from the things forbidden by God. The book of Job tells us, “The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding” (Job 28:28).

Turning our life over to God is a wise move! Like most aspects of recovery, walking in wisdom is a process that we grow into. These three elements are the groundwork: reverence for God, listening to his instructions, and following them.

(Source : LRB)

God's Hard plans

 Job 25:5-6 The Bible tells the stories of people who do not get well, who do not quickly get over their problems, who do not easily move through the trials of life. The heroes of this book fail, fall, and hurt. Sometimes, on occasion, they succeed.

God doesn’t have a “wonderful plan” for everybody’s life—at least in this life. For some, His plan allows pain and heartbreak and brokenness. For some, His plan is saying no to the things they most long for.

But we don’t like that. At times, we even refuse to accept it. Some of us will go so far as to say, “If you believe that, you lack faith.” I say, if you believe that, you believe the Bible. Our assignment is to trust God’s plans and to obediently follow wherever He leads.  (Source: SSB)