From this weekend: SOMETIMES...LIFE HURTS. The following are real-life situations that I have been touched by this week: • The pregnant woman who has learned that she may lose her job—and her health insurance. • The single mother who is crumbling under the weight of incredible pressure. • The recently divorced man struggling as his former home is sold and his former wife and children move. • The friend who is struggling to rebound after going septic after surgery and surviving a 24 day hospital stay. • The aging husband who is watching as his wifes memory of him becomes shrouded in the cloud of Alzheimers. • The wife who buried her husband who died without warning and much too young. • The mother still reeling from the death of her only child. • The parents who helplessly watch as their child is hooked in heroin addiction. • The breadwinner whose company has been sold—and whose future is uncertain. • The couple that is faced with overcoming the most intimate betrayal. • The wife who knows Jesus as she faces her terminal condition while praying for her husband—who lives far away from God—and does not know the peace she knows. Sometimes life hurts—leaving us to wonder is there any HOPE? When life hurts—it will happen—we will be faced with the choice between HOPE and DESPAIR. HOPE has the power to lift the human heart and restore the soul in the face of adversity. Claire Boothe Luce—the first female ambassador in the history of the US—There are no HOPELESS situations—there are only people who have grown HOPELESS about them. Can anybody here use a little HOPE? Where do you find your HOPE? Jesus offers HOPE for the HOPELESS. Faith in a God who is bigger and more powerful than our circumstance can do many things for us—among the biggest is to give us a HOPE. The writer of Hebrews reminds us: Now faith is CONFIDENCE in what we HOPE for and ASSURANCE of what we do not see. (11:1) I recently read about a picture of an old burned-out mountain shack. All that remained was the soot-covered chimney rising above the charred debris. In front of this destroyed home stood an old grandfather—dressed only in his nightshirt with his arm around a small boy clutching a pair of patched overalls. The child was crying. Beneath the picture were words captioning what the old man was saying to the boy—simple words, yet they convey a profound theology and philosophy of life: Hush, child, God aint dead! That picture has become a reminder of HOPE! Sometimes we need to be reminded that there is HOPE in this world. In the midst of all of lifes heartache and hardship, we need mental pictures to remind us that all is not lost as long as God is alive and in control of His world—turning everything for good as we love Him. “Hush, child, God ain’t dead!” Yet—the question remains—If God is God—which He is—and if God is good and all powerful—which he is—then HOW can bad things happen to good people? Answer: We live in a BROKEN and FALLEN world. God—who is all knowing and all powerful—has created this world giving us freedom of will—and the effect of our free will is the infection of sin in the human family and its effect on all of creation. Bad things happen to good people—because bad things happen to all people—it is part and parcel of living in a broken and fallen world. Jesus knew—the infection of sin in the whole of creation—has affected all of us. Bad things happen to good people because bad things happen to all people—but Jesus can make all the difference for those who have placed their faith in him. Jesus said, In this world you will have trouble...but TAKE HEART—fear not—I have OVERCOME the world. John 16:33
Posted on: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 01:59:35 +0000
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