Oswald Chambers Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 NLT Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked? Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life. There is no reasonable hope for countless lives, and it is shallow nonsense to tell them to “cheer up.” Life to them is a hell of darkness of the most appalling order. The one who preaches at such a time is an impertinence, but the one who says “I don’t know why you are going through this, it is black and desperate, but I will wait with you,” is an unspeakable benediction and sustaining. Job has no one to do this for him, his one-time friends simply add to his bitterness. The decrees of despair lie underneath everything a man does when once he rules out his relationship to God and takes rationalism as the basis of life. Solomon sums up the whole matter—unless a man is rightly related in confidence to God, everything he tries to do will end in despair. Reflection Questions: Are my conversations more likely to inspire hope or hopelessness? In what ways can I offer hope to someone in despair?
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 13:27:11 +0000