"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen."
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| Sign of Hope by Forza8 |
We've all probably heard the phrase "life ain't easy". Either we've seen or watched it on television shows or experienced it first hand, most can agree that "Life Ain't Easy!"
As religious beings, many times, we think that if we do enough good deeds, bad things might stop happening. We think that "bad things don't happen to good people" or even if we don't believe it, we want it to be true. But in fact, "bad things still happen to good people."
In the scriptures, though we are gifted with mercy and grace, there is still bound to be trials and struggles. The only difference is there is a promise that "the God of all grace... will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you."
There will be an end to our suffering, to our problems. Even more so, we have been promised the Holy Spirit who will be our strength will be with us. He is God with us.
Though there will be trials and pain, we are promised that we will not be alone.
Deut. 31:6 (NIV)
"...for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Take this time to allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you and help you with whatever you might be facing.
He hears us.
The Problem of Pain answers the universal question, "Why would an all-loving, all-knowing God allow people to experience pain and suffering?" Master Christian apologist C.S. Lewis asserts that pain is a problem because our finite, human minds selfishly believe that pain-free lives would prove that God loves us. In truth, by asking for this, we want God to love us less, not more than he does. "Love, in its own nature, demands the perfecting of the beloved; that the mere 'kindness' which tolerates anything except suffering in its object is, in that respect at the opposite pole from Love." In addressing "Divine Omnipotence," "Human Wickedness," "Human Pain," and "Heaven," Lewis succeeds in lifting the reader from his frame of reference by artfully capitulating these topics into a conversational tone, which makes his assertions easy to swallow and even easier to digest. Lewis is straightforward in aim as well as honest about his impediments, saying, "I am not arguing that pain is not painful. Pain hurts. I am only trying to show that the old Christian doctrine that being made perfect through suffering is not incredible. To prove it palatable is beyond my design." The mind is expanded, God is magnified, and the reader is reminded that he is not the center of the universe as Lewis carefully rolls through the dissertation that suffering is God's will in preparing the believer for heaven and for the full weight of glory that awaits him there. While many of us naively wish that God had designed a "less glorious and less arduous destiny" for his children, the fortune lies in Lewis's inclination to set us straight with his charming wit and pious mind. --Jill Heatherly
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