Trusting God when there are no answers.

'The secret things belong to the Lord...'

Deuteronomy 29: 29 NIV

Sometimes we treat life as if it's a Maths lesson. We're faced with a problem, and if we look long enough we eventually find the solution. But life isn't all algebra and percentages. Life has a sneaky habit of raising questions we can't seem to answer: innocent children born with HIV; cancer robbing a young mum of her life; a tsunami devastating an island. Where are the answers to these sorts of questions? We try and make sense of it, we search for clues in the suffering, we blame ourselves, we blame others, and yet we're still no further down the line in understanding suffering's million dollar question, 'Why, God, why?

'The book of Job turns the spotlight on the question, 'Why?' It's about one good man's struggle against suffering. But it could just as easily be about the Holocaust, or 9/11, or you! It asks why God heals one person's illness but not another. Are we somehow to blame for our own misery? Is it right to question God? Will we ever get the answers we crave? The answers page seems to have been torn from the back of the text book. We find that suffering isn't a sum to be solved. We find that God has His ways and they're higher than ours. We're confronted with a hard truth: are we willing to trust God despite the uncertainty? The question is: are you?

Sunday, 20 December 2009
http://www.word4u2day.com.au/200912191954/Trusting-God-when-there-are-no-answers.html

Nothing is more important than love

'...live a life of love...' Ephesians 5:2 NIV

The great Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle married his secretary, Jane Welsh. She kept working for him but when she got ill, Carlyle, who was devoted to his work, didn't really notice. But she had cancer and was eventually confined to bed. Although Carlyle loved her, he found that he didn't have much time to give attention to give to her. Then she died. After the funeral Carlyle found Jane's diary and began to read it. On one page she'd written a single line: 'Yesterday he spent an hour with me and it was like heaven: I love him so much.' A reality he'd somehow been too blind to see now revealed itself with crushing clarity. He'd been too busy to notice how much he meant to Jane. He thought of all the times he'd been preoccupied with his work and failed to notice her. He hadn't seen her suffering. He hadn't seen her love. Turning the page, he read words he'd never forget: 'I've listened all day to hear his steps in the hall, but now it's late, he won't come today.' Thomas was devastated. Later, friends found him at the side of her grave, covered with mud. His eyes were red from weeping, 'If only I'd known, if only I'd known,' he cried. After Jane's death, Carlyle made little attempt to write again. Nothing is more important than love. Is there anyone you need to spend time with today?

SoulFood: Ezek 47:1-12, Rev 21: 22 - 22:5

Sunday, 09 August 2009

http://www.word4u2day.com.au/200908081821/Nothing-is-more-important-than-love.html?bsb_midx=0