Why?
Step 3 “We learned to see purpose in our suffering, that our failed lives were under God’s control, who is able to bring good out of trouble.”
Many of us, as we look back over our past lives, are greatly troubled. Others, facing the problems of today, may feel overwhelmed. The question that haunts us when we find ourselves in such circumstances is the old question, “Why?” Here are some thoughts by a great preacher of yesteryear that can help you see more clearly and find answers to those terrible, perplexing questions which can haunt us and spoil our faith.
Christian One Liners
One of our HA Board members, Rod H., sent us the following which we hope bring you a smile. “Don’t let your worries get the best of you. Remember, Moses started out as a basket case.”
“When you get to your wit’s end, you’ll find God lives there.”
“Quit griping about your church; if it was perfect, you couldn’t belong.”
“A lot of church members who are singing ‘Standing on the Promises’ are just sitting on the premises.”
“Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.”
“Be ye fishers of men. You catch them—He’ll clean them.
“Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.”
Points to Ponder
“Can God subdue sin in the heart of a man? When we see the outrages, the duration, the strength of hold, the universality, the attractiveness, the prestige, and the love of sin, it does seem as if the subjugation of this was too hard even for the Lord. To turn back the tides, to reverse the law of gravity, to alter any other law of the universe—this were an easy task compared with the stupendous change which must be wrought in man before the love of sin can die out of him, and the love of God rule in its stead. What endeavors have been made! what schemes devised! what philosophies elaborated! but all in vain. Hence, despair for ourselves and for others too often predominates in our souls. Evil we are and evil we must be. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit? But ‘there is nothing too hard for the Lord.’ The history of the Church of God proves that there is, in the regenerating, sanctifying Spirit of God, that power which is needed here.” [Pulpit Commentary quoted in Gray and Adams Bible Commentary III, edited by James C. Gray and George M. Adams, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, n.d.), p. 471]
“There are two reasons in our day for holding to a strong uncompromising view of Scripture. First and foremost, this is the only way to be faithful to what the Bible teaches about itself, to what Christ teaches about Scripture, and to what the church has consistently held through the ages. This should be reason enough in itself. But today there is a second reason why we should hold to a strong, uncompromising view of Scripture. There are hard days ahead of us—for ourselves and for our spiritual and physical children. And without a strong view of Scripture as a foundation, we will not be ready for the hard days to come. Unless the Bible is without error, not only when it speaks of salvation matters, but also when it speaks of history and the cosmos, we have no foundation for answering questions concerning the existence of the universe and its form and the uniqueness of man. Nor do we have any moral absolutes, or certainty of salvation, and the next generation of Christians will have nothing on which to stand. Our spiritual and physical children will be left with the ground cut out from under them, with no foundation upon which to build their faith or their lives.” [Francis A. Schaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster, (West-chester, IL: Crossway Books, 1984), p. 46-47]
