Would to God that we could digest all that we hear and read - of the good quality! There is load out there that we end up ingesting incidentally and it is not of the best quality. The news of the day is burdensome most of the time - causes indigestion! The media's bombardment of materialistic promotions and sensual temptation tends to harden our arteries - in particular those arteries that would hopefully be leading to a heart tender toward God.
Here is something very palatable - I couldn't "harvest" it all but gleaned these words from Isaiah 38. Verse 17 reads, "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love You kept me from the pit of destruction; You have put all my sins behind Your back."
It probably needs not be asked "if" you have suffered lately. It seems like everyone has and is! I would dare to caution you away from the "victim mentality" that often leads to "pity parties". Some think they are singled out to suffer. Scripture also tell us that no temptation (implies also difficult situations) has confronted us but it is "common to mankind". Tough stuff is part of life in a fallen, imperfect world.
So troubles come but can we see a divine benefit with it, as Isaiah recognized? Through suffering and trial, the Lord calls us to look to Him, to exercise faith (too often left to get "flabby" or "thin" through lack of attention and exercise), to not get so at home down here that we forget we are made (re-made as new creations) for heavenly glory. Suffering has redemptive purposes in many cases - the greatest of which is Jesus' suffering on the cross - that is how we are "redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; His child and forever I am!"
It was God's love in Jesus that kept us out of the pit of destruction (hell!). That is because God has chosen not to focus on our sins but to put them "behind [His] back". He actually put them on Jesus back - God "laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6). "If God did not spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all, how will He not, also with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
Digest the sweet message of God's Word in the truths of the Gospel (the Gospel is even in the Old Testament!). It is more than "food for thought". It is the very words of life. True bread which nourishes and satisfies the soul! And remember, "soul food" is the most important appetite to cultivate and feed since we are not to fear those that can harm our bodies but to hold in awe the One who could destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28) - thanks, God, You give us heaven instead - because of Jesus !
Peace and love in Him + Pastor Paul Koehn
Here is something very palatable - I couldn't "harvest" it all but gleaned these words from Isaiah 38. Verse 17 reads, "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In Your love You kept me from the pit of destruction; You have put all my sins behind Your back."
It probably needs not be asked "if" you have suffered lately. It seems like everyone has and is! I would dare to caution you away from the "victim mentality" that often leads to "pity parties". Some think they are singled out to suffer. Scripture also tell us that no temptation (implies also difficult situations) has confronted us but it is "common to mankind". Tough stuff is part of life in a fallen, imperfect world.
So troubles come but can we see a divine benefit with it, as Isaiah recognized? Through suffering and trial, the Lord calls us to look to Him, to exercise faith (too often left to get "flabby" or "thin" through lack of attention and exercise), to not get so at home down here that we forget we are made (re-made as new creations) for heavenly glory. Suffering has redemptive purposes in many cases - the greatest of which is Jesus' suffering on the cross - that is how we are "redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; His child and forever I am!"
It was God's love in Jesus that kept us out of the pit of destruction (hell!). That is because God has chosen not to focus on our sins but to put them "behind [His] back". He actually put them on Jesus back - God "laid on Him the iniquity of us all." (Isaiah 53:6). "If God did not spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all, how will He not, also with Him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)
Digest the sweet message of God's Word in the truths of the Gospel (the Gospel is even in the Old Testament!). It is more than "food for thought". It is the very words of life. True bread which nourishes and satisfies the soul! And remember, "soul food" is the most important appetite to cultivate and feed since we are not to fear those that can harm our bodies but to hold in awe the One who could destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28) - thanks, God, You give us heaven instead - because of Jesus !
Peace and love in Him + Pastor Paul Koehn