Category: Suffering
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simply trusting
The last few years have brought changes that have significantly shaken the previously cushioned existence of the developed nations of the West. Christians have not been immune from this shaking. With the sudden advent of Covid life changed dramatically. The future became more uncertain. The war in Ukraine, hard on Covid’s heels, has served to…
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imprecation
When we read the OT we come across imprecatory passages. Imprecations invoke God’s judgement upon the writer’s enemies. They cry for vengeance and call down curse, calamity, and destruction and sometimes in stomach churning ways. For example, in Psalm 137 the writer exclaims to the Babylonians, ‘ 9 Blessed shall he be who takes your…
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christ …impeccable yet tempted
Dr D Blair Smith of Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary Charlotte has a good article on Christ’s impeccability which can be found here on the Gospel Coalition website. It is encouraging that impeccability (unable to sin) is defended in a climate where peccability (able to sin) thrives and (through continued Barthian…
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great is your faithfulness
Lamentations 3:21- 26 21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in…
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responding to trials… Coronavirus
Coping with our thoughts can be difficult in trying times. There are fears and concerns that can cross our minds that it is right to banish as unbelief. Our Heavenly Father knows our every need and we can trust him to meet it. However, when God brings us into trials, we should ask what he…
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preaching about suicide
First of all, a further apology for such a time between posts. Productivity is likely to remain low over the next couple of months so apologies again in advance. On a recent Sunday past, a group of students from a nearby Bible College were responsible for our Morning Bible Hour. Their preacher was a young…
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discipline… an initiative of grace (1)
a doxology to grace… a preamble The gospel is the announcing of extravagant grace. It proclaims to a disgraced, enslaved and hopeless world how ‘the grace of God has appeared to all men bringing salvation’ (Tit 2:11). In Jesus, the embodiment of grace and truth, God’s rescue plan for the nations is unveiled. In Christ,…
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the trying of your faith… (6)
Does the Bible explain suffering? Does it provide a theodicy – a justification of God? The answer to both questions is the same; yes and no. There is much suffering in the world. Indeed, there is such pervasive and pitiful suffering that few of us are able to bear more than a glimpse of it…
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the trying of your faith… (5)
Job says, Job 14:1 (ESV) “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. and again, Job 5:7 (ESV) but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Of course, Job had good reason to view life like this. He lost, possessions, family and health all within…
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the trying of your faith… (4)
The Bible makes no bones of the fact that Christians will suffer and life experience bears this out. How are we to endure sufferings? The answer is, through gospel faith. The gospel gives incentive after incentive to endure and indeed to triumph in and over suffering. In fact, it may be easier to list those…
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the trying of your faith… (3)
Faith faces testing. We are considering the testing of faith by troubles in life. Ill-health, difficult relationships, unemployment, and many other difficult circumstances test faith. We noted that we should not be dismayed by these as they are precisely what the Bible says life in this world will be like. Many, says the Psalmist, are…
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should we question God?
For some Christians the very idea that any would question God is profane and impious. For other Christians questioning God seems almost to be a mark of Christian liberty, even maturity. Who is right? The truth is that it is not so much the questioning of God that is the issue, rather it is the…
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what can miserable christians sing?
Justin Taylor has a helpful blog entitled ‘Is your church a safe place for sad people’. It challenges us to reflect on how well we nurture those who are grieving or weary – a question worth considering. In similar vein he asks if any of our hymns allow weary Christians to give expression to their…
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the trying of your faith… (2)
How do we stay firm when faith is tested? How do we remain strong when the going gets tough? In a sense every truth of our faith in one way or another an answer to this question. I want to focus on only a few, some that the Bible uses to encourage us. In this…
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the trying of your faith… (1)
Unless you belong to a local church that is poor and mistaken in its teaching you will know that Christian’s do not go through life unscathed, nor does God suggest they will or should. Sooner or later our faith will be tested. What does it mean for faith to be tested? Well, put simply, a…
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the god of haiti
I’ve just watched The Big Questions hosted by Nicky Campbell on BBC1. This is a programme I normally enjoy for minority views normally get a fair hearing. Nicky Campbell is very good at asking the hard question of each position. He also is courteous, unpatronising and presses for views to be countered with argument not…
Cave Adullam 