July 30, 2019
The dawning of each day can bring with it either storms or sunshine. Sometimes we get a little of both. But whatever comes our way, we believe that in it God will keep a loving hold of our hand.
A friend emailed me recently and said that he was having trouble getting work to support his family. However, he finally was able to get a job working as a correctional officer at prison for the mentally ill.
On June 1, 2018 he opened an inmate’s door to routinely give him something, when he jumped up and for no reason began to beat my friend in the face and head.
When two fellow officers heard the commotion, they rushed to his assistance, not knowing that he was lying on the floor, and the heavy metal door they opened hit him on the top of his head, fracturing his C-6 vertebra in his neck in two places. He ended up with a fractured orbital bone, two c-6 fractures and a concussion/traumatic brain injury and was out of work in a full neck brace for months.
As much as we long for the coming Kingdom, we have to resign ourselves to the pains of this fallen creation. The world attributes these continual trials to “Murphy’s law,” meaning, “What can go wrong, will go wrong.”
Murphy’s law nails it. Things do go wrong. Daily. That last screw that slipped from your hand will always find its way to the plug hole.
Jesus even said that these troubles come daily. He said, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34, Amplified Bible).
Why then bother to be a Christian? My friend loved the Lord and was just trying to take care of his beloved family. Surely God could have somehow warned him not open that prison door. Or He could have at least made sure his head wasn’t in a vulnerable place so that it got hit by a fast-moving steel door. Are these sorts of things too much to ask of a loving Heavenly Father?
Why we come to Jesus is one of the most important questions we can ever ask, and it’s one that Living Waters has been diligent to truthfully answer. While many will say that the reason to come to the Savior is that He will make our lives better, our foundational teachings (“Hell’s Best Kept Secret” and others) tell sinners that their lives may even become worse. It did for eleven of the twelve Apostles. They died horrible deaths for their faith. Millions of Christians down through the ages have found that loving Jesus can bring the terrifying scorn of a God-hating world, hatred from a once-loving family, and even a death sentence. Stephen discovered that ugly truth (see Acts 7:54-59).
All of our gospel tracts, our many books, our movies, and our evangelism training courses will tell you that the reason we should repent and trust the Savior, is because God “has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness” (see Acts 17:30-31). We want to be faithful to our calling and say that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the imaginative heart of sinful men the “indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” that Almighty God will bring upon every soul that does evil (see Romans 2:1-9).
In the light of such a terrifying Day for unforgiven sinners, the daily sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared. Especially in the brilliant light of God’s immutable promise that He will straighten every curveball, so that whatever problem it brings, it will work out for our good (see Romans 8:28). Get a grip of that truth, and the Christian life becomes sure home run.
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