The Great Recycler

God works in incredible ways that are often not the ways we would have chosen.

As some of you know we lost our son Seth in January of this year. The diagnosis was SIDS. This has been by no means easy and there are no clear cut answers for why The Lord allows suffering into our lives. However, I am here to tell you that even though suffering comes (and come it will) The Lord is able to make good of any situation and use it for your healing, the good of others and to bring glory to God.

I want to tell you one of the many ways that The Lord has brought about good through the death of my son. I will never forget this encounter, I will tell it to my dying day.

I have been going into the jail on 33rd st since my son died this year. I go in about once a month and I participate in a Bible study every week that involves some men who have come out of the jail on 33rd. 

When I go into the jail I usually walk through a section of scripture with the men there. There is typically somewhere between 20-30 men who participate in this. It involves some teaching and a lot of discussion. I share my struggles with them and I am very open and honest with them.

When I meet with men for the Bible study I also share my struggles with them as we study through what the Bible says.

Recently there have been a few new people that have joined us. When new people come we usually take time to go around and introduce ourselves, give a little bit of our backstory, and share what we are currently struggling with.

After I had shared my past and how Jesus has changed my life I shared that I had recently lost my son in January and how I struggle with that everyday. How I am different...how I am sad...frequently.

As I finished speaking, one of the men (who was new to the group) looked up at me and said, "I know you. I've met you before."

This took me off guard to say the least. I don't remember ever meeting this man before.

He said, "You visited me while I was in prison and you shared with us how you lost your Son but how you could still feel God's love and how you still loved Him. I couldn't get you out of my head. I went to bed at night thinking of you. I couldn't figure out how you could lose so much and still love God. I figured He must be an awesome God. I wanted to get to know this God.

I knew what church you went to so as soon as I got out I looked it up. You are the reason that I'm here."

This man has recently given his life to Jesus. He has recently been baptized along with his wife. He is falling more in love with Jesus everyday, even through the messiness that life brings.

I tell this story not to make much of me or my family, but to point towards how great a God we serve.

My son lived 3 months and my wife and I miss him every day, but even through this terrible loss The Lord used the 3 months that my son lived to change the eternity of a man and his wife.

There is no evil, no pain, no despair, no thing, that Jesus cannot redeem. He is the great Redeemer, the great Recycler.

The Lord takes what is ashes, what is ruined, and turns it into a crown of beauty. -Is 61:3

Why?

Why?

It's a question that I'm sure a lot of ask. We probably ask it much more than we're aware of. 

Why did he get promoted instead of me?

Why did my car stop working just when I was starting to get out of debt?

Why did my spouse leave?

Why can't I do anything right?

Why don't people like me?

Why do our loved ones die?

What answer could be given to you that you would find acceptable? Just think, is there really an answer that you can fathom that would bring healing to that wound?

I'm conviced that the answer to that question isn't a proposition or a list of affects that the situation brought about. I'm conviced that if there was an answer like that it wouldn't matter, it wouldn't bring healing or comfort.

I believe with all my heart that I know the answer to that "Why?" question. I think the answer is a person. I know it sounds cheesy to say, "Jesus is the answer," but at the same time I believe it's true.

There is no other answer that bring healing, that can bring comfort than for Jesus to show up in person. He has done so before and He is coming back to do just that. Jesus is coming, He is going to step into my pain and sorrow, He is going to break through your despair and enter your own private hell to take the shackles off you and bring you into the light.

Paul puts it this way in his letter to the church in Colossae:

For he [God the Father] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom* and forgave our sins. (Col 1:13,14)

He's not going to stop there, He is going to right the whole world. The diciple that was one of the closest to Jesus while He was here on Earth was John. He wrote this:

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.* He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” 

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. (Rev 21:3-6)

Have you seen the movie Convicted? If you haven't, this is a little bit of a spoiler...but nothing big.

The movie is about a brother and sister that have an incredibly close relationship. At some point the brother is imprisoned for murder. The sister believes him to be innocent and gets her GED and works her way up to law school. She becomes a lawyer in order to free her brother from prison. It takes 16 years of her life...a lot of time.

At one point in the movie the brother says to her...(in words similiar to these...I won't be able to quote exactly)..."You know, if you left me in here another 20 years, I'd be alright."

The sister expresses shock and believes that he's kidding.

He looks her in the eyes and say, "I just mean, you're working so hard for me out here, goin to school and all and becoming a lawyer. I'm okay no matter what I go through in here because I know there's someone like you that loves me and is working to get me out."

The way that we endure the pain and suffering and confusion is just like the brother from convicted. We take sollace and refuge in the love of one who has given His all in order to save us. Who is even now interceding for us and giving us His Spirit to guide us. We can go through anything if we really believe there is someone that great that is madly in love with us and actively working right now to come back and save us from our prison.

Don't you want a God like that? Who knows the accusations brought against us, and even when they are true takes the penalty Himself and frees us from our prisons? If you have never trusted in Jesus, I think now is as good a time as ever to begin.

The first step to starting a relationship with Him is to know that you are in fact in prison, to know that you can't get out of the prison yourself. Cry out to Him and ask Him to meet you where you're at. Jesus will meet you in your mess and shame, but He won't leave you there.

If you already know Jesus and love Him, remember to look to Him when you are going through hardship and know that there is someone who is infintely more wonderful than the sister in the movie, who isn't just giving up years of his life to school to save you but gave up His whole life in order to save you. 

He is coming again and He will make all things new. Come Jesus, come quickly.

Nightmares

I have been a Christian no longer than five years now. I don't know that right away it began, but soon after I became a Christian I developed the habit of having nightmares almost every night.

This may sound terrible, and I suppose that in truth it is terrible, but the effect that it has on me is one that I actually am glad for. My nightmares are usually about me being entangled in the way that I used to live. I used to behave in a way that chased after everything that I thought would bring me joy without thinking of the relationships that I might be injuring or breaking in the pursuit.

I would let anger fester into hate and I would nurse the hate and continue to feed the flame that burned in my heart against others. I would weave webs of lies (I literally enjoyed deceiving others, it made me feel like I was smarter and more in control) and live at the center/hub of all the lies. When a strand of my web was "broken" my life fell into peril as I had to venture out to the lie that had been damaged and mend it with more lies.

I was consumed by chasing after things that would numb and enable me to escape. From a very early age I was addicted (it was all consuming) to video games. This continued all the way up until the time that I became a Christian. I also consumed oceans of alcohol because I preferred being drunk more than being sober.

My old self, my old way of living was concerned only with maintaining control and "happiness" through whatever means possible. However, my old self settled for leftover fastfood fries when I could have had a feast cooked by a world famous chef.

When things are going good in my life, I like to think that I praise God for those things. In truth I don't think that's the way that things actually happen. I tend to forget God and I certainly lose the awareness that I need Him every moment of the day. I miss out on the intimacy of our relationship when my life is filled with wonderful, good things. This is not His fault, rather it speaks to my selfish nature that wants to be in control. When the illusion of control is there I love to grab it and claim it as my own. In the process I tend to cut God out of the picture (even though sometimes I'm doing it unconsciously).

My nightmares have been a blessing, as I believe all suffering in the hands of Jesus can be turned from a tragedy into something completely different to be used to bless us and others. Suffering in the hands of Jesus is like a Phoenix that rises from the ashes. The prophet Isaiah says that God trades us, He takes our ashes and gives us crowns of beauty, He takes our despair and turns it into festive praise.

My nightmares remind me that my selfishness is still their, still lurking in my heart. Why is that good? Because when I see the depth of my depravity I also see the height of my Savior's love for me. He loves me not just when I'm at my best, He loved me and died for me while I was His enemy. He chose to love me and endure hell in order to make me His.

What are you suffering from? Perhaps you've been stuck staring at the pointing finger instead of looking to where the finger is pointing. It is very easy to see only what's in front of us without looking to the one that all things points to. Our blessings are given to us to draw us to God and our sufferings are allowed in order to bind us ever closer in His arms. As Joni Eareckson Tada puts it, "God permits what He hates in order to accomplish what He loves."

There is nothing, there is not one thing that has happened in your life that God can't turn into something for good. Also, it is not our responsibility to turn bad things into good things (I find myself trying to do this quite a bit), that is His responsibility and we get in the way when we try to take that burden upon ourselves.

Jesus has turned my reoccurring nightmares into blessings that I thank Him for. 

How?

Jesus Christ took the ultimate nightmare on the cross, He was cut off from the one that He loved the most, He was cast out so that when my nightmares actually happen to me in real life I won't have to despair. I know that when my nightmares become true it is not because God hates me, in fact it draws me even closer and plunges me even deeper into the love that Christ has shown for me on the cross.

My God gave up His Son so that when I would lose mine I could know that it's not permanent. 

I fully expect to see my son again and when I do we can enjoy Jesus together for all time. O Lord, your love is an ocean and I am drowning in it.

Set Free

The Christian life is radical. It's so absurd that the guy that wrote most of the New Testament (Paul) describes it like this...

1 Cor 1: 22-23 NLT - It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. 

You might be thinking about Christians that you know and not really see anything altogether that radical about them, but let me show at least some of the craziness that is Christianity. If you buy into these beliefs (and I believe that we have reasonable evidence to do so) they will completely change your world.

If you buy into these beliefs they will enable you to walk through any suffering without becoming jaded/cynical or being crushed to despair by the weight of it. You can find joy no matter what your outer circumstances are. You can have peace even when your world is crumbling around you.

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So what exactly is so foolish, so radical about the cross? 

The cross says that you are not okay. The cross says that we are not mosty good people that sometimes make mistakes. Allow me to illustrate. 

Imagine that you have an invisbile tape recorder hanging around your neck and imagine that this tape recorder turns on everytime you are commenting on how other people should live. Whenever you are talking about, "so and so should be doing this, or they shouldn't be doing that." Imagine that this tape recorder filps on and records it.

Now imagine that there really is a God, and that one day you will have to stand before Him to be judged and He says to you, "I'm going to be very lenient with you. I'm not even going to judge you according to my laws that I've laid down in the Bible, I'm just going to evaluate your life based on your own morals."

Imagine that He reaches down and hits play on the tape recorder and then applies all the things that you've said about others to your own life. 

Would you be able to live up to your standard that you hold other people to? I think for most of us the answer would be no. I don't even live up to my own moral standards let alone God's.

There is a saying, you know how bad a problem is by what it takes to fix it. The cross is a beacon throughout all time, it stands on a hill outside Jerusalem as the measure of what it took to fix the problem. The cross says that not only are you not okay, this is how bad off you are. This is what it takes to fix the problem, the death of Jesus, the Son of God.

The cross is foolishness because your eternal destiny, the most important relationship that you could ever have, is with a man that lived 2000 years ago on the other side of the globe who was treated, tortured, and crucfied like a criminal.

The cross is also foolishness because it is the measure for the amount of love that God has for you. Most people (men especially...i know...I am one of them) feel that it's silly to admit that you need love and even more silly to want love from a god. But nonetheless it is a desire that is at the core of our every relationship, the need to be loved and accepted.

The cross is our beacon in time to know that we are forever loved. 

How is the cross love? 

How do you measure love? If we measured love by what amount of energy, effort and sacrifice someone would go through in order to love another I think it's fair to say that God loves you immensly, completely, and ferociously...so much so that He left His home in glory and came on a rescue mission to save you. That the being who created all things allowed himself to be slandered, wrongly accused, beaten, whipped, stabbed, and crucified in order to love you.

The cross shows how bad off we are, but simultaneously shows us how overwhelmingly and completely we are loved. But there's more than that. It doesn't end there, it actually gets even better.

Jesus' story didn't end there, He actually defeated death and rose from the grave. The author of Hebrews says it like this...

Heb 2:14-15 NLT - 14 Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had* the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying. 

Death is not the end, death is not the worst thing that can happen to you. Christians are actually freed from the slavery of fearing death.

What would your life be like if you believed these things?

What if you believed that you really aren't that great, but also knew that you are loved completely in spite of it? You would be able to accept criticism without getting defensive. Even if it's unjust criticism you could accept it because you know that there are plenty of things you do wrong that do deserve criticism.

You would be free to take risks and go out on limbs in order to love others because you would know that you can never be completely rejected because there is someone so wonderful that is head over heels for you.

You could walk through trials and suffering and know that God isn't angry at you. You would know that no matter what happens in your life that you are still loved completely and not being punished. Because the cross stands for all of us to see you can look to it as often as you need to and see that all of the wrath we deserve, any anger from God that we feel we should be getting was poured out on Jesus so there is none left for us. You would know also that if God gave up His Son to save you, that whatever happens in your life He loves you completely because He's already shown you to what extent He will go to be with you.

What if you believed that death wasn't the end, that you didn't need to fear death because you know the one who has broken the power of it?

Your life would be reordered in such a way that being safe wasn't your top priority. 

You would be free to take risks in order to convey this message because the worst possible thing that could happen to you actually has already been defeated because of Jesus.

You would be free to grieve the loss of loved ones and not be crushed by it because you know that it's not the end. You know that they will see Jesus and together you can see them later when Jesus has made all things new.

Christianity is radical because it sets you free. In Jesus you are set free from competing for jobs and salaries in order to know that you have worth because you can look to the cross and see that you are extremely valued by the only person that really matters. In Jesus you are set free from worrying about dying or losing others to death because you know that even there Jesus will be with us and has defeated the one who has the power of death. In Jesus you are set free to love others without needing them to love you back. In Jesus you are set free to try your hardest and know that even if you fail, He never will.

In Jesus we can know that we don't need to be pefect to be loved by God because He was, and God accepts His sacrifice on our behalf.

2 Cor 5:21 NLT - 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,* so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 

Do you want to be set free like this? I can tell you from my own experience, it is a difficult, terrifying, wonderful, exhilerating adventure. Once you try it, once you know it, once you feel what it's like to experiece the love of Jesus there is no going back. You will be forever changed  and no amount of suffering, injustice, or pain that comes into your life will be able to wrest you from the love that God has for you in Jesus.

Rom 8:31-39 NLT - 31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. 

35 Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”*) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,* neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Not in Control

The terrible reality is that even healthy, fit people get cancer. Even people that take precautions can be killed in a traffic accident. Suffering at some point will touch us all and we have no control over when and where that happens.

So how are we to live with a reality like this?

Let me share with you some things about this reality that have brought me comfort.

I am not in control: Perspective - This doesn't sound very comforting...and in truth I don't know if it would be comforting to anyone (maybe I'm weird...this is likely). The feeling I'm trying to convey is that same feeling I get when looking up to the stars and seeing how small I am in comparison or looking out the window of an airplane and seeing how tiny all the cars appear. That kind of perspective is terrifying because I realize that this life isn't centered around me, I'm just a small part of a big story. I also find it very comforting because it puts me in my place so-to-speak. My tragedies are small in comparison with the larger story that is taking place.

I am not in control: Powerless - If it's something I can control like something at work, some project, I know that I can mess things up. I check, double-check, and re-check to make sure that I'm not making mistakes and when the project leaves my hands I always want feedback to know if I did a good job or if I made a lot of mistakes. When something is out of my control and I find myself powerless to affect it I don't need to worry about any of those things. It is comforting to me to know that when I am out of control I know the one who is in control.

So...what do we know about the one who is in control?

We know that there is no evil that is beyond His power to redeem. Let me give an illustration. The greatest, most cruel evil this world has ever brought against one man is the evil of the cross. Jesus Christ was full of grace and truth, love incarnate. He was unjustly arrested, he had a fake trial which false witnesses (liars) were brought against him to try and make charges stick, he was disgarded by his own people (the Jewish people chose to have a known murder released instead of Jesus), he was beaten brutally, he was tortured to within an inch of his life, then he was crucified all the while being mocked and ridiculed.

Such a great evil against such a pure person has never been committed before and again after this event. It was and is the greatest evil this world has ever seen and yet The Lord is so powerful that He turned the greatest evil into the greatest good.

Is 53:10-12 NLT

But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him 

and cause him grief. 

Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, 

he will have many descendants. 

He will enjoy a long life, 

and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. 

11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, 

he will be satisfied. 

And because of his experience, 

my righteous servant will make it possible 

for many to be counted righteous, 

for he will bear all their sins. 

12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, 

because he exposed himself to death. 

He was counted among the rebels. 

He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. 

Act 2:22-24 NLT

People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene* by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23 But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24 But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip. 

Gal 3:13,14 NLT

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”* 14 Through Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, so that we who are believers might receive the promised* Holy Spirit through faith. 

1 Peter 1:22-25 NLT

22 He never sinned, 

nor ever deceived anyone.* 

23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, 

nor threaten revenge when he suffered. 

He left his case in the hands of God, 

who always judges fairly. 

24 He personally carried our sins 

in his body on the cross 

so that we can be dead to sin 

and live for what is right. 

By his wounds 

you are healed. 

25 Once you were like sheep 

who wandered away. 

But now you have turned to your Shepherd, 

the Guardian of your souls. 

This redeeming power is not limited to the cross. The Lord redeems even the evils that we do in our everyday lives. The book of Genesis reads very similar to the transcript of the Jerry Springer show. One of the stories is of brothers who sold their youngest brother into slavery because they hated him. The youngest brother (that was sold into slavery) was named Joseph. Because of this evil his brothers did to him Joseph is forced to live a hard life full of suffering. He experiences very difficult set backs time and time again, is falsely accused and imprisoned but eventually God uses him and brings him into a situation where he can save the lives of others. At the end of the story Joseph says this

Gen 50:20 NLT

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.

The author of most of the New Testament affirms this same truth. In a letter to the church in Rome he says this regarding followers of Jesus Christ,

Rom 8:28 NLT

28 And we know that God causes everything to work together* for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them

Notice in the above verse that it doesn't say that all things are good but rather The Lord can and will cause everything to work together for good.

How do you survive in life's storms? How do you push on when life is tragic? By looking to the one who is Hope incarnate, by looking to the one who created all things, sustains them and causes them to work together for good.

Col 1:16-22 NLT

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. 

He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,* 

16 for through him God created everything 

in the heavenly realms and on earth. 

He made the things we can see 

and the things we can’t see— 

such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. 

Everything was created through him and for him. 

17 He existed before anything else, 

and he holds all creation together. 

18 Christ is also the head of the church, 

which is his body. 

He is the beginning, 

supreme over all who rise from the dead.* 

So he is first in everything. 

19 For God in all his fullness 

was pleased to live in Christ, 

20 and through him God reconciled 

everything to himself. 

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth 

by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 

21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 

The God of All Comfort

1 Cor 12:26 ESV - "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. "

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I have never walked through anything like this in my life. I have not known much in the way of suffering and this feels like I've been thrown into the deep end of a pool on the first day of swimming lessons.

However, my wife and I are completely overwhelmed by the amount of people from our family, church, and friends that have been praying for us and wanting to do anything they can to help. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

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2 Cor 1:3-7 NLT - All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. 4 He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us. 5 For the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ. 6 Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. 7 We are confident that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in the comfort God gives us. 

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I wanted to share with anyone who wants to know some of the biggest comforts.

1.) I have prayed for my children since they were in the womb. My biggest concern for them is that they would know the Savior Jesus and come to love him more than anything else this world has to offer. I have prayed for Allie longer than I have prayed for Seth (because she is older) but my prayers for Seth have always been different.

What's different about my boy is that whenever I would pray for him in the mornings I would always feel as if The Lord would come beside me and assure me that he was His. I have never worried about my son. I have always felt that The Lord had him in the palm of his hand.

When this happened, I felt that this is what The Lord had been assuring me of...that when this would happen I could abide in the peace that The Lord has been offering me that Seth is His.

2.) I typically (because I'm snooty and terrible in many ways) don't like to read books that I consider "fluffy." I usually like to read books that read more like text books and are difficult to read. Recently however, I had a co-worker recommend a book to me (I have had many people recommend this book but this time it was different). I felt like it was not just her recommending the book but The Lord strongly telling me that I needed to read it. I went home that day and purchased the book, "The Shack."

For those of you not familiar this is a book about suffering and loss. A father loses his youngest child, his daughter. I haven't finished the book yet but so far the book seems to offer that there is no solution, there is no "fix" to suffering...but abiding in the presence of The Lord brings comfort and peace.

When my son passed I knew that The Lord was there, I knew that He had been preparing me for this, I knew that this didn't take my Lord by surprise.

There are many more mercies that The Lord has given us throughout this, these are just some of the more profound ones.

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Ps 39:4-7 NLT - Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. 

Remind me that my days are numbered— 

how fleeting my life is. 

5 You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. 

My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; 

at best, each of us is but a breath.” 

Interlude 

6 We are merely moving shadows, 

and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. 

We heap up wealth, 

not knowing who will spend it. 

7 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? 

My only hope is in you. 

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Do you know Jesus? I beg of you, if you do not know my Lord please at least consider Him. There is none more kind than my Savior Jesus. There is no one and nothing that satisfies and comforts like Him.

Matt 11:28 ESV - Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Through this I have learned that the Lord is enough. The comfort that I myself have received and currently am receiving I pass to you. Jesus is enough, Jesus sustains, Jesus comforts, Jesus redeems, Jesus gives meaning and purpose to suffering and pain.

1 Corinthians 15:3–9 (NLT) — 3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.

The Problem of Pain

Isaiah 53:3–12 (NLT) — 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 

6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people. 9 He had done no wrong and had never deceived anyone. But he was buried like a criminal; he was put in a rich man’s grave. 10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands. 

11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish, he will be satisfied. And because of his experience, my righteous servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins. 12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier, because he exposed himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

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Suffering...it's terrible. Loss...it feels so unnatural.

How are we supposed to walk through the valleys of life and come out the other end. There's some things in life where it feels like there's just no way to continue, no way to move on.

I don't know much, but I'll tell you what I do know. We serve a God that knows suffering intimately, knows sorrow intimately.

3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down.

I know that whatever I'm walking through, whatever I'm enduring...my Savior knows my pain because he's already experienced my pain on the cross, my sorrow on the cross. Not only that but he footed the bill for all of my mistakes and short-comings. All the things that I did wrong and all of the times where I should have done something and instead did nothing.

My God, my Savior is not a God in an ivory tower that dictates the world. My God, My Jesus is a God that left glory to experience my pain, sorrow, and grief and rescue me. My Jesus pursued me even when I was actively running from him.

Because of the cross I never have to doubt the love that the Lord has for me.

I lost my son, my 3 month old son. I would never have chosen to give him up. He was so sweet, SO sweet.

My God lost His Son, His perfect Son...in order to save me, in order to save us. I serve a God that knows my sorrows intimately.

Psalm 73:25–26 (ESV) — 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Hoping Through Despair

Luke 22:31–32 (ESV) — 31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
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When life comes crashing down, where do you run for cover?

Recently Isaac Hunter, pastor of the church Summit has left his post. He recently resigned from the position of head pastor due to moral failure - an affair...

This news has rocked many that know Isaac and the Hunter family. For those of you that don't know, Isaac is the son of Joel Hunter, senior Pastor of Northland church here in Orlando and part of Obama's Advisory Counsel on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

So when something like this happens, what are we to think? Did God fail? Does this prove that God isn't real? Does this prove that it was really a scam all along?

Behind the Scenes

To give you some context to this verse, this is taking place near the end of Jesus' life. The disciples had shared their last meal with Jesus, the Passover meal, and this is right before Jesus is unjustly arrested, judged, and tortured.

The text above is foreshadowing the events to come. Peter is going to deny that he has any relationship with Jesus at all by his actions and his words. He's not going to make this mistake once, but three times and take an oath on it.

In the text we get a peek behind the scenes to see that there is more than meets the eye.

It's not just that Peter makes mistakes or messes up...we all do that...but there is more to it. This isn't just a casual mess up, Peter is an important man. Peter is the leader of the disciples, he will be the man that is one of the pillars of the Christian movement, whose life will influence millions of people and who God will use to bring others to a knowledge of His Son Jesus.

This is a strategic, crippling attack on a church leader by Satan himself.

We would expect that the whole Jesus-following movement would have come to a halt, we would expect that the other disciples would lose heart. If the leader himself fails, how can anyone else succeed?

Rules of Engagement

Notice that even though this is a terrible blow to the Jesus-movement Satan has to ask permission! Do you realize the implications of this detail? This means that when all is said and done, the one who is in control is not the devil...it's Jesus.

This means that whatever sin has overcome you or whatever sin has been done to you, there's hope. How can this give you hope?

This means that Satan is nothing but a lackey.....this means that even the great antagonist of the world cannot harm one of God's children unless he has permission. Why is there hope? Because of the one who is in control. Even when all hope seems lost and despair seems to be crouched at your door the devil is not in control...God is...

1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV) — 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

If God is the one in control, that means there is no sin that's ever touched your life that God can't redeem and use for the building up of your faith and the faith of those that you will come in contact with. God will build his church not in good times alone, but God can use even the fiercest trials to build his church.

That means that hurt and pain are not meaningless. Imagine that sin is a knife, think of the knife in the hands of a psychopath and think of a knife in the hands of a surgeon. God is like a surgeon in that even our deepest wounds, the most painful things we will endure can be used to draw us and others closer to God.

A Living Hope

We tend to have things in our lives that we know we can depend on. Some things change, they move around, they shift, but there's always a few things in your life that we've learned are stable and can be trusted.

What do we do with ourselves when our stable things are fractured, when those things, those people, those relationships that we've come to depend on are broken, when our worlds are turned upside-down and whatever the foundation you thought was solid feels more like quicksand?

If it ultimately comes down to you being able to endure, you being able to stand when everyone else around you is falling...if it comes down to your moral strength and stamina, when pressed hard enough you will fail....we all will..

What are we to hope in when there is no hope? Where are we to find light when it feels like we have been abandoned in the dark?

When Peter has all the reasons in the world to despair, he turns again to Jesus...but why? How? How did he get through it? When Jesus needed Simon Peter the most...Peter ripped their relationship apart. How did Peter continue on when it seemed he had been broken beyond repair? 

Here's the answer. When all hope is lost, when you've failed utterly and completely and don't even know which way is up......you have to hope in someone else.

Look at our text, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail."

Peter's faith is sustained not because Peter is great or a moral superstar, Peter's faith is sustained because Jesus is the one that is sustaining it. Jesus prays for Peter, Jesus intercedes for Peter. Your faith is ultimately in the hands of Jesus and the Bible tells us that He began the faith in us, He intercedes for us when we fail, and that He will see that our faith is made perfect (Heb 12:2 & 1 Jn 2:1,2).

Because Jesus endured the ultimate loss of hope, we never have to lose our hope. Jesus really did despair on the cross where He endured not only physical suffering, but the mental anguish and despair of having His stable, perfect relationship with the Father torn apart. Jesus was cast out of His Father's good graces so that we could be brought in. Jesus endured separation and loneliness so that we never have to face any trails alone.

You see because Jesus has endured the ultimate rending of trust, we can always trust that the Father is there for us. Our trials are nothing compared to what Jesus endured, and when you see that the biggest trial has already been conquered, then you're free to endure the smaller trials in your life.

When you see that you will never have your world shaken like Jesus did, when you see how much He loves you to have endured it for you, you are free to endure the smaller earthquakes that threaten to tear your world two.

How can we have hope in a fallen world? Because Jesus is in control, Jesus is the one that sustains your faith, and Jesus has already endured the ultimate trial for you. 

The future of the Church rests not in us, but in Jesus our Savior, the true leader of the Church.

1 Peter 1:3–5 (ESV) — 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In Good and Bad

Colossians 1:12 (NASB95) — 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

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This book, Colossians, it was actually a letter written to a church in Colosse by the apostle Paul. Now this was before there were churches, so usually if Paul is writing to a church, he's usually the one that started that church. In this case though, the church in Colosse was the work of someone else.

When Paul was preaching, probably in Ephesus a man heard him there, was changed by the gospel, and went home to Colosse to plant a church.

This is the church the letter is addressed to and the amazing part is that Paul is writing this letter while is he in prison for proclaiming the gospel. Not prison like you would think of, this is more of what it was like. ------------>

So from a dark, dank prison, Paul writes this verse.

Colossians 1:12 (NASB95) — 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

The verses before this one Paul is telling the church how much he prays for them and how he wishes for them to become closer to God. Then he starts telling them how to become closer to God.

The first step is to give thanks.

Do you feel like your life isn't going the way you thought it would? Do you feel frustrated at what you don't have or what you do have to deal with that others don't?

Let me make a suggestion, start listing off all of the things that the Lord has placed in your life that you are thankful for. Spend five or ten minutes listing all these things.

It will help put things into perspective...we tend to get caught up and overwhelmed by things in our life.

It is good and right to give thanks to God for bringing good things into our life but it's also good and right to give thanks to God for bringing hard things into our life because they both serve to bind us closer to Him.

If you exist in some form or another in 50 trillion years.....that's incredibile and that's where we should aiming for! You being able to spend eternity in the presence of God is what matters. No matter what you're having to walk through right now, I encourage you to bring it to God and thank Him for it.

When hard things come into our life, God either brought it or allowed it to come. This may sound crazy but hear me out. He is God, He could have stopped it right? There's been other times where He's miraculous intervened but He didn't for you this time. So what are we to do with this?

God doesn't just attack you because it gives Him pleasure, rather He wounds you in order to bring you closer to Him and give you life.

Think about someone with brain cancer and a surgeon. In order for the person to have continued life, the surgeon will have to bash open their brain, take a chunk out and then pump the person full of radiation for months.

This wreaks havoc on the body.....but it's not pointless pain, the surgeon doesn't enjoy inflicting it either. It is to give life.

God allows hard things to happen to us because He is more concerned that we have life in Him than having a trivial 40, 60, 90 years here on this Earth. What is our life on Earth compared to 50 trillion years and beyond in the presence of God!

Paul is telling you, "give thanks to God," while he himself is sitting in a prison! This isn't just some trite preacher saying "it'll all be alright,"this is a man that is living it out, in the worst of it, and is still praising God for how good he is.

No God, No Evil

John 17:3 (NASB95) — 3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

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How can God exist if there is so much evil in the world? If He's all-powerful why doesn't he stop it? If He's all-loving why does he allow it? The presence of SO much evil in the world proves that there isn't a God!

These are very serious concerns and I would like to offer some thoughts to consider.

First off, evil actually proves the existence of God! 

If God doesn't exist then there is no objective way to determine what is good or evil. Let me define objective. Objective moral values are values that are absolute, apart from human opinion.

Without the existence of God good and evil are subjective, they depend on our definition of the terms. Maybe you think something is evil but someone else may not think it's evil and there would be no way of determining whose way is correct! Even if there was a consensus, that doesn't make it objectively binding. It would still be subjective because people decided on it.

If there is no God, morality is just something that has evolved to help with our survival, a herd instinct much like how guerillas take care of each other for the betterment of the whole. That means that my murdering babies for fun is socially discouraged but there is nothing objectively evil about it. It's just like wearing white socks with a tuxedo or belching out loud in public...it's frowned upon and rude.

If atheism is true, we have no grounds for saying that the Holocaust was objectively evil. It was just something that the German people had reached a consensus on and decided was good for the flourishing of their society at the time.

But, if you are like me and think that murdering babies for fun is truly evil, or that the Holocaust was truly evil....then that itself attests to the existence of God.

1. If God does not exist, objective moral values do not exist.

2. Evil exists.

3. Therefore, objective moral values exist (some things are evil).

4. Therefore, God exists.

Also if the Christian God exists, then suffering has meaning. 

Let me explain...

Christianity says, "the chief purpose of life is not happiness, but the knowledge of God."

John 17:3 (NASB95) — 3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

We naturally assume that if God does exist, His main purpose is to make our lives easier. But what if that's not His #1 priority? 

Christianity says that God's main priority is that more and more people come to a knowledge of Him. Because only by knowing God can anyone have everlasting fulfillment. If that is his main goal it gives meaning to evil/suffering because it is through suffering that we have the greatest opportunities to depend and trust in God. This goes for the one suffering or those around him/her.

Patrick Johnstone's Operation World shows that it is in countries that have severe hardship that Christianity is growing at the greatest rates!

China:

It is estimated that 20 million Chinese lost their lives during Mao's Cultural Revolution. Christians stood firm in what was probably the most widespread and harsh persecution the Church has ever experienced. the persecution purified and indigenized the Church. Since 1977 the growth of the Church in china has no parallels in history. Researchers estimate that there were 30-75 million Christians by 1990. Mao Zedong unwittingly became the greatest evangelist in history.

El Salvador:

The 12-year civil war, earthquakes, and the collapse of the price of coffee, the nation's main export, impoverished the nation. Over 80% live in dire poverty. An astonishing spiritual harvest has been gathered from all strata of society in the midst of the hate and bitterness of war. In 1960 evangelicals were 2.3% of the population, but today are around 20%.

Ethiopia:

Ethiopia is in a state of shock. Her population struggles with the trauma of millions of deaths through repression, famine, and war. Two great waves of violent persecution refined and purified the Church, but there were many martyrs. There have been millions coming to Christ. Protestants were fewer than 0.8% of the population in 1960, but by 1990 this may have become 13% of the population.

Also God's purposes are not limited to this life alone, but reach beyond the grave.

Christianity says that this life is terrible, but it is short and not even worth comparing to how great things will be with God in eternity.

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 (NLT) — 16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Romans 8:18 (NASB95) — 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

The presence of suffering is a sobering reality, but God permits suffering and evil because it will accomplish an even greater good. We can see this most clearly on the cross where Jesus' suffering and torment allows for a greater good in the redeeming of our souls for those that will believe in Him.

1 Peter 2:22–25 (NLT) — 22 He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. 23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. 24 He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. 25 Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.

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Craig, W. L., (2010). On Guard. Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. Colorado Springs, CO: David C Cook.

It's not Fair!

1 Peter 2:23

23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.

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Fairness.......where do we get this concept? Nothing in life is truly fair, and yet we cry "Not Fair!" all day long. It's as if we are constantly surprised that life is not fair, even though we have zero reasons to believe that it would be. This is like being surprised every time you open up the refrigerator and find that it's cold on the inside. 

Even though this makes sense intellectually, "Yeah, life isn't fair," our souls still cry out for an existence where things really are fair. Isn't this interesting? There's a C.S. Lewis quote that goes:

"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?" - Mere Christianity

When things happen to us that we do not deserve, we want justice! We want retribution, vindication, revenge. We want to hurt whatever or whoever hurt us so bad that they will never try anything like that again. That's where my heart goes when I've been "wronged." That's what/how we all feel, isn't it?

Almost all of us...

These feelings that well up in us when we've been wronged or unjustly punished, how are we suppose to deal with them? How did Jesus deal with it?

I hate being punished for something I didn't do, I want to do everything in my power to prove my innocence. Jesus reaction comes in stark contrast to my own.

1 Peter 2:21–25 (NLT)

²¹ For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps. ²² He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone. ²³ He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly. ²⁴ He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed. 

Jesus voluntarily chose to be punished for crimes he did not commit - “No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”” (John 10:18, NLT)

And when he was suffering through the worst of it, he did not retaliate or try to vindicate himself, but rather he "left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly." Again in Romans 12:19 “Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.”

Jesus trusted in God, even during the worst of his suffering. If you are going through something right now, you're in the midst of it, know that God isn't some lofty God who from an ivory tower tells you to just deal with it. Rather God is a compassionate God who sent his Son to suffer as we suffer, to live as we ought to live, and to die a death separated from God that we don't have to die if we trust in Him for our salvation.

Isaiah 45:22 (ESV)

²² “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

Hebrews 2:18 (NLT) — 18 Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

Matthew 11:28–30 (NLT)

²⁸ Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”