. . . So that the work of God might be displayed. . .
The life of every creature and the breath of all people are in God's hand. -Job 12:10
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. -Romans 8:28a
Suffering is never easy to understand. Because he assumed that suffering resulted from sin, Eliphaz could not comfort his friend (Job).
Some people see sin in every sickness. They make their friends miserable by probing for hidden sins whenever suffering enters their lives. Although there may be truth in their questioning, it also could be a cruel response to another's time of pain. They are like Job's so-called friends who pointed out all of his wrongs. Job called them "miserable comforters.". . .
It is unkind to attribute every accident, every illness and sorrow to God's punishment for wrong behavior. It is appalling how many Christians approach suffering friends with that principle. They visit first with words of comfort, and then leave a load of guilt behind ("What could you have done to deserve this?") or pious advice ("Perhaps you need to pray harder").
Suffering people can be tormented with questions of guilt; however, if all suffering is punishment for sin, then God's signal's must be mixed, for accidents occur at random and disease strikes without any relationship to a person's moral or immoral lifestyle.
God's teaching does not attribute all suffering to sin or punishment for human mistakes. I have no right to tell a suffering person that it is because he sinned that his child died, or that he has cancer, or that his house burned.
In John 9, the followers of Jesus pointed to a man born blind and asked,"Who sinned, this man or his parents?" Jesus told them that neither the man nor his parents sinned, "But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." The disciples wanted to look back, to probe into the behavior of the blind man or his parents, but Jesus pointed them to the future and the hope that even suffering can be used to glorify God.
-From Hope for the Troubled Heart by Billy Graham; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado
We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. -Romans 8:28a
Suffering is never easy to understand. Because he assumed that suffering resulted from sin, Eliphaz could not comfort his friend (Job).
Some people see sin in every sickness. They make their friends miserable by probing for hidden sins whenever suffering enters their lives. Although there may be truth in their questioning, it also could be a cruel response to another's time of pain. They are like Job's so-called friends who pointed out all of his wrongs. Job called them "miserable comforters.". . .
It is unkind to attribute every accident, every illness and sorrow to God's punishment for wrong behavior. It is appalling how many Christians approach suffering friends with that principle. They visit first with words of comfort, and then leave a load of guilt behind ("What could you have done to deserve this?") or pious advice ("Perhaps you need to pray harder").
Suffering people can be tormented with questions of guilt; however, if all suffering is punishment for sin, then God's signal's must be mixed, for accidents occur at random and disease strikes without any relationship to a person's moral or immoral lifestyle.
God's teaching does not attribute all suffering to sin or punishment for human mistakes. I have no right to tell a suffering person that it is because he sinned that his child died, or that he has cancer, or that his house burned.
In John 9, the followers of Jesus pointed to a man born blind and asked,"Who sinned, this man or his parents?" Jesus told them that neither the man nor his parents sinned, "But this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life." The disciples wanted to look back, to probe into the behavior of the blind man or his parents, but Jesus pointed them to the future and the hope that even suffering can be used to glorify God.
-From Hope for the Troubled Heart by Billy Graham; part of The Inspirational Study Bible: New Century Version by Max Lucado
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