Hurting? God Cares
Help, Answers, Support, Hope
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Net-Burst.Net
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The sidebar has links to webpages for people who are hurting, but first let me prove in a few words how especially important to God such people are. Then we will briefly explore encouraging spiritual insights into suffering. In the Old Testament, the socially and/or economically disadvantaged – widows, orphans and foreigners – were repeatedly singled out as recipients of God’s care and attention: Deuteronomy 10:18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. That’s just one of many such Scriptures. Jesus came to show us the Father, and in his earthly ministry – indeed throughout the Bible – almost all miracles focused on the sick, the poor, the demonically oppressed and/or those in danger. Time after heart-rending time, we see God in the flesh moved with deep compassion for people who were hurting. He repeatedly singled out foreigners for special attention and praise (Examples). When surrounded by a jostling crowd, it was the most needy (the hemorrhaging woman) that he focused on. The Son of God selected society’s rejects (tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, a dying thief, etc.) to defend and socialize with (See Moving Scriptures). Even at his birth it was lowly shepherds, not the theologians and religious elite, that angels appeared to. We see God’s heart exposed in the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7). The safe ones are loved and divinely cared for, but those who are particularly needy or vulnerable (the lost) receive extra care and attention from the Good Shepherd. Consider the beatitudes: blessed are the poor, the hungry, the grieving, the hated, the slandered, the persecuted; woe to those who currently have a soft, easy life (Luke 6:20-26). The Exalted One delights in uplifting the downtrodden and hurting:
Psalms 113:7-9 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes, with the princes of their people. He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD. (Many more beautiful Scriptures) The Almighty deliberately chooses the lowly and have-nots and even gives them special revelation that the advantaged miss out on (Scriptures). Bible believers who absorb and meditate on all the Scriptures in the above links will become increasingly convinced of how important to God are the oppressed, the disadvantaged or those who are otherwise suffering. There is an additional, deeper and more mysterious way of knowing, however. As God’s Word hints would happen (The Joy of Suffering), my very many years of inner pain have somehow sensitized me to God’s compassion for people who are hurting and have empowered me to minister to such people. My agony has kept drawing me closer to God’s infinitely beautiful heart. That is a privilege of such immense value that it renders all my suffering a pittance to pay for it. Let me be clear: if we tracked back far enough – even if we had to go all the way back to Adam’s sin – we would find that suffering never originates in God’s will but in rebellion against God’s will. It is God’s will – his passionate yearning – that people never break his heart by corrupting themselves and hurting others by fighting, stealing, cheating, slandering, and so on. Acting contrary to God’s loving ways even has inevitable environmental and genetic implications that snowball for countless generations and end up inflicting untold suffering. To be in this world is to be exposed to godless acts and to the inevitable suffering that results. But to be removed from this world is to be torn from the very place that most needs us; the place where we can achieve the greatest good and win for ourselves eternal glory. To cite from another of my webpages:
God’s passion is that we experience divine joy – eternal glories beyond our present comprehension that make what we presently call happiness seem like plain sugar compared with an exquisite banquet. But we can partake of God’s joy, only if we first partake of his nature. For a cat to appreciate human pleasures, it would have to become human. Even a human child cannot fully enter adult pleasures until he loses childish tastes and irresponsibilities and becomes like an adult. Likewise, we can only truly enter the joy of the Lord (Matthew 25:23) by becoming like the Lord. And it is toward that end that God is constantly working.
Note that Romans 8:28-29 says the Sovereign Lord works everything that happens, not causes everything that happens. We must understand that we presently live in a battle zone – a world filled with God’s enemies. When Christ returns this period of grace will instantly end and everything contrary to God’s loving ways will be annihilated. That will be both the most thrilling and most horrifying moment in earth’s history. It will mean the end of pain and suffering and cheating and lying and stealing and hate, but it will necessitate the destruction of everyone who has not let Christ remove every trace of sin from their lives. A world in which there is no suffering is a world in which everyone not cleansed from their sin has been eternally banished to hell. So each moment in which the world we live in exposes us to suffering, is another moment in which billions of precious people have yet another chance to come to their senses and let Jesus deliver them from their suicidal infatuation with sin before it’s too late (2 Peter 3:9-14). Our glorious Lord takes disgusting acts hurled at him in defiant hate – acts totally contrary to divine love, goodness and wisdom – and turns them around so astoundingly that good results. For some famous examples, consider: 1. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (KJV), “a messenger of Satan” that God transformed into an asset that spiritually protected him by keeping the apostle from being devastated by pride. 2. Joseph, sold into slavery by his jealous brothers and yet through this and additional personal calamities, ended up catapulted to power in Egypt at just the right time to save countless thousands from starvation. No doubt the oppression also did much to develop his character. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good,” he told his brothers (Genesis 50:20). 3. Jesus, the ultimate example, who through suffering rejection, humiliation and physical torment is exalted forever as humanity’s Savior. Like Jesus’ time on this planet, our temporary suffering is the inevitable product of not living in a world where God’s perfect will is done as it is in heaven. Nevertheless, as Jesus’ suffering was not a waste but achieved enormous good, God loves us far too much to let our suffering be a waste. The Almighty brings so much good out of the pain that evil inflicts on us that even our very suffering is something to rejoice in. It takes time for God’s artistry to be fully manifested but when we commit them to God, attacks from godless forces will end up refining our character in priceless ways, and we can even look forward to compensation for our short-term suffering – compensation so stupendous that it will extend for all eternity. Wrote Paul (2 Corinthians 11:23-27) in the very epistle in which he listed his litany of personal sufferings: 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (Emphasis mine.) For more on this vast subject, see God & Suffering. About the side links: The links lead to still more links on each topic. On the other hand, at first glance the list gives an exaggerated impression of the number of topics covered because I have sometimes used more than one way of referring to the same topic, thus duplicating some links. Further helpful links appear on Hate Yourself?
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Abuse Addictions Anger at Injustice Anorexia Bathroom (Toilet) Difficulties Bereavement Besetting Sin Bitterness Body-Dysmorphic-Disorder [Relationship] Break-Up Chronic Pain Condemnation Cutting Oneself Demonic Oppression Depression Discouragement Dissociative Identity Disorder Doubt Eating Disorders Embarrassment Fear Financial Needs Gay Concerns Grief Guilt Feelings Homosexuality Incest Inferiority Insomnia Intrusive Thoughts Lesbianism Learned Helplessness Loneliness Marital Issues Masturbation Miscarriage Mother Guilt Multiple Personalities Nightmares Obsessive Compulsive Disorder [Physical] Pain Phobias Pornography Post Traumatic Stress Rape Racial Issues Scrupulosity Rejection [Low] Self-Esteem Self-harm Self-Hate Sexual Issues Sexual Abuse Sickness Singles Issues Slandered by Christians Sleep Paralysis Sleeplessness Spiritual Afflictions: Curses Deception Doubt Feel Rejected by God Spiritual Barrenness Wilderness Suicidal Temptation Trauma Trials [Feeling] Ugly Unanswered Prayer [The] Unforgivable Sin |
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