Tuesday 8 May 2012

Whom Jehovah Has Afflicted

Who shall I blame for my troubles? I may point my finger here and there..but whom shall I accuse?  Who has the power to hurt me? 
Then said Pilate to him, Speak you not to me? know you not that I have power to crucify you, and have power to release you? Jesus answered, You could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above. (John 19: 10-11)
I must make my complaint before the God of Heaven. My quarrel is with him, and him only. He has allowed me to hurt. He has ordered all my pain. Without his express consent, there is no hand that may rise against me; no harm that may come crawling near. Who has power to humble me but the God to whom I belong? No, I am his responsibility. His alone.

Why struggle to forgive those who have no power over me?

Father, I will lay my grievances before you, who have promised to undertake for me. You lack no power, no understanding. You know my heart, and you have come this way before me. You, who taught fathers to care for their children and defend them; you, who taught mothers to comfort and weep: you are the one who has designed this for me. If such a one as you choose this way for me, how shall I hold mortals accountable for playing their part in the story you have written me?

But you are kind. But you are good. I cannot see or feel or think how these truths co-exist, but I will run to you. I will cry out my complaint to you, who break me and heal me.
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will defend my own ways before him. (Job 13:15)
Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none on earth that I desire beside you. (Psalm 73:25)
These all are mine, and though you have set them from me for a while, I must have them in the end, for you are a God who cannot lie!
...them that honor me I will honor. (1 Samuel 2:30)

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17)

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. (1 Peter 5:10)

The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord. (Isaiah 38:20)

When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. (Proverbs 16:7)

For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. (Psalm 72:12)

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