This book is amazing. Unfortunately it contradicts what I read in "Why Bad Things Happen to Good People." Stay tuned.
I guess it does make me feel better that these things can't happen with God having a say in it. I will probably have to re-read the book the get some notes together.
Chapter One: I'm Hurting Bad
Section heading-We Are Weak But He is Strong
"We have to trust God. Our people have no other hope." (after visit to Africa)
2 Corinthians 12:9-10: And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Hardships press us up against God
"God always seems bigger to those who need Him the most. And suffering is the tool He uses to help us need Him more."
Know God better through suffering?
Closer to God through trials?
Discover God's hand in heartbreak?
Section heading Back to the Bible
Life of Paul
Philippians 3:10: That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
Who is this God I thought I knew?
Personal note: Just the other day in the kitchen to God, "You're different than I thought you were."
Section One: Who Is This God?
Chapter Two: Ecstasy Spilling Over
God has been contented forever
1 Timothy 1:11: "the blessed God"
1 Timothy 6:15-16: Which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
"the blissful God"
God is actually happy
-lacks for nothing
Psalm 50: 9-10: I will not take a bull for your house, Nor goat out of your folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.
takes pleasure in creation
Genesis 1:18: And God saw that it was good
Trinity
-draws life and being and ultimate enjoyment from no one but Himself
God is joy spilling over
It is worth anything to be his friend
How do we even know He thinks about us?
-We know His Son
John 5:19: Then Jesus answered and said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner."
Psalm 103: 13-14: As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.
Philippians 1:29: For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.
"Our call to suffer comes from a God tender beyond description. If we do not cling to this through life's worst, we will misread everything and grow to hate Him."
Chapter Three: The Suffering God
Contrast between King of Persia and Son of God
"...the Son of God, King of Kings, by himself crossed the chasm between divinity and humanity and walked onto earth. His goal was to endure the thrashing due his creatures for their rebellion against his father, Jehovah. To this day he requires suffering of all his followers, some of it intense--but only for their good, and never equaling what he himself passed through."
"The king became the Great Physician. Summoning his compassion and his plumbless wisdom he conceived of a surgery. How to save the patients without trivializing their guilt? (They had knowingly spread the fatal sickness among them). How to cure without letting the horror of the disease ever be forgotten? How to mingle mercy with justice? How to slice the cancer from their souls and leave no scar?
He prepared for the procedure by donning not gloves and a lab coat but a mortal body. Did it feel a few sizes too small? He stretched himself upon the operating table.
His hand reached for a saw."
"But this king stepped from the merriment of his palace, abandoned the cheery fireplace and the spread table, resigned his luxuries and lands, and set out to perish for his citizens."
Only by the Son do "all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17)
"The Trinity had planned it. The Son endured it. The Spirit enabled him. The Father rejected the Son whom he loved. Jesus, the God-man from Nazareth, perished. The Father accepted his sacrifice for sin and was satisfied. The Rescue was accomplished.
God set down his saw.
This is who asks us to trust him when he calls on us to suffer."
Chapter Four: Does He Really Expect Me to Suffer?
"First, despite Christ's compassionate death for our sins, God's plan--not plan B or C or D, but his plan--calls for all Christians to suffer, sometimes intensely....But without fail, some scenes are going to break your heart, some of your favorite characters will die, and the movie may end earlier than you wish."
"Second, God's plan is specific."
"...he screens the trials that come to each of us--allowing only those that accomplish his good plan, because he takes no joy in human agony....But in God's wisdom and love, every trial in a Christian's life is ordained from eternity past, custom-made for that believer's eternal good, even when it doesn't seem like it. Nothing happens by accident...not even tragedy...not even sins committed against us."
"Third, the core of his plan is to rescue us from our sin."
"...he gives us salvation's benefits only gradually, sometimes painfully gradually."
lets us continue to feel much of sin's sting while we're headed for heaven
constantly reminds us of what we're being delivered from
"Last, every sorrow we taste will one day prove to be the best possible thing that could have ever happened."
Section heading God's Plan Includes Suffering
God hates suffering, but no one goes to Christ's heaven who doesn't first share Christ's sufferings
"What Jesus began doing to sin and its results won't be complete until the Second Coming."
At the cross, the purchase of salvation was complete, but the application was anything but finished
We're not in heaven yet
Hebrews 12:6: The Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son
If it is the Lord's will
So I can preach
Luke 9:23: If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily an follow me.
Chapter Five: All Trials Great and Small
"What we think about God influences our friendship with him."
"For God clearly claims to run the world-...-all the time."
Psalm 139:16: All the days ordained for me were written in (his) book before any of them came to be
Lamentations 3:38: It is not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?
God hasn't taken his hand off the wheel for thirty seconds.
"His plans are being accomplished despite, yes, even through, these tragedies."
He is determined to steer what he hates to accomplish what he loves
Section heading Good People in Pain
Section heading Was God At the Planning Meetings?
Lamentations 3:37: Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it?
"Unless the Bible is wrong, nothing happens outside of God's decree. Nothing good, nothing bad, nothing pleasant, nothing tragic."
"We may not fathom God's reasons, we may not agree with his thinking, we may love him for it, we may hate him for it. But in simple language, God runs the world. 'The Lord works out everything for his own ends--even the wicked...' 'Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him'" (Proverbs 16:4; Psalm 115:3)
Chapter Six: Heaven's Dirty Laundry
Who or what caused Job's trials?
-At the most basic level, natural forces did
-On this same basic level, evil people caused Job's trials
-At a deeper level, Satan caused them
-On the deepest level, the decree of God did
His decree made room for it, but he didn't do it
Section heading Permission Slips
"What's clear immediately is that God permits all sorts of things he doesn't approve of."
Comment about When Bad Things Happen to Good People:
-some people make of it there's nothing he can do, that he's given himself orders not to interfere in other people's business
Refute from Bible
Psalm 33;10-11: The Lord foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples. But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever,the purposes of his heart through all generations
Daniel 4:35: He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand...
-God gives the green light because he's decisive
"I let them"
-What is accidental from our perspective was specifically allowed by God
"Imagine a God who didn't deliberately permit the smallest details of your particular sorrows. What if your trials weren't screened by any divine plan? What if God insisted on a hands-off policy toward the tragedies swimming your way? Think what this would mean."
(1) The world would be worse for everyone every second
The only reason things aren't worse is that God curbs evil
"Evil can only raise its head where God deliberately backs away-always for reasons that are specific, wise, and good, but often hidden during this present life."
(2) If God's decrees did not deliberately allow your specific trials, what does that say about God?
God is not Satan's clean-up boy
"No the real tragedy is that any Christian would settle for such darkness with the light of the Bible shining so clearly, If God didn't control evil,the result would be evil uncontrolled.
God permits what he hates to achieve what he loves."
Section heading A Gardener Planting Thoughts
He plants thoughts into people's minds without violating their wills
"So you want to sin? Go ahead--but I'll make sure you sin in a way that ultimately furthers my ends even while you're shaking your fist in my face,"
Section heading Timing is Everything
-he plans coincidences
(My own note-think of all that had to happen for Hayden's accident-the certain part of Wagner Rd, with the hill, the kind of vehicle coming over the hill, the kind of car that Hayden had, etc. This is making me cry right now, The car that got out of the way. Even the police officer couldn't believe the timing of everything)
Section heading Any Room for Miracles?
-sometimes he does perform actual miracles
but not his usual way of working
He wants us to trust him
John 20:29: Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.
"Our inability to comprehend something doesn't make it untrue."
Romans 11:33: Oh, the depth...of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
Proverbs 25:2: It is the glory of God to conceal a matter.
"The sovereign God who holds your days in his hand is not safe. He's anything but. He's the King, I tell you.
But he's good."
Section Two: What Is He Up To?
Chapter Seven: A Few Reasons Why
Philippians 1:21-24: For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go living on in this body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."
More necessary for others that you remain
Section heading The Power of Example
Hebrews 6:12: We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.
-people need to be reminded that the power of God really works, not in theory, but in reality
Colossians 1:24: Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
-showcasing the salvation story to others--Jesus not here in the flesh, we are
"When we suffer and handle it with grace, we're like walking billboards advertising the positive way God works in the life of someone who suffers."
-because we are one in the body of Christ, your victories become mine
-purpose of life is to live for others
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."
Section heading For the Sake of Others
"on account of me"
-other people are our crown
Romans 8:17: We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory
Section heading But What If?
-even when alone, angels along with powers and principalities in the heavenly realms are watching, listening, and learning
-disgusts Satan
Section heading For the Glory of God
-suffering sets the stage for offering something exceedingly precious to God
"God is pleased with praise, but he swells with joy when the praise he breathes has the aroma of a sweet-smelling sacrifice."
"Her suffering 'glorified' her gift, making it more valuable in your eyes." (example of woman with arthritis knitting something)
"A sacrifice brightens God's glory."
Section heading Let's Relieve the Suffering
-The body is supposed to do God's work
Chapter Eight: The Best Answer We Have
"The Son of God did not exempt himself from affliction but lived through it and learned from it."
Section heading The Sculpture
-suffering fashions us into a "holy and blameless" image of Christ
-God uses affliction like a hammer, chipping away to reveal his image in you
"God uses suffering to purge sins from our lives, strengthen our commitment to him, force us to depend on grace, bind us together with other believers, produce discernment, foster sensitivity, discipline our minds, spend our time wisely, stretch our hope, cause us to know Christ better, make us long for truth, lead us to repentance of sin, teach us to give thanks in times of sorrow, increase faith, and strengthen character. It is a beautiful image!"
Section heading The Only Answer That Satisfies
-that somehow everything will be okay
Chapter Nine: Making Sense of Suffering
-given the context of relationship, suffering suddenly has meaning
Section heading Finding Relationship in Suffering
-if we want to grow closer to someone, it means pressing hearts together
-to know and be known
shared suffering
-suffering shared with God is deeper
Section heading I Want to Know Christ
Philippians 3;8-10: I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
Philippians 3:10: I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings,becoming like him in his death.
I want to know Christ!
Section heading I Want to Know...The Fellowship of Sharing In His Sufferings
-Jesus is a Savior who could sympathize with our weakness
The invitation to know God--to really know him--is always an invitation to suffer
Section heading I Want to Know...the Power of His Resurrection
-helped just by knowing Jesus empathizes
-earmarked as a recipient of the Spirit whom the resurrected Jesus won the right to pour out on her
-Jesus becomes one with us in our suffering and we become one with him in his
-dying to self
Section heading The Cross
-place where power happens between God and us
Soren Kierkegaard: "God creates everything out of nothing, And everything which God is to use,he first reduces to nothing."
"Coming to the cross"--dying to self
-empty myself to increase the capacity for God
The greatest good suffering can do for me is to increase my capacity for God.
Section heading The Love of God Constrains Us
-the cross becomes a symbol of life
Section heading Come to the Cross and Find Yourself
Section heading Power in Suffering
Section Three: How Can I Hang On?
Chapter Ten: Cry of the Soul
I just don't get God
Section heading Good Anger
-God is big enough to take on anger
(1) He knows stuff happens
(2) He doesn't tiptoe around it
-anger at God is still trust
Section heading God's Action in Anger
-He crashes through despair
Psalm 34;18: The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit
-gut-wrenching questions honor God
"I found him after I let go of what I thought he should be."
Section heading Despair Turned God-Ward
-our hardship doesn't go away plus we don't have a clue as to why
-our questions and cries powerfully reach the Almighty
"He 'll soar on the wings of the wind from heaven to here to show you who he is, to embrace you with his love."
Section heading What To Do With Our Emotions?
Psalms
-sit with your rage
-wait on the Lord
-be mad at Satan
Section heading The Psalms: A Fabric of Feelings
-remember
-point us to the future
-provide comfort in our present circumstances
-confessional
Section heading A Window Into Our Soul
Romans 5:8: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us
"He is the answer and we need him."
Chapter Eleven: Gaining Contentment
-He never meant for us to live lives of solemn resignation
(1) stoics unwittingly place themselves at the center of everything'
(2) our souls are too significant
Section heading When You Can't Escape
-contentment is a sedate spirit that is able to keep quiet as it bears up under suffering
-sufficiency
-lean on the Lord of grace for help
Section heading Gaining Through Losing
-equalizing your desires and circumstances
-subtraction
-sacrificing itchy cravings to gain a settled soul
Section heading Another Equation
-involve yourselves with those in more humble circumstances
Section heading Contentment and Joy
-contentment and joy go hand in hand
Section heading Consider Him
-God must be our aim
-contentment is being full, never wanting more
Section heading Subtract One More Thing
-poor in spirit
-everything becomes a token of God's love
-contentment is a deposit, a guaranteeing of what is to come
Section heading What If I Don't Suffer?
-have to watch yourself
-hardship is our bit and bridle
Section heading The Secret
-enemy of contentment is worry
-take one day at a time
-satisfaction in life arises in knowing you are where you belong
-like life the way that it is, one day at a time with Christ
Chapter Twelve: Suffering Gone Malignant
-hell
-God runs hell
-hell was prepared for the devil and his angels
-unnatural for humans to be there
-hell is spiritually and psychologically unbearable
-also physically unbearable
-how long it lasts
-eternal fire
Section heading Hell Will Serve Justice to the World's Hitlers
-unless hell exists, there is no justice in the world
Section Heading Hell Explains Why "Good" People Suffer
-another reference to When Bad Things Happen to Good People
-unfaithful to the Bible
-says since good people suffer unfairly God must lack either goodness or power
-never entertains the possibility that we suffer because we are sinners
-trials are spoonfuls of hell come early
-two factors make an act sinful-a wrong action or a wrong motive
-first and greatest commandment is to love Him with all of our soul,heart and strength
-crimes against infinite God deserve infinite punishment
-we are not good
-by tasting hell in this life we are driven to ponder what we might face in the next
Section heading Hell Explains Why Christians Suffer
-remind us of hell he is saving us from
-hell's splashover
-each taste of hell drives us to reach out towards unbelieving friends and neighbors
-trials are making us more like Christ
-our neighbors and friends are more likely to join us there
"And twenty minutes of heaven will make up for everything."
Chapter Thirteen: Suffering Gone
-it depends on our perspective--where in time we are looking from
"This is the way it's all going to turn out, this is how it will all seem when it's all over, a better way, I promise."
"People whose hearts are ignited for heaven make good inhabitants of earth. These, said C.S. Lewis, do earth a world of good."
-suffering gives the covenant life
Section heading What Is Our Hope?
2 Peter 3:9: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient...not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
Section heading Coming Full Circle
-our hope is not a "what," but a "Who"
Section heading How Much Pleasure?
1 Corinthians 2:9: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him,
Section heading How Much Time?
Section heading Is Suffering Worth It?
2 Corinthians 4:17: For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
-a bounteous reward
-every tear you've cried will be redeemed
"The more faithful to God we are in the midst of our pain, the more our reward and joy."
Romans 8:18: I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revelaled in us.
Section heading A Final Word
"Weeping may have endured for a night, but it is morning, And the joy has come."
No comments:
Post a Comment